Assemblywoman Jenne made her pledge at the annual legislative priorities meeting hosted by St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES. She was joined at the session by State Senator Joseph Griifo, Assemblyman Marc Butler and Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush.
"The governor's proposed school aid for this year is devastating for most North Country school districts. Last year's funding got our school districts back to the stabilization point, but we still have not fully recovered from the hits our school districts took during the recession," she said.
"I will continue to advocate that the poorest districts in the state continue to receive additional funding so they can meet the needs of their students. We know our school districts are still not receiving the aid they are due - the state still owes over $4 billion in foundation aid to its poorest districts, but the governor's budget proposal goes in the opposite direction," Assemblywoman Jenne said.
The school aid numbers included in the executive budget have raised concerns for several superintendents in the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES component districts. Two superintendents told the lawmakers their districts were still underfunded by more than $2 million under the governor's state aid proposals.
St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES Superintendent Thomas Burns said North Country school officials need a fairer, more equitable aid formula and adequate funding for high-needs, low-wealth students.
BOCES officials charged the poverty measures currently used in the state aid formula are inherently flawed and called on state lawmakers to alter sharing ratios to create greater equity among the districts.
They also expressed serious reservations over a proposal in the executive budget that would cap foundation aid at its current level. North Country school districts have benefited from foundation aid, the result of a court decision a decade ago that ruled the state was underfunding its poorest school districts.
Foundation aid has included poverty rates and other factors into the state aid formula in an effort to ensure low-wealth school districts are provided with the funding necessary to provide students with a sound basic education. The Alliance for Quality Education has charged there is a $10,000 per pupil funding gap - second highest in the nation - between the state's richest and poorest school districts.
' ... we need the legislature to set aside the governor's language, which would effectively end foundation aid, "Mr. Burns told the state lawmakers. "Although foundation aid has not been fully funded since 2008-09, it is a policy worth protecting and has benefitted poorer rural districts in the North Country since its inception."
Assemblywoman Jenne assured school leaders they had an ally in that fight.
"Education is one of the biggest issues I have fought for since first elected to the state Assembly. We deserve the same amount of funding per student as is provided for students in wealth downstate districts," she said.
"The governor likes to create these scenarios for education funding in his executive budget and then the state legislature has to buy back programs we support during the budget negotiations," Assemblywoman Jenne noted.
Among the items on the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES priority list for 2017:
• Use an income wealth index, rather than combined wealth index. Enhance the weight of free and reduced lunch to the aid formula and re-set the income wealth index floor to 0 from its current level of 0.65 in the current budget. Several North Country school districts have numbers well below that arbitrary floor. Many North Country school districts, including those with large amounts of waterfront property, are land rich and income poor.
• Make simple, common sense reforms to the tax cap. The current 2 percent tax cap is misleading as the consumer price index will be less than 2 percent again, resulting in a project 0.1 percent allowable tax levy growth factor.
School superintendents said the tax cap has created a disadvantage for the state's poorest districts, forcing them to rely on state aid to fill funding gaps. They are calling on the state to grant an option to districts to increase their tax levy by the 2 percent cap or the current consumer price index, whichever is higher. They are also calling for the state to include properties covered by payments in lieu of taxes agreements to be included in the formula's tax base growth factor.
Other priorities include exempting BOCES capital projects from the tax cap, increasing aidable salary for career and technical education teachers from an aid formula dated back to 1990 and protecting the save harmless clause in state aid until a more permanent solution can be found.
Assemblywoman Jenne, sharing a view voiced by her fellow lawmakers at the session, acknowledged it will likely be a contentious budget season in Albany this year.
IN THE PHOTOS:
TOP PHOTO:
Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne visits with Madrid-Waddington School Superintendent Eric Burke (left) and Edwards-Knox School Superintendent Ronald Burke following a session that gave school officials from around St. Lawrence County an opportunity to share their concerns about the 2017-18 state budget with state lawmakers.
BOTTOM PHOTOS:
Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne makes a point during a recent legislative priorities information session at the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES facility in Canton. Pictured are (l-r): St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES District Superintendent Thomas R. Burns, State Senator Joseph Griffo, Assemblyman Marc Butler, Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush and Assemblywoman Jenne.
Matthew O'Bryan, president of the Madrid-Waddington Central School Board of Education, shares a concern with Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne following a recent meeting in Canton that provided state lawmakers and school leaders from around St. Lawrence County an opportunity to discuss the 2017-18 state budget.
