PINE BUSH – Though everyone knew it was coming, Governor David Paterson's decision to withhold $750 million in state aid to schools and cities was still as welcome in the Pine Bush School District as freezing rain at rush hour.

The governor said that he had no choice if New York State was to remain solvent through the month of December. He also chose to cloak the cuts as "deferments," thus avoiding the need for legislative approval.

Teacher's union officials and other groups are still contemplating legal actions.

Asked about the cuts, Pine Bush Superintendent of Schools Phil Steinberg said, "There will be no immediate effects on the district. Our cash flow is okay. That's because we made a preemptive strike on this problem, and we eliminated spending. We were able to save a lot of money by making a really tight scrutiny of our spending last year.

"That said," Steinbeg added, "If this continues, we will have to appropriate some fund balance money. Or, we may have to do some borrowing. But, we know what we have to do, and we've been preparing for this."

Commenting on the way the "deferments" were introduced, as an item for the month of December only, Steinberg said, "We know that once he reduces state aid runs to schools, it becomes accepted practice. We know the state deficit is not going away, so when we analyze what these numbers really mean we're looking at this continuing for 12 months."

Steinberg expressed his anger at the ways of Albany, thusly. "The governor is the one who gave the projections to the federal government concerning what we needed to backfill our state aid. That's the way they came up with the formula for our stimulus money. Didn't he know back then that he would need more than we got?

"Now he's reneging on previous commitments — he has no right to withhold aid that was promised."

But Paterson is not the only target of the superintendent's ire. "The legislators came up with their own plan of taking next year's stimulus money for this year, which would leave us with nothing next year. They didn't do away with any member grants, or special legislative grants, or any other pork barrel spending."

In the end, Steinberg says, the problem is a lack of vision.

"I blame the lack of leadership, and I also feel that we are lacking a fiscal visionary. You need somebody who can look at the numbers and say, 'here's what we can do, and here's what we have to avoid.'"

"When I came in here, I looked at the numbers and came up with a plan. Because I know that at some point you have to get your spending in line with your revenues. Now, the state has a tremendous amount of power, but you need a visionary to make things work."

Looking ahead, Steinberg said, "The next couple of months are going to be very interesting, and not for the right reasons. The state can withhold our aid, but our expenses don't go away. It's going to be a tough year to make a budget, but we've been here before and we'll do what we have to."