By Tony Laurino
Executive Vice President, ESSAA Chairperson, Legislative Committee
I attended the Governor's State of the State address on January 7,2004. The most positive thoughts that come to mind are that last year's budget fight was a cool breeze compared to the hurricane that we can expect this year.
The States highest court has mandated a change in the funding of New York City education by July 30, 2004. The court's mandate was meant for New York City but the Governor and legislators will look at the entire educational funding system. All indications are that they will revamp it.
In his State of the State Address, the Governor said that he and the leader of the Senate, Joe Bruno, and the leader of the Assembly, Shelly Silver, were in agreement not to raise taxes. He further stated that he was against any "Robin Hood" legislation that would move funding from the wealthy school districts to the poor ones. Some NYC school officials estimate it would take between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars in the first year to begin to heal the City's education problems.
The day after the Governor's address, Mayor Bloomberg announced a 400 dollar tax rebate to every homeowner in New York City. That's nice, but some of this money could be used for education. If he returned only 300 dollars to the 3 million homeowners in NYC, there would be enough money to alleviate NYC's problems. Whether or not all this results in the Governor's fighting to raise taxes, attempting to allocate monies from richer school districts to the poorer ones, or letting the school districts fend for themselves, every district in New York State will be affected.
Senator Bruno insists that this mandate can be met with money the State already has. He told reporters that the legislators must agree on the cost of educating students by June 30, though, he also said, "It is not necessary that we address it in this coming session."
Advocates for the redistribution of educational funding see the court order as a mandate which must be followed in its entirety by June 30. Bob Unger, ESSAA's lobbyist and representative to the legislature, myself, and the ESSAA leadership will be doing all we can to keep things in perspective. We will be meeting with legislators on both sides of the aisle in both the Senate and Assembly in order to make sure a "Robin Hood" concept is not imposed.
This November the entire legislature is up for reelection, which means that elected officials will be looking toward friendly organizations for assistance. Your contribution to ESSAA's PAC fund is essential if you want us to be properly represented in Albany. We are requesting that each member contribute at least $50. Your bargaining unit can vote to have your contribution taken out of your pay and sent to us as a unit check (a check drawn from dues money is illegal), or you can make a personal check to ESSAA-PAC and send it to :Janet Mulvey, ESSAA, Box 187,Eastchester, NY 10709.
This promises to be one heck of a year in Albany, and we need all the friends we can get.