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NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS 

Welcome to the New York State Association of Small City School Districts' web site.
Below you will find materials of interest.
 Please feel free to contact us with any questions or requests at:
NYSASCSD  c/o The Biggerstaff Law Firm  1280 New Scotland Road Slingerlands NY 12159
 reb@biggerstaff-firm.com    518-475-9500    518-475-7677 fax
 


EMAIL LOBBYING NETWORK

  

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE NETWORK
ISSUE: 2009 SPECIAL SESSION-DRA (EDUCATION)
 

 

WELCOME TO OUR NEW AFFILIATE MEMBER!

WESTBURY UFSD

 

OUTSIDE LINKS:

DOS, Shared
Municipal Services Incentive (SMSI) Program provides technical assistance and competitive grants to two or more units of local government for the development of projects that will achieve savings and improve municipal efficiency.

 

CFE: To access the Campaign for Fiscal Equity website, click here.

Click here to read testimony given at the latest Assembly hearing on mid year cuts

NEWS RELEASE   For Immediate Release:  November 19, 2009 

For More Information: Fred Wachtmeister, President, NYSASCSD and BOE, Plattsburgh CSD (518) 572-1178 fwachtmeis@plattscd.org

Robert Biggerstaff, Esq. Executive Director, General Counsel, NYSASCSD 518-475-9500 reb@biggerstaff-firm.com

SMALL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS ASK WHY STATE LEADERS REJECT ‘ONE SHOT’ COST SAVINGS FOR THE STATE BUDGET DEFICiT BUT FORCE ‘ONE SHOTS’ ON SCHOOL DISTRICTS?

While Leaders in Albany wrestle with ways to close the $3.2 billion current year State budget deficit, they continue to discuss the possibility of reducing State aid to education by over $600 million. This reduction will require districts to use up prudent reserves equivalent to the State’s Rainy Day Fund, or, if districts do not have sufficient reserves, to lay off staff mid-year. Senator Carl Kruger, Senate Finance Committee Chairman, and others have recommended cost savings steps to prevent education and health care cuts but have met Leaders’ distain that these steps are merely so called one shot savings which cannot be repeated in the next year.  Leaders have rejected such savings as irresponsible budgeting and have also refused to tap the enormous State Rainy Day Fund.

Six hundred million dollars in cuts mid-year could translate into laying off more than 24,000 staff state wide. To prevent that, many districts would tap their prudent reserves which are equivalent to the State’s Rainy Day Fund to forestall the gutting of their programming half way through the school year. Unfortunately, hundreds of districts, particularly high need/high tax districts do not have sufficient reserves and would have to resort to massive staff reductions. Fred Wachtmeister, President of the NYS Association of Small City School Districts, asks why the Leaders reject ‘one shots’ for the State budget but in effect approve them for local schools. He said today, “State Leaders have repeatedly resisted State employee lay offs, tapping the Rainy Day Fund and resorting to one shot savings but now are forcing local schools to do precisely that. If the State Leaders reject these steps as irresponsible, why do they require us to act that way? This double standard is short sighted and will potentially result in large school tax increases. Mid-year cuts are the most difficult to accommodate and will have an extremely harsh impact on many schools. The State has fiscal flexibility that districts do not have. That flexibility should be used in the short term rather than leaning on us to solve the State’s dilemma.”

In addition to opposing education aid cuts, the small city school districts association in budget hearing testimony delivered November 5th by Judith Johnson, Superintendent of the Peekskill City Schools, one of the state’s 57 small city schools, strongly urged restoration for high need, high tax districts of at least $80 million of the more than $600 million in education aid cuts recommended by the Governor. Mrs. Johnson said, “When nearly 50% of students in some of our districts are either failing to graduate on time or drop out, when our youth are the state’s greatest resource, this is no time to lessen our investment in these most vulnerable schools.”  

The effects of the proposed education aid cuts to small city schools can be seen from the following which shows the dollar amounts and the percentage of the overall State aid lost. These cuts could result in over 2,000 lost jobs in small city schools alone. 

10/08/09

 DEFICIT REDUCTION ASSESSMENT*

 2009-10 FORMULA TOTAL                                 

DRA AS % FORMULA TOTAL 

ALBANY       

 $          (2,305,436)

 $         76,847,870

-3.00%

AMSTERDAM    

 $             (741,290)

 $         30,123,054

-2.46%

AUBURN       

 $          (1,175,755)

 $         32,985,387

-3.56%

BATAVIA      

 $             (551,750)

 $         20,249,161

-2.72%

BEACON       

 $             (761,765)

 $         20,752,901

-3.67%

BINGHAMTON   

 $          (1,273,755)

 $         49,880,523

-2.55%

CANANDAIGUA  

 $          (1,182,308)

 $         21,699,003

-5.45%

COHOES       

 $             (490,395)

 $         16,848,283

-2.91%

CORNING      

 $          (1,407,011)

 $         35,235,328

-3.99%

CORTLAND     

 $             (575,861)

 $         22,601,084

-2.55%

DUNKIRK      

 $             (508,340)

 $         20,916,249

-2.43%

ELMIRA        

 $          (1,586,522)

 $         68,435,579

-2.32%

FULTON       

 $             (801,335)

 $         35,988,803

-2.23%

GENEVA       

 $             (596,883)

 $         21,642,719

-2.76%

GLEN COVE    

 $             (676,452)

 $           7,516,140

-9.00%

GLENS FALLS  

 $             (633,670)

 $         15,044,253

-4.21%

GLOVERSVILLE 

 $             (709,617)

 $         29,745,236

-2.39%

HORNELL      

 $             (404,600)

 $         19,639,109

-2.06%

HUDSON       

 $             (520,718)

 $         17,187,525

-3.03%

ITHACA       

 $          (1,751,335)

 $         23,773,550

-7.37%

JAMESTOWN    

 $          (1,012,846)

 $         47,393,739

-2.14%

JOHNSTOWN    

 $             (406,950)

 $         16,834,742

-2.42%

KINGSTON     

 $          (1,912,604)

 $         51,188,804

-3.74%

LACKAWANNA   

 $             (553,840)

 $         26,741,441

-2.07%

LITTLE FALLS 

 $             (272,964)

 $           9,750,725

-2.80%

LOCKPORT     

 $          (1,314,011)

 $         39,112,123

-3.36%

LONG BEACH   

 $          (1,675,777)

 $         18,619,751

-9.00%

MECHANICVILLE

 $             (392,969)

 $           8,323,973

-4.72%

MIDDLETOWN   

 $          (1,828,005)

 $         64,503,988

-2.83%

MOUNT VERNON 

 $          (2,522,565)

 $         73,170,269

-3.45%

N. TONAWANDA 

 $          (1,134,656)

 $         31,982,346

-3.55%

NEW ROCHELLE 

 $          (2,905,465)

 $         32,793,061

-8.86%

NEWBURGH     

 $          (3,169,262)

 $       122,296,556

-2.59%

NIAGARA FALLS

 $          (1,774,617)

 $         87,361,718

-2.03%

NORWICH      

 $             (525,522)

 $         21,249,279

-2.47%

OGDENSBURG   

 $             (434,344)

 $         20,790,855

-2.09%

OLEAN        

 $             (477,567)

 $         19,351,945

-2.47%

ONEIDA CITY  

 $             (616,314)

 $         19,549,789

-3.15%

ONEONTA      

 $             (532,040)

 $         12,458,999

-4.27%

OSWEGO       

 $             (920,382)

 $         16,515,208

-5.57%

PEEKSKILL    

 $             (912,117)

 $         29,395,395

-3.10%

PLATTSBURGH  

 $             (521,026)

 $         15,059,322

-3.46%

PORT JERVIS  

 $             (819,868)

 $         31,060,534

-2.64%

POUGHKEEPSIE 

 $          (1,142,078)

 $         52,717,607

-2.17%

RENSSELAER   

 $             (266,180)

 $           8,872,667

-3.00%

ROME         

 $          (1,329,963)

 $         56,334,852

-2.36%

RYE          

 $             (226,613)

 $           2,517,927

-9.00%

SALAMANCA    

 $             (360,560)

 $         15,408,842

-2.34%

SARATOGA SPRIN

 $          (2,372,678)

 $         26,363,095

-9.00%

SCHENECTADY  

 $          (2,156,271)

 $         89,893,226

-2.40%

SHERRILL     

 $             (576,067)

 $         16,598,729

-3.47%

TONAWANDA    

 $             (532,375)

 $         15,326,702

-3.47%

TROY         

 $          (1,247,355)

 $         46,676,826

-2.67%

UTICA         

 $          (1,761,351)

 $         88,354,826

-1.99%

WATERTOWN    

 $             (791,884)

 $         35,169,982

-2.25%

WATERVLIET   

 $             (298,196)

 $         13,747,824

-2.17%

WHITE PLAINS 

 $          (1,392,027)

 $         15,466,972

-9.00%

 

 

 

 

SCSD TOTAL

 $         (59,744,107)

 $     1,886,066,396

-3.17%

NEW YORK CITY

 $       (223,196,060)

 $     7,346,000,188

-3.04%

STATE TOTALS 

 $       (686,137,386)

 $   18,784,686,825

-3.65%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUFFALO      

 $         (10,502,699)

 $       524,873,977

-2.00%

ROCHESTER    

 $          (8,121,532)

 $       427,017,040

-1.90%

SYRACUSE     

 $          (4,902,648)

 $       253,566,038

-1.93%

YONKERS

 $          (6,592,440)

 $       221,233,904

-2.98%

Prepared by Beth Biggerstaff

                                         ***********************

The New York State Association of Small City School Districts represents 57 small city school districts, a quarter of a million children and 1.5 million residents. In addition to the 57 small city districts, there are 221 other demographically similar districts throughout the state representing at least 500,000 students in poor rural and suburban areas which face challenges and difficulties equal to and some cases greater than those faced in the small cities.

DOB DIRECTOR MEETS WITH ASSOCIATION IN ALBANY

 

Pictured l to r: Dr. Peggy Wozniak (Binghamton CSD), Fred Wachtmeister (Plattsburgh CSD), Robert Megna, Director, Division of Budget, Peter Applebee, Division of Budget, Dr. Fern Aefsky (Beacon CSD), Charles Winters and Thomas Woodhull (Newburgh CSD)

 

OFFICERS MEET WITH CHANCELLOR TISCH ON RACE TO THE TOP GRANTS

Pictured l to r: Association President, Fred Wachtmeister (Plattsburgh CSD), Association Executive VP, Dr. Peggy Wozniak (Binghamton CSD, Association VP, Thomas Woodhull (Newburgh CSD), and Chancellor Merryl Tisch

 

News Release October 22, 2009
For More Information:
Fred Wachtmeister, BOE Plattsburgh CSD, President, NYSASCSD
Robert Biggerstaff, Esq. Executive Director, General Counsel, NYSASCSD 518-475-9500

SMALL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS URGE $80 MILLION ROLLBACK OF GOVERNOR’S CUTS TO EDUCATION

At a State Assembly hearing in Albany on Wednesday chaired by Assemblyman Herman Farrell (Dem-Manhattan), a representative of the state’s 57 small city school districts urged the Legislature to reject $80 million of the more than $600 million in education aid cuts recommended by the Governor last week. Robert Biggerstaff, Executive Director and General Counsel to the Small City School Districts Association reminded Legislators of their obligation under the state constitution to fund a sound basic education for all children in all districts. Biggerstaff stated that many small city districts are still not receiving adequate funding and that the state government does not have the discretion to ignore the constitution, even in times of severe economic and fiscal stress.

The Association recommended that if cuts become necessary the Legislature reject any proposed cuts for districts not classified as ‘successful schools’ by the state education department and which have excessively high school tax rates. These school districts are struggling to help their students improve performance, need more not less funding and cannot ask their local taxpayers to contribute more. Biggerstaff said, “When nearly 50% of students in some of our districts are either failing to graduate on time or drop out, when our youth are the state’s greatest resource, this is no time to lessen our investment in these most vulnerable schools.”

The New York State Association of Small City School Districts represents 57 small city school districts, a quarter of a million children and 1.5 million residents. In addition to the 57 small city districts, there are 226 other demographically similar districts throughout the state representing at least 500,000 students in poor rural and suburban areas which face challenges and difficulties equal to and some cases greater than those faced in the small cities. (See testimony)_______________________________________________________________________

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION'S CENTER FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLANNING

HUSSEIN et al. v. STATE OF NEW YORK

 The Association has filed the Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief on behalf of 10 member districts. An eleventh district has opted to join the suit and will be included in further filings. As always feel free to contact our office with any questions or comments.

       
COMPLAINT   
FILED OCTOBER 30, 2008

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS COURT PAPERS FROM THE ORIGINAL COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF ON MARCH 15, 2005 TO NOW.

TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OPPORTUNITIES IN CRISIS: RESHAPING SCHOOL BUDGETS                   June 1, 2009

Merryl Tisch, Chancellor, NYS Regents (center-standing) speaking with members prior to lunch - June 1 2009
The Association has updated its Program Exchange Catalog. Thank you to all those who helped us bring this catalog up to date!

click here to access the  PROGRAM EXCHANGE Catalog

•Albany
•Amsterdam
•Auburn
•Batavia
•Beacon
•Binghamton
•Canandaigua
•Cohoes
•Corning
•Cortland
•Dunkirk
•Elmira
•Fulton
 •Geneva
•Glen Cove
•Glens Falls
•Gloversville
•Hornell
•Hudson
•Ithaca
•Jamestown
•Johnstown
•Kingston
•Lackawanna
•Little Falls
 •Lockport
 •Long Beach
 •Mechanicville
•Middletown
 •Mount Vernon
•New Rochelle
•Newburgh
•Niagara Falls
 •N. Tonawanda
•Norwich
•Ogdensburg
•Olean
•Oneida
•Oneonta
•Oswego
•Peekskill
•Plattsburgh
 •Port Jervis
 •Poughkeepsie
 •Rensselaer
 •Rome 
•Rye
•Salamanca
•Saratoga
 •Schenectady
•Tonawanda
•Troy
•Utica
•Vernon Verona Sherrill
•Watertown
•Watervliet
•White Plains

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