A Rockland County school district that is paying off a massive court-ordered tax settlement is looking to the state for help.

About 10 years ago, the North Rockland School District took a hit when it was ordered to repay millions of dollars in taxes collected from the owners of the Bowline Power plant in Haverstraw.

The owners of the plant were able to show they had been overtaxed to the tune of about $224 million. The loan the district took out to cover that costs $12 million a year to repay.

District officials are hoping a proposal before the state Assembly will help them avert financial disaster.

Maureen Muskopf, a member of the North Rockland PTA, helped organize a petition drive seeking help from state elected officials.

"Our children, right now, have great programs, but those programs are going to be lost, unless we do something to help them," she says.

Assemblymen Ken Zebrowski and James Skoufis are proposing that the state pick up about 70 percent of the $12 million loan payments, which they say is way beyond an ordinary debt load.

Both men say they will be lobbying over the next two weeks to get the support it needs to become law.

The measure being proposed is part of an Assembly budget bill. The state budget is supposed to be in place by April 1.