It’s a good thing that Gov. Eliot Spitzer wants to revamp the formula the state uses to allot school aid.

It was a completely broken system. Just like the federal tax code, it had had so many specific programs and exceptions written into it that it was hardly a “formula.” Plus, it cheated – capping certain things so that even if a district was entitled to the funding under the formula it wouldn’t get it.

The whole thing was so complicated, the story went, that only one person in the whole state government actually understood it. So we applauded when the new guv proposed a new system.

But we did wonder where the catch was.

Now a state legislator may have found one.

Assemblyman Adam Bradley says Westchester schools may lose out because
the proposed formula, which includes something new called a “standard local cost of education,” will be computed using a “regional cost factor.”

There would be nine regions. Ours, the Hudson Valley index, would include Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties.

The cost of living in the latter four counties is much lower than around here, Bradley argues, which would drag the index down and lower the amount of aid local schools would receive.

He thinks Westchester should be included in the New York City/Long Island index instead. Says he’ll fight during budget negotiations to re-classify Westchester.

Bradley represents the 89th district, which includes the Bedford, Byram Hills, Chappaqua, Harrison, Katonah-Lewisboro, Valhalla and White Plains school systems.

The suburban districts of LoHud have worried for years that changes to the state aid formula, driven by the “Campaign for Fiscal Equity”:http://www.cfequity.org/ lawsuit, would mean less $$ for them and more for poor urban and rural areas.

That concern has for years was part of the budget fight between the legislature and Gov. George Pataki.

Spitzer’s new administration may find itself in the ring, Democratic or no.