2010-2011 School District Budget 

  NYSSBA Lobby Day 

 School Board members lobby 
 legislators for cost-saving reforms

 

School Board members William Smith, Tom Sexton and Roger Kalin spent over two hours discussing the need for mandate reforms with  Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther on NYSSBA Lobby Day.    You can watch part of the discussion on Channel 20.

POSTED: March 17, 2010

Three members of the Port Jervis Board of Education traveled to Albany March 15 to lobby for the restoration of state education aid and relief from unfunded mandates.

Roger Kalin, Tom Sexton, and Bill Smith joined forces with hundreds of district representatives at the annual New York State School Boards Association Lobby Day to send a unified message to state leaders regarding the destructive impact the proposed $1 billion in state aid cuts will have on schools and communities statewide. The message was clear. The projected financial shortfall, combined with costly unfunded mandates, will lead to layoffs, program reductions, and potential property-tax increases.

Since it doesn’t seem likely, given the state’s financial crisis, that much of the projected state aid cuts will be restored, the school board members also petitioned for educational mandate reforms. Currently, unfunded mandates – stringent, unilateral requirements imposed on school districts directing them to do something without providing the necessary funding – cost New York school districts billions of dollars annually.

“Many of the mandates, notably a requirement for schools to file 130 different annual reports, have been deemed as unnecessary and duplicative by the State Department of Education,” said Kalin, who serves as the legislative liaison for the Port Jervis School Board.

During their meetings with New York State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and Senator John Bonaic, the Port Jervis board members asked for a ban on future unfunded mandates and relief from costly, unfunded mandates that currently cost Port Jervis taxpayers more than $4 million a year.

“Our goal was to lobby for meaningful and long-range reforms that would benefit our schools, taxpayers, and state government at no cost to anyone,” explained Kalin.

Listed below are some of the cost-saving reforms Port Jervis board members asked the local legislators to support:

  • A prohibition on future unfunded mandates.
  • Relief from current unfunded mandates that cost Port Jervis School
     District taxpayers $4 million per year.
  • Elimination of unnecessary or duplicative reporting requirements.
     Currently, New York schools are required to file 130 reports
     each year. Auditing costs have tripled in the past three years.
  • Reform or repeal of the Wicks Law, which adds anywhere from 10 
     percent to 30 percent to the cost of capital building projects.
  • Repeal of the MTA payroll tax, which will cost Port Jervis taxpayers
     $115,000 this year.
  • Passage of the EDUCATE Act, which would require the federal 

     government to make good on its 35 year-old pledge to fund special 

     education mandates. The promise was to fund 40 percent of the

     costs. No more than 13 percent of the costs have ever been funded.

Click here to view the board members' Lobby Day presentation on the need for mandate relief.

Watch interview with Assemblywoman Gunther.
The video Roger Kalin and William Smith discussing the need for state mandate reforms and restoration of state education aid with Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther airs daily on cable Channel 20 at the following times: 9 am, 1 pm, 8 pm, 10 pm.
Courtesy of the NYS Assembly Radio-Television

Listed below is the contact information for local legislators.
Residents who want to contact local legislators about education funding and unfunded mandates can use the link to directly access the legislators' web sites.

  • Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther
     19 South Street,
      Middletown, NY10940
      (845) 342-9304

   • Senator John Bonacic
      201 Dolson Avenue, Suite F
      Middletown, NY 10940
      (845) 344 3311

Additional Budget Information
• Preliminary 2010-11 Budget (PDF - Presented 3/4/10) 
• Presentation on Fund Balance Planning (PDF)
 

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