Metro

Stand on ‘principal’

These principals ought to teach “shop” class.

Many school chiefs are going on year-end spending sprees, conspicuously consuming cash that would otherwise get lost in a bureaucratic black hole.

The buying binges are spurred by a new Department of Education policy which forces principals who have squirreled away savings to surrender 30 percent of any school-budget surplus to the DOE’s general coffers.

The contentious policy, enacted in March, has made shopaholics out of educators who would rather spend it all now than give the DOE an extra dime.

“I’m a firm believer that Midwood High School shouldn’t have to give even a penny away,” Principal David Cohen told the school newspaper, Argus.

He put his money where his mouth is — to the tune of $400,000.

Beside chalk and erasers, Cohen’s ambitious shopping list included high-tech digital pens, four iPads, a $40,000 science lab and a high-powered electron microscope, making the prestigious school one of the few nationwide to own one.

“I think it’s a poor choice to give the money back,” he said.

It’s clear that Cohen’s colleagues are also busting the bank.

Under the old system, principals could save money for future years and spend it all as they saw fit. Last year, they rolled over more than $80 million.

But since the DOE has decreed it would skim 30 percent off the top, principals have rolled over just $32 million, with $8 million of that gobbled up by educrats. Savings can be spent only on equipment and supplies this school year. Money for teachers must be rolled over to the next school year, thus forcing principals to give the DOE its cut.

Some principals blasted the shakedown, but grudgingly forked over some of their savings.

Edward Tom, principal of Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics, spent nearly $75,000 on dry-erase markers, graphing calculators, software for Smartboards, and textbooks, but rolled over $200,000 to staff its popular after-school programs next year. The DOE siphoned off $60,000 – which could have paid a teacher’s salary, Tom noted.

“Unfortunately, it’s our students who are going to suffer,” Tom said.

Others agreed to the DOE squeeze to avert layoffs.

Shannon Curran of the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in Brooklyn rolled over $100,000 so she could keep $70,000 to save a teacher.

But Curran still got some retail therapy, spending $40,000 of her nest egg on supplies and software.

City officials said the confiscated cash will help cover a loss of $1.6 billion in state and federal education aid.

But students gave high marks to principals who burned through the dough.

“If he’s spending more on things that students like, then we’ll enjoy coming to school.” said Midwood freshman Gulnur Coban.

“There’s no point to any of us losing money,” said junior Joshua Parke. “If he’s putting the money to a good thing, we might as well use it all.”