WESTBROOK – New legislation signed into law last week that could have a profound effect on how communities receive state funding for education might have only a minimal impact on Westbrook, according to one state official.

The law, initially designated LD 1274 and now called Chapter 419, is titled, “An Act to Restore Equity in Education Funding.” Proponents of the bill have said it levels the playing field for smaller, rural districts that aren’t getting the state funding they need, starting in the 2012-2013 school year.

“This law will begin to correct an error in our educational funding formula, and will benefit our rural areas,” Gov. Paul LePage said in a statement. “This is a victory for parents, students, and teachers in parts of our state like Washington County that have felt a negative impact for several years because of their smaller school districts. The system is not fair and we are attempting to make it more equitable for everyone.”

Jim Rier, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Education, acknowledged this week that there’s a good chance Westbrook will lose funding due to the rules change, but a new infusion of $19 million in state education funding next year will offset the losses. Potentially the district could end up with no net loss, and possibly a gain.

Statewide, Rier said about $6 million will be shifted from some districts to others as a result of the new law, but that isn’t a lot considering the total pool of state funds for 2012-2013 is expected to approach $1 billion.

“It’s not a dramatic change,” he said.

But for Westbrook, any change is significant. Over the past several months, the district battled a $3.7 million gap, fueled by plummeting state and federal funding, while hammering out the 2011-2012 school budget. The $30.7 million budget cut six teachers and seven support staff, along with a number of school programs.

And the coming year’s budget issues don’t look like they’ll be any easier. School Superintendent Marc Gousse and members of the school committee have said they expect another crunch in the 2012-2013 school budget could lead to even more cutbacks.

Calculating just how the new legislation will affect Westbrook is difficult. Rier said the new rules will now take into account multiple factors, including student populations in districts, and the percentage of those students who use the free or reduced-lunch programs. The new rules also factor in costs of benefits for teachers and staff, compared to a new statewide average.

State Rep. Tim Driscoll, D-Westbrook, said he was told when the House was considering the bill that the new rules mean Westbrook could lose as much as $257,000.

Driscoll said he voted against the bill because he, like other critics, feared the legislation, while beneficial to some districts, would hurt districts in urban and suburban areas like Westbrook.

“I felt at that point Westbrook had taken a big enough hit,” he said.

Rier declined to speak to what Driscoll had been told, but said Tuesday that the bill’s proponents, as an example of how the rules worked, used the proposed new formula to calculate how much funding districts would have received for the 2011-2012 school year, and found that Westbrook would have lost more than $250,000. Similar losses were possible for the 2012-2013 year. However, Rier said, the state has bumped up its total amount of funding being offered that year, in part to offset the losses. There will be a total, he said, of $914 million, a $19 million increase over the previous year. Rier estimated that would boost state revenues to Westbrook by about $325,000, which would more than cover the estimated losses.

Rier stressed that the numbers are not final yet. He said that the state is working on preliminary figures, which could be available on the state’s website by as early as mid-August. The final figures are due to all school districts, including Westbrook, by Feb. 1, 2012.

Gousse said this week that he was aware of the legislation, but offered no reaction until the effects on Westbrook are clearer.

“I am presently researching the ramifications of this legislation,” he said.