I am encouraged that the Governor has made education a priority in his budget and on his political agenda. I was hopeful that he listened and heard our concerns regarding education funding equity for the low wealth, high needs school districts. He has increased state aid by 4 %, however, without changing the Foundation Aid Formula or the formula for the Gap Elimination Adjustment, rural high needs school districts are still left with insufficient resources to provide the sound basic education that the Governor espouses in his statements. I am very grateful for the advocacy of our state legislators on behalf of our District.
I am also concerned that Governor Cuomo appears to generalize in his presentation of statewide data regarding poor student achievement, and District mismanagement. North Country schools perform well in both student outcomes and district efficiency. As the Governor stated, we are indeed committed to providing opportunities for all students.
Projections have not been completed for the MWCS budget. We await the administrative details. We are encouraged with the Governor’s commitment to expense driven aids such as transportation and BOCES which are very important to our rural districts.
