EAST SYRACUSE – Representing more than half of New York State’s public school systems – including districts in Chenango County – the Statewide School Finance Consortium recently released an in-depth analysis focused on declining state support for public schools. The report also addresses the performance of the 20 state senators who represent the approximately 350 school districts that make up the SSFC’s membership.
According to financial expert and SSFC Executive Director Dr. Rick Timbs – a former educator, superintendent, athletic director, principal and union president – state aid formulas and members of the state senate are shortchanging public schools, their students and communities as a whole.
“At the end of the day, the conclusions we reached in our report cry out for one thing ... fairness,” stated Timbs in a recent SSFC press release. “Is it fair that children in New York will have significantly fewer educational opportunities only because they live in a less wealthy or poor community? Aren’t these all our children? Don’t they all deserve the same chance?”
In November, Timbs met with members of the Chenango County School Boards Association to discuss long-standing disparities in state aid across the state.
Among the report’s conclusions:
• With no changes in the state aid formula, an estimated 100 to 150 school districts will not have sufficient revenue or cash reserves to sustain themselves and will face the prospect of financial insolvency within the next one to two years.
• Under the new Tax Cap law, wealthier school districts which are less dependent on state aid will be able to raise more money than less wealthy districts. Attaining the 60 percent super majority to go above the “tax levy limit” mandated in the new law will likely be unrealistic in these communities, which will force schools to continue an unsustainable process of further cuts to staff and program and use of reserves to stay in operation.
• Based on a study of the state’s own data, senators that represent SSFC school districts, regardless of political party affiliation, have appeared to be more influenced by the “leadership culture” of their house than they are with helping to solve the issue of equitable funding to provide the children in their home communities with the same educational opportunities as children in more affluent communities.
• Unfair distribution of state aid is not an “upstate versus downstate” issue. It’s an issue ripe for reform. More than 30 downstate school districts with similar wealth and poverty make-up face the same grim outlook as SSFC member districts.
“Some senators that represent SSFC districts ... have either introduced or are working with us to develop legislation that addresses our concerns,” added Timbs. “We deeply appreciate these efforts, but we’ve reached the point where we must have concrete results. Hundreds of school districts cannot wait any longer.”
On Saturday, DCMO BOCES and the Chenango County School Boards Association will hold its annual Legislative Breakfast at the Silo Restaurant in Greene. According to Otselic Valley Central School District Superintendent Richard Hughes, the format of the breakfast has been changed in order to highlight the inequities in state school aid detailed in the SSFC report.
“It’s unbelievable,” added Hughes of the SSFC analysis. “It really shows the discrepancies and that this isn’t an upstate versus downstate issue, it’s a low wealth versus high wealth issue, which begs the question of whether our state legislators are representing local constituents or following party lines.”
For more information on the SSFC or to read the entire state aid analysis, visit statewideonline.org.