EAST SYRACUSE – A preliminary report of the New NY Education Reform Commission, released yesterday in Albany, fails to address financial challenges faced by school districts across the state, according to the Syracuse-based Statewide School Finance Consortium (SSFC), which represents more than half of New York State’s public school systems, including districts in Chenango County.
Said Dr. Rick Timbs, executive director of the SSFC, “The emphasis on increased efficiency and effectiveness of student performance has merit, but the pressing fiscal issues that hinder improved student performance initiatives did not receive the comprehensive and timely consideration they require.”
Omissions in the report are a setback for low-wealth, high-need school districts – like those in Chenango County – added Timbs, who said he was disappointed that no mention was made of taking steps to fix what he called Albany’s “highly flawed” and “inequitable” system of delivering state aid to schools.
“If we had all the time in the world, these recommendations would be a great start,” stated Timbs. “Unfortunately, we don’t. These recommendations, though well meaning, don’t move the ball far enough down the field to stop the increased slide of these districts into fiscal and programmatic insolvency.”
Timbs, who recently addressed the Chenango County School Board Association at its annual meeting in November, said public education is – and has been – in crisis since before Governor Andrew Cuomo took office approximately two years ago. Cuomo, who has called himself “a lobbyist for students,” in the past, added Timbs, has promised to do what is necessary to provide students with a quality education, one that prepares them to perform and compete in a global economy. Said Timbs during the November meeting of the county’s school board association, “There are districts that are nine times wealthier than you and even growing their programs while you struggle because the current state formula doesn’t work. It is a formula for disaster ... I see a ticking clock going backward. I see a time bomb toward collapsing school districts.”
Yesterday’s report, according to Timbs, provides “no evidence” that the commission grasps the dire fiscal challenge endured by school districts every day in an effort to improve student performance. Current state support for school districts is complex, inequitable and insufficient, he added, a message he passed along to the Chenango County School Board Association in November.
“Absent thoughtful and quick solutions to secure sufficient funds for average and below average wealth and high need school districts, fiscal and educational insolvency will take hold before any of the commission’s recommendations can be acted on,” stated Timbs.
The SSFC has repeatedly called for the formation of a new or repurposed commission, one whose members have experience in public education finance and related issues. Such a commission, according to an SSFC press release, should propose legislation for:
• reallocation of all available resources to eliminate the inequitable and crippling Gap Elimination Adjustment cuts.
• the creation of an equitable Foundation Aid formula for 2014-2015.
• additional funds to support school district mergers and regional high schools.
• additional funds for pre-kindergarten programs.
• the elimination or reduction of cost drivers that impede the mission of school districts.
“It is no secret that there are gross inequities in aid cuts and in the distribution of aid to school districts,” said Timbs. “The more than 400 school districts that make up the SSFC need solutions to stem the massive aid cuts they have endured in recent years, cuts that deny children a sound, basic education. They need solutions like an end to state-created funding cuts, increased mandates and changes to the Foundation Aid Formula, changes that would distribute aid based on need, rather than politics.”