Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and dozens of school board members have begun a letter-writing campaign to convince state lawmakers to change the school aid formula.

Suozzi says that Nassau school districts are being shortchanged $600 million from Albany and that the state must use part of its reported $4 billion surplus to fix the problem. Mitch Pally, of the Long Island Association, says the campaign is aimed at getting half of the surplus spent on education. He adds the goal is for half of that education money to come to Long Island.

State Senator Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) says the problem is not with the amount of money districts receive, but says the issue lies with questionable spending. Skelos says he thinks Suozzi is trying to make political hay in his quest for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.