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PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 11, 2006
THE NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS
CONTACTS: In an action commenced in 2005 against New York State challenging school funding, the State’s motion to dismiss a complaint filed by the Association of Small City School Districts and the board members, parents and students of eighteen small city school districts was granted by Acting State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara of Saratoga. The complaint asserts that the State has violated the education article of the State Constitution by failing to provide sufficient State funding. The motion was granted on purely technical, procedural grounds and did not deal in any way with the merits of the case. The case is venued in Albany County and plaintiff districts consist of Albany, Beacon, Binghamton, Cohoes, Corning, Dunkirk, Glens Falls, Jamestown, Kingston, Middletown, Mt. Vernon, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Poughkeepsie, Salamanca, Schenectady and Tonawanda. These districts serve approximately 106,000 students. Eleven other small city boards have voted to support this litigation, and, therefore, 29 of the 57 small city school districts are involved in the case. The eleven supporting districts consist of Auburn, Batavia, Cortland, Fulton, Hornell, Hudson, Lockport, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Plattsburgh and Saratoga. The motion is just one more chapter in the long history of the State’s foot dragging in this and similar cases, and of its continuing refusal to remedy the gross inequities in New York’s education system. Thomas McGowan, Superintendent of Glens Falls CSD, one of the plaintiff districts said, “State leaders are well aware that our State has two educational systems, one for poor children mainly found in our cities, and one for the middle class and wealthy. Research shows that poorer economic areas that are not as well funded as other areas, do not perform as well. Very simply, the better funded a district is the better opportunity a student has to be successful. Why: more funding provides the chance to hire better qualified teachers; provide a support network, i.e. social workers, remedial teachers and additional content specialists; and richer course offerings. These opportunities are affordable to those districts that have the revenue.” Unfortunately, the State has suffered from political gridlock and as a result has resisted reform at every opportunity. To help the Attorney General fight the CFE case relating to New York City schools, the State authorized the hiring of, and expenditure of millions of dollars for, an out of state law firm which was renowned for opposing desegregation cases. The highly touted STAR program which sends local property taxpayers over $3 billion per year from state coffers gives wealthy school districts twice as much per pupil as it gives to poor districts. Charter Schools, which are most commonly located in cities, result in increased local tax rates and the taxpayers have had nothing to say about it. In Albany CSD, Charters have caused a serious fiscal crisis, while the Charters themselves have performed no better or even worse than the public schools they replace. The State’s leaders recognize that education is the State’s most important governmental function. Nevertheless, they have failed to enact necessary reforms and, instead, blame schools, the Regents, the Education Department and even children for failures in our educational system. Charles Dedrick, Superintendent of Cohoes CSD, another of the plaintiff districts, stated, “Small city school districts will not abandon the fight to obtain state funding sufficient to provide a sound basic education for all children in the state and we intend to pursue this litigation until meaningful education reform has been achieved.” |
•Albany
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