COVENTRY – The impact of the proposed tax cap, the need for mandate relief and inequalities in the formula used to calculate state aid topped the list of concerns local school leaders shared with elected officials on Saturday at a Legislative Breakfast co-sponsored by DCMO BOCES and the Chenango County School Board Association.
The event, held annually at The Silo Restaurant in Coventry, drew administrators and school board members from each of Chenango County’s nine school systems and others throughout the DCMO BOCES district. There to field questions and hear concerns were Senator James Seward and Assemblyman Pete Lopez, as well as a representative from Senator Tom Libous’ office and Assemblyman Cliff Crouch, who made a brief appearance.
Seward and Lopez sympathized with the concerns of school leaders about proposals for a property tax cap, which schools fear will threaten their ability to continue providing a quality education to students at a time when they face losses in state and federal aid and rising heath care and pension contribution costs.
The key, according to both legislators, is making sure any tax cap includes meaningful mandate relief to help schools cut costs.
“We have to attack the expenditure side of the equation,” Seward said. “Everything has to be out on the table.”
Lopez added his belief that schools need more tools and more flexibility to make intelligent decisions on the local level. He agreed with his colleague in that the current fiscal crisis presented an opportunity to make chances which might otherwise not be possible, but did caution against pursuing some issues which might be too polarizing. In order to be achievable, the end result must “pass muster with all the constituent groups,” including the state’s teacher and public employee unions.
“The devil will be in the details,” Lopez explained.
Norwich school board member Perry Owen asked the two legislators for their thoughts on working with the state’s new governor, Andrew Cuomo.
After pointing out that New York’s political and geographic diversity sometimes makes it difficult for Albany lawmakers to find common ground, Seward expressed optimism about their ability to “get things done” this year.
“We find a lot of common ground with the new governor,” he said, citing Cuomo’s positions on the need to cut state spending, address high taxes, take an aggressive approach to job creation and ethics reform.
Lopez agreed Cuomo is “in step” with the needs of Upstate communities, and said the promise of change had brought an air of enthusiasm and excitement to Albany, at least in some circles. But he warned there were already grumblings of discontent from within the governor’s own party, particularly from downstate legislators, about some of these positions. The new executive’s ability to get things done, he said, will depend on his ability to find a middle ground.
Both men pledged to do their best to ensure “low wealth, high need” districts – such as those in Chenango, Delaware, Otsego and Madison counties – are protected as the state tries to close the estimated $10 billion budget deficit.
Former Sidney Superintendent Sandy Cooper, who now sits on the Unadilla Valley school board, asked them to take this one step further – by helping correct inequities in the foundation aid formula used to distribute state education aid.
According to Cooper, small rural schools are penalized as a result of the way in which aid is currently calculated. She cited five specific examples including the fact that the income wealth index used in the formula includes a floor even though some rural districts fall below that value.
If this issue is not addressed, she said, future aid cuts will have an even greater impact on small rural schools than on wealthier districts.
“We are asking that you begin a conversation in the legislature to change the Foundation Aid Formula being used so that state aid would flow more equitably across the state,” Cooper said.