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NEW YORK, NY January 02, 2004 — There may be a showdown in Albany in 2004 over School Aid to New York City, thanks to a ruling by the state's highest court. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

The order by the Court of Appeals last June directed the state to come up with a new system of funding that guarantees an adequate education for all New York City students. But it didn't say how much money that would take. Instead, the court left that up to the governor and the legislature. And it gave them until July of 2004.

State Assembly Democrat Richard Brodsky of Westchester says that's especially difficult with the state facing a projected deficit in the billions.

BRODSKY: How we do it, who pays the bill, how it's shared from local and statewide taxpayers those are going to be the murderous questions that people are going to start grappling with early in January.

Furthermore, the governor, the Assembly Speaker and the Leader of the Senate have all said they oppose new taxes. So, where will the money come from?

LITTLE: What I don't want to see is any kind of Robin Hood approach where we take money away from rural schools and give to city schools.

Betty Little is a Republican member of the Senate's Education Committee who represents the northeast corner of the state. She suggests New York City might have to spend more of its own money on education if it's going to get more from the state.

LITTLE: I think as NYC is rebounding and their economy is beginning to come back perhaps that can be done that way.

There's speculation that the Republican controlled Senate might want to impose an income tax surcharge on city residents. Or, lawmakers might just choose to wait. The state has until July. And Governor Pataki's task force on school aid won't make any recommendations until March. Mayor Bloomberg has complained that's not soon enough.

A spokesman for Governor Pataki says the governor is confident the legislature will join him this year in reforming the school aid formula. But with the City counting on billions of dollars in additional aid to reduce its class sizes and hire more qualified teachers, that confidence will have to turn into funding. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.