October 2003 Vol. XVII, No. 8

DEBT
CEILING
REFERENDUM
PUBLIC
RELATIONS
PROGRESS

To update you on progress regarding the public relations campaign in support of the November referendum on the small city school district debt ceiling, the following is the schedule of events and activities being organized by our office and our consultant, Janet Begley:

• Oct. 9th- media kits will be sent to all small city school districts
• Oct. 14th- media kits will be sent to all newspapers, t.v. stations,
  radio stations, Eastern Contractors Assn and its 32 affiliates
• Oct.15th- videotape and debt ceiling chart will be sent to all small city
  school districts, radio stations and t.v. stations
• Oct. 16th- media kits and chart will be sent to ten major educational
  organizations
• Oct. 14th- 31st- meetings with editorial boards of five major newspapers

If any district requires more information or support in this effort, please
let us know.

Please refer to the Association website (http://scsd.neric.org) for up-to-date news and information.

NYS
ASSEMBLY
EDUCATION
COMMITTEE
ON
EDUCATION
FINANCE
REFORM
MET IN
ALBANY

The Assembly Standing Committee on Education held a hearing in Albany on October 3^rd to listen to testimony regarding the implementation of the Court of Appeals decision in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit.

Among those present were;

• Robert Biggerstaff, Counsel, NYSASCSD
• Antonia Cortese, First Vice President, NYSUT
• David A. Little, NYS Director of Government Affairs, NYSSBA
• Jennifer Pyle, Assistant Director, Conference of the Big 5 School Districts
• Bob Lowry, Associate Director, NYSCOSS
• Manuel J. Rivera, Superintendent, Rochester CSD
• Shirley Thompson, President, Rochester CSD Board of Education
• Barbara Bartoletti, State Legislative Representative, League of Women Voters

SOME KEY REMARKS:

Antonia Cortese said the key areas to improve were teacher qualifications and class size. NYC Chancellor Kline and Randi Weingarten from the UFT agreed with this analysis at a NYC hearing.

David Little referred to the costing out study being conducted by NYSSBA and CFE. He refused to comment when asked by Assemblyman Sanders on how to determine how much state aid vs. local taxes should a district receive. He was also concerned about the Governor’s commission and felt that ill advised reforms may be substituted for aid reform or traded for such (i.e. consolidated districts). He said NYSSBA supported the Assembly’s multi-year school appropriations suggested in 2001.

Jennifer Pyle reported that the Big Five supports a maintenance of effort requirement for all big five, not just for NYC.

BIGGERSTAFF
GIVES
TESTIMONY
ON BEHALF OF
THE
ASSOCIATION

At this meeting, Bob Biggerstaff delivered the Association’s testimony. The following points were made:

• in New York State an adequate education is not being given to all students,
• state aid formulas fail to recognize adequately educational deficits that many of small city students have, and
• that education financing in New York State has three fundamental flaws, education financing has never been linked to the realistic cost of achievement, there is a chronic lack of equity in assessing the true capacity of localities to support education and there has never been a comprehensive effort to compensate for varying levels of student need among districts.

The Association has committed to preparing recommendations for fundamental reform under the title FUNDING FOR ACHIEVEMENT. This work will be available as a resource for determining aid distribution and for measuring Legislative progress. The proposal will provide five key steps:

1.      determine the cost of achievement based on actual experience of schools.

2.      determine the spending target for each district primarily based on student weightings

3.      employ a realistic regional cost factor to account for different cost of “doing business” around the state

4.      phase in reforms over a five year period by use of caps on increases in aid and floors on loss of aid

5.      continue to monitor spending, aid and taxing levels in each district.

IN CONCLUSION: The Association has come to believe that:

·        a lack of equitable funding which fully recognizes student need and district wealth is the primary obstacle to providing a sound basic education for all children.

·        The gap between poor and wealthy districts is enormous and the constitutional infirmity found by the Court of Appeals is not just a New York City phenomenon. The problem is systemic and pervasive.

This testimony is available on the Association’s website (http://scsd.neric.org).

DATES TO REMEMBER

October 22, 2003
Joint Legislative Hearing on Learning Standards and Graduation Requirements
Albany 

October 24, 2003
Breakfast meeting at NYSSBA conference
Rochester 

December 5, 2003
Meeting with Commissioner Mills
Albany 

January 25, 2004
Board of Directors meeting in conjunction with NYSCOSS conference
Albany 

March 23, 2004
Legislative Breakfast
Albany