It’s easy to forget that the Ramapo Central School District is a big operation. With five elementary schools, a middle and high school, the Hillburn administration building, plus hundreds of RCSD employees, all supported by a budget of more than 100 million dollars.

That budget is easily ten times the size of the Village of Suffern’s budget.

Ramapo Central School District will host Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee at Suffern Middle School Wednesday, October 29, at 7 p.m. to discuss NY State funding issues.

School Board Superintendent Dr. Douglas Adams arrived in 2011 to help manage the district’s sprawling finances, which had rapidly escalated during the boom years of high property values before the bust of 2008. Dr. Adams replaced longtime Superintendent Robert MacNaughton, who, by the time he left the district, was the highest paid school official in the Lower Hudson valley.

Dr. Adams has done precisely what he said he would — continue to build and communicate the educational excellence that distinguishes the district and tackle the districts budget gaps. Adams has also grown the district’s administrative infrastructure to carry out these actions — as articulated on the RCSD admin page.

Ramapo Central has gone through two tense budget cycles, including budget gaps that required hard choices that involved some personnel and program cuts.

With the Ramapo Teachers Association Ramapo Central contract up in 2015, the superintendent’s office and the RTA have joined together to fight a common foe, the GEA or Gap Elimination Adjustment. Both have determined that the GEA has contributed to vacuuming much-needed funds from the district’s coffers.

The GEA is legislation enacted in 2010-11 that spreads out a portion of New York’s funding shortfall among the state’s school districts. To date, the Ramapo Central School District has lost some $12 million to the GEA — lost monies that have contributed in large part to the district’s budget issues.

Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee will be the featured speaker on Wednesday evening at the Suffern Middle School Cafeteria to discuss the GEA and other state funding issues related to the district.

Jaffee’s appearance follows up on last week’s week-long effort to constantly contact the offices of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, NY Senator David Carlucci, Jaffee, and other representatives, to advocated for the elimination of the GEA. Since NY State doesn’t currently have a budget shortfall, the GEA is no longer needed.

Restoration of GEA funds is the difference between a 2014-15 budget gap of some $1.7 million versus a surplus of $240 thousand, according to RCSD figures.

And with negotiations heating up between RCSD and the RTA for a new comprehensive contract in 2016, the GEA difference could cost the district top-notch programs and personnel.