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.”