August 2006 Vol. XX, No. 8

SMALL CITY SCHOOL

LITIGATION UPDATE

The Association filed a Notice of Appeal appealing the adverse decision of Judge Thomas McNamara granting the State’s motion to dismiss the complaint (on July 26, 2006). The appeal will contest the ruling of the Court that the plaintiff board of education members have failed to state a cause of action under section 123-a, the so-called tax payer suit provision of the State Finance Law. The appeal will also contest the ruling which would require the Association to add to the complaint separate allegations of educational deficiencies for each of the 18 plaintiff small city districts. This ruling would expand the number of paragraphs from 35 to 630 in the section of the complaint devoted to educational “inputs” and “outputs”.

The Association and the other plaintiffs have a 60 day period to prepare and file a brief in support of the appeal. The State will have a 45 day period thereafter to respond, after which the case would be ready for oral argument. While many appeals take much longer than this to prepare for argument, the Association is making every effort to expedite the process and to obtain a decision early in 2007.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION WITH DR. ALAN CHARTOCK

The Association is planning a roundtable discussion for Dr. Alan Chartock’s program, Capitol Connection, which airs weekly on WAMC/Northeast Public Radio. The topic of discussion is Education Finance Reform and we are inviting attorneys who argued cases similar to the current CFE and SCSD litigation to participate along with Bob Biggerstaff, lead counsel for the small cities. Below is an excerpt of the points Bob asked be made during this program.

• The CFE decision is the first time the NYS Court of Appeals has opined on what the State Constitution requires for public education, coining the phrase “Sound Basic Education”.
• The CFE case is currently in the remedy phase. Upon the Legislature’s failure to enact a court-ordered education finance reform remedy, the case was remanded to the trial court. The trial court determined that $5.5 billion in State Aid is needed to remedy the inequity in NYC. The State appealed this decision and the case went to the Appellate Division where the court modified the trial court’s ruling. Currently, CFE is appealing this ruling at the Court of Appeals. The argument is scheduled to be heard before the Court of Appeals on October 10^th*.
• Elliot Spitzer, Joseph Bruno and Sheldon Silver are all on record as saying they would not approve a plan for education finance reform unless the remedy included reform for the entire state and not just a remedy for NYC. The 57 small city school districts in NYS have many of the characteristics of NYC and they have a pending lawsuit identical to the CFE lawsuit.
• The CFE case is the first time the Court of Appeals, or any court in the country for that matter, has said it is not constitutionally sufficient merely to spend the same amount on every child regardless of the child’s needs. NYS is constitutionally required to provide resources sufficient to address a student’s educational deficits. In the SCSD complaint, this point is made, “The Educational Article Requires The State To Compensate For The Varying Educational, Physical, Emotional, Mental, And Socioeconomic Disadvantages Faced By Children.” Bob has been arguing this point since 1995 and the Association has participated in the CFE case as a friend of the court by submitting an Amicus Brief.

We will provide more information on this program as the airdate gets closer.

DR. PEDRO NOGUERA TO SPEAK TO THE ASSOCIATION

Dr. Pedro Noguera has agreed to speak to the Association during its annual breakfast on October 27^th at the NYSSBA conference in New York City. Below is an excerpt of his C.V. (http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/steinhardt/db/faculty/1340):

Pedro Noguera is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. He is also the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the co-Director of the Institute for the study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS).  An urban sociologist, Noguera’s scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment. Noguera has served as an advisor and engaged in collaborative research with several large urban school districts throughout the United States. He has also done research on issues related to education and economic and social development in the Caribbean, Latin America and several other countries throughout the world. From 2000 - 2003 Noguera served as the Judith K. Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 1990 – 2000 he was a Professor in Social and Cultural Studies at the Graduate School of Education and the Director of the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley.

We look forward to an interesting and informative morning with Dr. Noguera.

THE ASSOCIATION WELCOMES SUPERINTENDENTS

The Association would like to welcome and introduce new superintendents from Cortland CSD and Poughkeepsie CSD.

   Laurence T. Spring began at Cortland CSD on July 1, 2006. He comes from Wayne Central School District where he was the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. Prior to this, Mr. Spring served for four years as the Churchville-Chili School District’s Director of Student Learning and as an Assistant Principal.

Mr. Spring also taught social studies in the East Irondequoit District for five years.

  Mr. Laval Wilson, Superintendent, Poughkeepsie City School District. Mr. Wilson returns to the small city school district family having served as Superintendent of Newburgh CSD from 1997-2000. Mr. Wilson began his career in education as a teacher and counselor in Chicago and has worked in and around New York State serving the community and the education community ever since.

The Association is glad to welcome such a dedicated educator back.

SEPTEMBER IS ACT FOR EDUCATION MONTH

PRESS CONFERENCES

AND

SUPPORT FOR CFE
AT THE COURT OF APPEALS

SCSD is participating in the ACT FOR EDUCATION month scheduled for September sponsored by The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE). As part of the planned activities for September, the two groups are working on hosting a number of simultaneous press conferences for September 20^th (tent.) across the State to discuss the need for education finance reform and to publicize the small city school lawsuit. These press conferences will be located in small city districts whose schools are named in the current litigation.

Additionally, AQE is planning a bus trip for interested parents, students and teachers from around the state to Albany to support the CFE case on October 9^th and 10^th. The Court of Appeals will be hearing arguments on October 10^th in the latest installment of the remedy phase of this litigation.

Please feel free to contact our office if you have suggestions for these events and/or would like to participate (518-475-9500, beb@biggerstaff-firm.com).

BILLS OF INTEREST

UPCOMING
EVENTS

October 27, 2006
7:30am – 9:00am
Breakfast
NYSSBA Conference
NYC

November 2006
TBA
Seminar: Positioning Your District Budget for Contingency (tentative)

November 27, 2006
Time TBD
Litigation Steering Committee Meeting
Fort Orange Club
Albany

November 27, 2006
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Board of Directors Meeting
Fort Orange Club
Albany

November 27, 2006
1:00 pm
Meeting with Commissioner Richard Mills
SED

January 21, 2007
Time TBA
Board of Directors Meeting
Desmond Hotel at NYSCOSS mid winter meeting