August 2004 Vol. XVIII, No. 6

ASSOCIATION
PLANS TO
SUE STATE

The Association announced to the press on August 11^th their intention to sue the state to ensure comprehensive, statewide education funding reform. Below is the press release. Bob Biggerstaff gave interviews regarding this issue and the Times Union’s front page article is also below. 

PRESS RELEASE:

The Board of Directors of the NYS Association of Small City School Districts voted unanimously on Sunday, August 8^th, to file a lawsuit against the state seeking reform of state aid to education. At the Association’s annual conference in Geneva, N.Y. this past weekend, Association President Susan Skidmore declared, “It is clear now that the Legislators and Governor are not able to enact fundamental education reform for the entire state without judicial involvement.”

Last year, the Court of Appeals in CFE v. NYS ordered the Legislature to reform education funding in NYC by July 30^th. Their failure to reach agreement by that date has made evident the continuing political paralysis preventing many students from urban and other poor districts from receiving a quality education.

There are 57 small city school districts throughout the state, from Long Island to Niagara Falls. They are “small” cities but large school districts and serve a quarter of a million children or two thirds of the urban children outside NYC. The Association will be seeking to form a coalition of city; rural and poor suburban districts similarly situated.

Mrs. Skidmore, who is a member of the board of education from Elmira City Schools, concluded, “Small city districts tax 20% harder than the state average but spend 20% less per pupil than average. For our children and for the children in poorer schools throughout the state the system is totally broken. We must fix it now or we will short change another generation of kids.”. 

Times Union
A1
August 12, 2004

Small city schools back suit over aid
Districts in areas such as Albany, Troy and Schenectady support filing claim against state

By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, August 12, 2004

Dozens of "small city" school districts across New York plan to sue the state for more education aid because they fear exclusion from a landmark funding mandate now being forged in New York City.

The lawsuit, which is slated to be filed by the state Association of Small City School Districts sometime this fall, will seek an overhaul of the state's funding formulas in a way that would send more money to the districts, many of which are struggling financially, said Robert Biggerstaff, a lawyer who is the organization's executive director.

The lawsuit, which would represent 250,000 students in 57 districts, would be similar to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit that is now in the hands of court-appointed special masters.

Among the local districts affected are Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga Springs and Cohoes.

CFE, made up of New York City activists and educators, filed suit more than a decade ago, claiming that the 1.1 million-student system didn't get its fair share of state dollars.

Last summer the state Court of Appeals agreed and gave the Legislature and Gov. George Pataki a year to revamp New York's complex, politically driven school aid system in a way that sent more money to New York City schools. At the time, litigants and politicians alike said they wanted to use the CFE case as an opportunity to fix the funding system for the entire state.

But after the Legislature and governor failed to reach an agreement by the July 30 deadline, the case was turned over to a special three-person panel appointed by the court to force a plan on the state.

The failure of state politicians to fix the funding problem was a missed opportunity that will force the small cities to file suit to ensure their share, said Susan Skidmore, an Elmira school board member who is this year's small city association president. "It is clear now that the legislators and governor are not able to enact fundamental education reform for the entire state without judicial involvement," Skidmore said.

Ken Brown, a spokesman for the state Budget Division, disagreed.

"The people of New York know that no one is fighting harder to seize the historic opportunity to secure a better education and a brighter future for our children than Governor Pataki," Brown said in a prepared statement issued Wednesday evening.

"We are taking the necessary and responsible action in response to the court proceedings, while we continue to work with the Senate and Assembly to achieve a legislative solution on the important issue of education reform," he added.

The lawsuit has been anticipated for weeks and will follow a similar action by the Utica school district, which is also challenging the state's funding system.

But it represents what many have described as a worst-case scenario. With the state's failure to fix the problem, the CFE outcome may now focus only on New York City while the rest of the state would still creak along with an inefficient and unfair funding system. And that in turn is fertile grounds for more lawsuits.

"There is concern that there is going to be a lot of legal chaos," said Michael Rebell, CFE's executive director and head counsel.

Rebell, however, said he hoped that the special masters: former judges C. William Thompson, E. Leo Milonas and former law school Dean John Feerick, could fashion a solution that would cover the entire state, instead of just New York City, which was the subject of the original CFE suit.

But others, including Biggerstaff, doubt that the panel will veer beyond the boundaries of the CFE suit.

"From what I'm hearing, they intend to deal only with the amount of money that needs to be invested in New York City schools," he said.

Biggerstaff said the small cities suit would likely be filed in Albany County state Supreme Court.

Initial cost of the suit is estimated at $75,000, he said. One of their contentions will focus on what economists call the higher "tax efforts" that city districts put forth to fund their schools. Many of the small cities such as Schenectady or Amsterdam have seen their industrial tax bases dry up over the years. And with lower property values than surrounding suburbs, homeowners in the cities pay proportionately higher tax rates considering the value of their homes.

Association members voted for the suit during a weekend meeting in Geneva. News of the plan comes as the Legislature was devising a budget that would boost the state share of education funding from about $14.6 billion to $15.2 billion.

And there was some remote hope that lawmakers could still devise a better funding system in the near future. "There could be a point down the road when this all becomes moot but that doesn't look like it's going to happen in the near future," Biggerstaff said.

18^TH ANNUAL
CONFERENCE -
LEARNING
LAB

The Association held its 18^th annual conference Sunday, August 8^th and Monday, August 9^th at the Ramada Inn Geneva Lakefront in Geneva, New York.

Sunday the Board of Directors met to discuss many issues. Among those were the Association’s legislative priorities for 2004-2005. Since the Legislature has failed to enact state aid to education funding reform by its court appointed deadline of July 30^th, the Association feels it must initiate a lawsuit to force equitable and Statewide funding reform.

At dinner Sunday evening, the speaker was Charles Temple of Hobart & William Smith Colleges. Professor Temple spoke about the new Fingerlake Region initiative, an outreach program where the colleges work with schools throughout the various committees to enrich curriculum and to broaden experiences available to all children.

On Monday at the annual meeting, the Association was addressed by Carl Hayden, Esq. from the firm, Ziff, Weier, Miller, Hayden & Mustico. He addressed the Association on the issue of the ramifications of the CFE decision and stated that the Court of Appeals’ decision does not allow the Regents to set a constitutional standard for a “sound, basic education” but reserve that for the courts. Since the Legislative gridlock continues, Hayden suggested two solutions, express our displeasure at the polls and/or bring a suit, joining as many districts and organizations together as possible, to force the Legislature to provide all schools with adequate funding.

Lonnie Palmer, former Superintendent Albany CSD and Director of AdvisorySolutions and Charlie Winters, Association Financial Consultant presented the Association with a new service provided by NYSSBA that offers detailed data analysis and planning for districts interested in strategic planning aimed at long term improvements in student performance and school finance. Both Palmer and Winters are working with NYSSBA to reach out to all districts, but particularly those high-need, low resource districts like those in the small cities.

Monday’s seminars were, Curriculum Connections for Student Success presented by Arline Ely, Elmira CSD, Student Data presented by Anita Murphy, Binghamton CSD and Video-on-Demand presented by Marion French, Assistant Vice President for Education & Interactive Services, WXXI & NYS Public Broadcasting. Materials relating to these seminars are available upon request. 

TLQP
PLANS
FOR
2004-2005

The first year of the Teacher Leadership Quality Program ended on June 30, 2003. This is an Association sponsored grant program that was awarded $400,000 each year for five years to develop a new approach to address mathematics curriculum for the 8^th grade. Beth and Paul-William Burch from Binghamton University (the grant’s LEA) have written to inform those involved of year two’s schedule of events. The schedule includes two large state meetings (one in November, another in June) for all participants.

As directed by the Burches, each university cohort will also plan specific meetings. The Burches explain that the grant will also expect each district to find time to work together and direct the Teacher Leaders to plan these building meetings.

The Burches write: “Each month, there will be a different topic for an asynchronous BlackBoard meeting. AS A TLQP PARTICIPANT, YOU SHOULD AIM TO COMPLETE 40 HOURS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR FROM THIS MENU OF EVENTS.”

 Meetings, events and participant responsibilities are as follows:

TLQP Calendar 2004-2005

September 2004

18, Saturday GESA Introductory Session for Binghamton Cohort (3 hours)

24, Friday Higher Ed Faculty Meeting in Binghamton

TBA District Meetings Organized by Teacher Leaders (3 hours)

TBA GESA Introductory Sessions by Cohort (3 hours)

30, Thursday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

October 2004

2, Saturday Binghamton Cohort Workshop (5 hours)

16, Saturday Binghamton Cohort Workshop (5 hours)

22, Friday Evaluation Team Meeting in Binghamton (3 hours)

TBA Cohort Workshops (5 hours)

29, Friday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

November 2004

13, Saturday TLQP Reunion for All State-wide Participants (4 hours)

30, Tuesday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

December 2004

3, Friday Evaluation Team Meeting in Binghamton (3 hours)

4, Saturday Binghamton Cohort Workshop (5 hours)

TBA Cohort Workshops (5 hours)

16, Thursday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

January 2005

31, Monday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

February 2005

TBA District Meetings Organized by Teacher Leaders (3 hours)

28, Monday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

March 2005

4, Saturday Binghamton Cohort Workshop (5 hours)

TBA Cohort Workshops (5 hours)

31, Thursday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

April 2005

8, Friday Higher Ed Faculty Meeting in Binghamton (3 hours)

TBA District Meetings Organized by Teacher Leaders (3 hours)

29, Friday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

May 2005

20, Friday Evaluation Team Meeting in Binghamton (3 hours)

31, Tuesday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

June 2005

27-29, Monday-Wednesday

Summer Institute II Conference at Binghamton University

30, Thursday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

July 2005

TBA District Meetings Organized by Teacher Leaders (3 hours)

29, Friday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

August 2005

31, Wednesday BlackBoard Discussion Board (1 hour)

Everyone—• Mark your calendars for the November Reunion and the June Conference.• Mark your calendars for the BlackBoard dates and plan to join the online discussions for one hour. • Mark dates set by your Higher Ed Cohort Leaders and your Teacher Leaders for meetings and workshops in your district or region.

Higher Ed Faculty—• Mark your calendars for the November Reunion and the June Conference.• Mark your calendars for the BlackBoard dates and plan to join the online discussions for one hour.• Schedule the GESA overview for your cohort in September, October, or November; inform your cohort and Project Director Burch.• Schedule Cohort Workshops for October, December, March (suggested months); inform your cohort and Project Director Burch.

Teacher Leaders—• Mark your calendars for the November Reunion and the June Conference. • Mark your calendars for the BlackBoard dates and plan to join the online discussions for one hour. • Mark dates set by your Higher Ed Cohort Leaders for meetings and workshops in your district or region; inform your teachers and Project Director Burch. • Schedule district or building work days for September, February, April, and July (suggested months); inform your teachers and Project Director Burch.

ASSOCIATION
OFFICES
MOVING

Please note that of September 1^st, Robert Biggerstaff, NYSASCSD Counsel, will be at the following location:

Main Square
318 Delaware Avenue
Delmar, New York 12054
reb@biggerstaff-firm.com (effective August 23^rd)

Mr. Biggerstaff is glad to announce the opening of his new firm and will be practicing with his youngest daughter, Laura K. Biggerstaff, Esq. He is happy to continue to work for the Association and looks forward to another productive year serving the Association.

We will inform you of his new phone and fax numbers as soon as possible. Please note: the Association’s website address remains the same at http://scsd.neric.org.

DATES
TO
REMEMBER

October 22, 2004 7:30am—9:30am
Small City School Breakfast
85^th Annual Convention -- NYSSBA
Buffalo

November 30, 2004
Board of Directors Meeting

March 15, 2005
Legislative Breakfast