BAINBRIDGE – Due to cuts in state aid, the Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District will now struggle to manage a $1.2 million deficit for the 2013-2014 school year.

The reduction in state aid is a result of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) law introduced during the 2010-2011 fiscal year by then-Governor David Paterson as a way to lessen the state’s $10 billion budget deficit by lowering funding for education.

In order to manage the deficit, B-G superintendent Don Wheeler and fellow administrators are proposing a number of different measures to the school’s board of eduction. They include bringing school taxes up to meet the 4.9 percent tax cap, using $350,000 of the school’s reserves, and cutting $750,000 in secondary elective programs such as JV sports as well as janitorial jobs.

“The Gap Elimination Adjustment is hitting Bainbridge-Guilford harder than most schools in the area because we are treated like an ‘average needs’ school district when we are in fact a ‘high needs’ one,” said Wheeler. “The reality is, if we were still getting the same state aid as in the 2008-2009 school year, we would not be in this situation.”

The school district receives aid in accordance to tax data which has not been updated to account for an estimated 20 percent drop in the district’s tax base, Wheeler said. School administrators have asked for a reevaluation of the school district’s tax base, but have been denied.