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Schools ready for capital improvments as voters pass EXCEL bonds On January 28 the Copiague School District was added to a growing list of districts in New York to have passed the bond issue for the Expanding our Children's Education and Learning (EXCEL) plan. EXCEL aid allows school districts to use state funding to make improvements to education technology, health and safety areas, accessibility, energy and physical capacity expansion or school construction. The catch, tax payers do not pay any money for the repairs made at the schools. The program, also known as the Capital Improvement Plan, which every district in the state is allowed to receive, has to be voted on by the community and the total amount of aid is based on need. Copiague, which had 420 people approve the refer- endum and 59 say no, is receiving $11.3 million ($3.7 million EXCEL, $7.6 million in building aid), which will be broken up across five schools in the district. A chunk of the money ($7.97 million) will be spent to replace the roof of every school in the district. Like other districts, Copiague is bonding their EXCEL aid with the reimbursement money from building aid the state of New York is paying out. "It's like getting a Christmas present," Copiague Superintendent Dr. William R. Bolton said. Copiague High School ($3,048,750) will undergo structural floor reconstruction and have an acid waste tank installed. Copiague Middle School ($2,943,000) will have an acid waste tank installed. Deauville Gardens Elementary School ($1,326,138) will just have the roof done. Susan E. Wiley Elementary School ($1,236,835) will replace the remaining original windows and have a new hot water heater installed. Great Neck Road Elementary School ($822,870) will have exterior masonry reconstruction done, will have access panels in ceilings installed and the old ceilings in classrooms will be replaced. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York is allowed to issue a maximum of $2.6 billion in bonds and notes, with $1.8 billion for New York City schools alone. "I've been an advocate for state aid for many years," said Lindenhurst Superintendent Neil Lederer, whose district passed the referendum on November 15 and is due to receive $7.6 million ($2.3 million EXCEL, $5.3 million in building aid). Said Amityville Superintendent Brian Desorbe: "It's a good start. The amount we pay into the system on Long Island is much more than we receive from the state. It's a nice thing for the state to pay." Amityville will receive $2.1 million in EXCEL aid and had an 11-1 favor in voting for the program. "This is a window of opportunity for all districts to upgrade their facilities and capitalize on what is essentially free money," Deer Park Board of Education President Michael Oddo said on his district's website. "Just as a homeowner needs to keep up with repairs and upgrades to a house, districts must do the same for its buildings." How did this plan come about? The Campaign of Fiscal Equity, a not-for-profit organization which seeks reform for educational equity in school system financing in New York City, won a court decision in which the State of New York was ordered to direct $4.7 to $5.63 billion to New York City schools. Former Governor George Pataki created the need-based EXCEL aid program which helps New York City schools as well as ones all over New York. Another benefit is that, "everybody is doing construction and it will open up the New York State economy," Bolton said. "We'd end up doing the roofs over the next five years, but now they'll get done and a construction company will do it sooner."
The first phase of the project will begin this summer and all of the repairs will be done by the summer of 2008.
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