To: The New York State House, The New York State Senate, and Governor Andrew Cuomo
NYS Fails Public Education
NYS fails children in its constitutional obligation to provide appropriate funding for schools hiding behind propaganda and ignoring the pleas of the people.
Why is this important?
I am a parent, a tax payer, a resident of Walden, NY for over 50 years and a graduate of the Valley Central School District, the State University of New York and Villanova University. I believe that the greatest investment any of us in this room has made in our lives is the investment in our education.
First of all thank you for meeting with us today. Two nights ago as our Board of Education struggled to decide the fate of an elementary school where children have been nurtured and educated for over 90 years due to an 8.1 million dollar shortfall, the Superintendent of our school district publicly referred to our belief that we may be heard in Albany as “the opiate for the masses.” This was no doubt a statement that reflects the frustration of watching a school district and a community taken apart by devastating cuts to programs and staff after ten years as Superintendent of Schools. On January 2, 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his inauguration speech “Too often government responds to the whispers of lobbyists before the cries of the people”. We are here today in the hope that you will hear our cries and that you may respond to our voice.
New York State has a constitutional obligation to provide the funding for the opportunity for a sound basic education to every one of New York’s sons and daughters. Three months ago Governor Cuomo proclaimed himself the children’s lobbyist announcing that he was taking on a second job. He has arrogantly championed his program for education reform. But since 2010 over 50 schools in New York State have closed – the vast majority under his governorship. In addition, districts across the State have been stripped of offerings such as sports, music, language and art. I am not sure whose children he is the lobbyist for but the reason I am here today is to inform you that I am firing him from that second job. I am here as a parent to lobby for my own daughter because it is not acceptable to me that she will be offered an education of inferior quality when she begins school than I received from the same school district over 30 years ago and what’s more, my wife and I will not permit her to be placed at an educational disadvantage to help benefit the political aspirations of an ambitious governor.
You will not find a town named Valley Central on a map of New York State but it exists as a community as sure as any that can be found. Fifty years ago, the villages of Maybrook, Walden and Montgomery and outlying area united forming Valley Central, a public school district that today is more than 4,500 students strong. Historically we are a rural district and have prided ourselves on being conservative and fiscally responsible to tax payers. Although there have been additions, the newest of the seven buildings in our district was built in 1969. For decades the school district advertised to voters that the cost per pupil was at or near the bottom of the list when compared to every school in the Mid Hudson Valley. Travel within 30 minutes in any direction from our district and there are state of the art high schools and million dollar athletic complexes but other than a swimming pool made possible by large donations from the community, our district looks pretty much the same as it did in 1969.
And what was the prize for fiscal responsibility? Gap Elimination - a formula that reduced our state aid somehow based on the assumption that the relative wealth of our community exceeds the amount of school tax needed to fund our programs. The solution? Raise taxes to reduce the Gap Elimination penalty. But as you know this puts our district in a choke hold because Governor Cuomo has enacted a 2% tax cap that really isn’t 2%. This cap cannot be pierced without a super majority vote, a regulation that may not have constitutional validity. As a result, the Valley Central Board of Education is faced with closing at least one elementary school, cutting kindergarten, art, music, library, all sports and extra-curriculars, class sizes of over 30 students even at the elementary levels and cutting the jobs of talented teachers – some with 6 or more years of valued service. And this still will not close the 8.1 million dollar shortfall without depleting the fund balance and/or raising taxes.
I have three basic requests that I ask today. The first is that you restore the Gap Elimination Aid Adjustment loses. This regulation that originally was proposed as a one year adjustment has continued for the past three years at a price to the Valley Central District of over 5 million dollars each year, directly contributing to our 8.1 million dollar shortfall.
If you are unwilling or unable to restore those loses and insist that the State is meeting its obligation to adequately fund our district, my second request is that you remove the handcuffs from our community and give us a fair and constitutional opportunity to fund our schools locally by suspending the super majority requirement until our tax rate can be incrementally raised to the point where you have determined is appropriate for the relative wealth of our community and reinstitute the cap at that time.
The third request is that you reduce the restrictions on the districts Employee Benefits Accrued Liability Reserve funds (EBALR) so that it can be accessed to help preserve these cuts that will cripple our schools and eventually destroy our district.
It has been said that the greatest of all evils is the destruction of hope. If none of these options are viable I need to ask you today what hope are you willing to give to the children of the Valley Central School District? Are you willing to promise anything other than a multi-million dollar short fall and more cuts in the years to come? If that is the case, it is obvious that the Governor’s real vision for educational reform is to have the line for the Principal’s office next to the line for the window for motor vehicle registration....
First of all thank you for meeting with us today. Two nights ago as our Board of Education struggled to decide the fate of an elementary school where children have been nurtured and educated for over 90 years due to an 8.1 million dollar shortfall, the Superintendent of our school district publicly referred to our belief that we may be heard in Albany as “the opiate for the masses.” This was no doubt a statement that reflects the frustration of watching a school district and a community taken apart by devastating cuts to programs and staff after ten years as Superintendent of Schools. On January 2, 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his inauguration speech “Too often government responds to the whispers of lobbyists before the cries of the people”. We are here today in the hope that you will hear our cries and that you may respond to our voice.
New York State has a constitutional obligation to provide the funding for the opportunity for a sound basic education to every one of New York’s sons and daughters. Three months ago Governor Cuomo proclaimed himself the children’s lobbyist announcing that he was taking on a second job. He has arrogantly championed his program for education reform. But since 2010 over 50 schools in New York State have closed – the vast majority under his governorship. In addition, districts across the State have been stripped of offerings such as sports, music, language and art. I am not sure whose children he is the lobbyist for but the reason I am here today is to inform you that I am firing him from that second job. I am here as a parent to lobby for my own daughter because it is not acceptable to me that she will be offered an education of inferior quality when she begins school than I received from the same school district over 30 years ago and what’s more, my wife and I will not permit her to be placed at an educational disadvantage to help benefit the political aspirations of an ambitious governor.
You will not find a town named Valley Central on a map of New York State but it exists as a community as sure as any that can be found. Fifty years ago, the villages of Maybrook, Walden and Montgomery and outlying area united forming Valley Central, a public school district that today is more than 4,500 students strong. Historically we are a rural district and have prided ourselves on being conservative and fiscally responsible to tax payers. Although there have been additions, the newest of the seven buildings in our district was built in 1969. For decades the school district advertised to voters that the cost per pupil was at or near the bottom of the list when compared to every school in the Mid Hudson Valley. Travel within 30 minutes in any direction from our district and there are state of the art high schools and million dollar athletic complexes but other than a swimming pool made possible by large donations from the community, our district looks pretty much the same as it did in 1969.
And what was the prize for fiscal responsibility? Gap Elimination - a formula that reduced our state aid somehow based on the assumption that the relative wealth of our community exceeds the amount of school tax needed to fund our programs. The solution? Raise taxes to reduce the Gap Elimination penalty. But as you know this puts our district in a choke hold because Governor Cuomo has enacted a 2% tax cap that really isn’t 2%. This cap cannot be pierced without a super majority vote, a regulation that may not have constitutional validity. As a result, the Valley Central Board of Education is faced with closing at least one elementary school, cutting kindergarten, art, music, library, all sports and extra-curriculars, class sizes of over 30 students even at the elementary levels and cutting the jobs of talented teachers – some with 6 or more years of valued service. And this still will not close the 8.1 million dollar shortfall without depleting the fund balance and/or raising taxes.
I have three basic requests that I ask today. The first is that you restore the Gap Elimination Aid Adjustment loses. This regulation that originally was proposed as a one year adjustment has continued for the past three years at a price to the Valley Central District of over 5 million dollars each year, directly contributing to our 8.1 million dollar shortfall.
If you are unwilling or unable to restore those loses and insist that the State is meeting its obligation to adequately fund our district, my second request is that you remove the handcuffs from our community and give us a fair and constitutional opportunity to fund our schools locally by suspending the super majority requirement until our tax rate can be incrementally raised to the point where you have determined is appropriate for the relative wealth of our community and reinstitute the cap at that time.
The third request is that you reduce the restrictions on the districts Employee Benefits Accrued Liability Reserve funds (EBALR) so that it can be accessed to help preserve these cuts that will cripple our schools and eventually destroy our district.
It has been said that the greatest of all evils is the destruction of hope. If none of these options are viable I need to ask you today what hope are you willing to give to the children of the Valley Central School District? Are you willing to promise anything other than a multi-million dollar short fall and more cuts in the years to come? If that is the case, it is obvious that the Governor’s real vision for educational reform is to have the line for the Principal’s office next to the line for the window for motor vehicle registration....