ABC Book Program Nets Over 4,000 Books for Children

Assemblywoman Addie Russell announced today that 4,100 books were collected throughout Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties as a result of the third annual Addie’s Books for Children program.  This number quadruples what the program has collected in each of the previous two years, and it is due in large part to a new partnership with Kinney Drugs.

“Kinney Drugs generously placed drop boxes in each of its Jefferson and St. Lawrence County stores, which helped give the program more exposure.  I am so pleased with the response and I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Kinney Drugs and to each of the store managers for their assistance in making this a huge success,” said Assemblywoman Russell. 

Russell said that all of the books in St. Lawrence County went to the St. Lawrence County Community Development Program, which has neighborhood centers throughout the county.  Norma Cary, executive director said, “This will be a wonderful opportunity for low-income families to give books to their children, especially because books can be a low priority for families with limited incomes.  Books are also an important tool for the development of children’s literacy as well.”

Russell also indicated that the books collected in Jefferson County were delivered to the Community Action Planning Council.  "Addie's Books for Children is a wonderful component of our holiday programming," said Dawn Cole, deputy director for the Community Action Planning Council of Jefferson County.  "It promotes of one life's greatest joys - parents and children reading together. What a truly special gift for the holidays."

Assemblywoman Russell said that she is very much looking forward to next year’s holiday book drive and hopes to reach a goal of 5,000 books in 2012.  

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Statement from Assemblywoman Addie Russell on the Historical Timeline in the Hall of Governors

“I would like to assure everyone that the War of 1812 and the North Country are not omitted in the Hall of Governors historical timeline.  In fact, there will be three plaques that refer to the War of 1812 and Sackets Harbor will be featured in one of them.  I know that everyone has been concerned about this timeline but rest assured, what has been displayed is simply in draft form and the three final plaques will be unveiled at a future date.”

Statement from Assemblywoman Russell on Board of Regents recommendations

Assemblywoman Addie Russell: Board of Regents recommended school aid reforms are a good first step

"I have called publicly for changes to the way our schools are being funded by the state.  I have introduced a bill in the state assembly to adjust the school aid formula so that a community’s wealth is more accurately reflected when precious resources are divided among school districts.  The bill also aims to stop providing unnecessary aid to wealthy school districts.  We must also stop the use of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) to reduce school aid expenditures by the state.  The GEA is a regressive way to adjust school aid funding and is damaging our neediest schools while having very little impact on wealthy schools.  It is imperative that we address these funding issues and provide a plan for the future that provides for equity in how we fund public education.

"The Board of Regents is meeting today to vote on recommendations on a variety of issues.  I am encouraged that there appears to be an acknowledgment that recent cuts have eroded reforms made to the school aid funding formula in response to the campaign for fiscal equity and that the board must act to address the problem.  The Campaign for Fiscal Equity reforms drove more education dollars to North Country high needs rural districts, in addition to New York City schools.       

"We must use state school aid funding to ensure that all of New York’s children receive a sound basic education.  The cuts resulting from the GEA are jeopardizing our school districts’ ability to ensure our children receive even the most basic education.  Adjustments can be made immediately to address funding inequities.  I can fully support the Board of Regents recommendations to move away from the regressive tools used to balance the states budget and move toward make funding more progressive in the upcoming school year.

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Statement From Assemblywoman Addie Russell on the North Country Regional Council Award

“This is truly one of the finest days for the North Country.  As a Regional Council Best Awardee, our regional plan is receiving more than $103 Million.  These funds will really be the catalyst for creating jobs and boosting our economy.

“I believe that this is extraordinarily good news for the North Country and for Fort Drum.  Our housing gap is at a critical point and the future of Fort Drum depends on its availability.  Fort Drum will be at ‘full nest’ in the near future, meaning that all brigades will be home. Our community must have the available housing stock for our military and civilian residents.  I know that the Pentagon is paying close attention to this issue and so I am pleased that the State is doing its part to help with our housing expansion.

“I want to congratulate the members of the North Country Regional Council for their hard work and dedication, as well as to Tony Collins and Gary Douglas for their superb leadership.  I look forward to getting to work to do what I can do to help put this plan into motion.”

Assemblywoman Addie Russell: New bill brings relief to the North Country, reducing taxes and creating jobs

"Tonight the Assembly passed important legislation which reforms the tax code into a more fair and equitable structure, meaning tax cuts for nearly everyone in the North Country and provisions focused on creating thousands of jobs across the state. The legislation reduces tax rates for nearly 4.4 million New Yorkers and for small businesses. The bill also encourages corporate manufacturers to hire new employees.  The increase in revenue resulting from the reformed tax code – $2 billion for each of the next three years – will provide a significant amount of money to the state, enough to relieve some of the pressure from the state budget.

“This additional revenue stream will allow us to focus our advocacy on important issues facing our communities; instead of our time being dominated by more crippling budget cuts. This legislation puts us on stable fiscal ground going into next year, and in a much better environment to achieve restoration of vital educational funds to suffering schools in the North Country.”

This bill also includes the New York State Works agenda, a provision for job creation through an infrastructure fund. The fund includes investments to replace deficient state and local bridges, rehabilitate dams and flood control structures, renovate parks and rebuild water systems.  For the North Country that will also mean upgrades to our energy infrastructure.  In addition, New York Works also invests in conducting energy retrofits for homes, farms, businesses and schools, as well as pushing forward major SUNY projects. The legislation also designates tax credits to businesses that hire jobless young adults. Funds will also be allocated for job-training programs and can be used to support programs at local school districts and BOCES.

“New York State Works will provide valuable assistance to the North Country’s small businesses, farms and SUNY schools.  Not only will it help put our community back to work, it will also provide our youth with opportunities and training necessary to succeed.  I encourage all local businesses, schools, farmers and manufacturers to take advantage of the assistance made available with these programs.”

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Assemblywoman Addie Russell introduces bill on School Aid Formula Reform

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell (D-Theresa) announced today that she has introduced legislation to address inequities in the state’s school aid formula.  The key aspect of the legislation will adjust the arbitrary floor and ceiling of the wealth ratio in the formula.  Many North Country schools are affected by the floor imposed in the formula because it treats schools with wealth ratios below .65 as if that were their wealth ratio - even though many local wealth ratios fall well below that number.  Similarly at the high end of the scale, wealthy schools are allowed to appear poorer than they are, driving school aid to schools that do not need the funds.  The legislation will lower the floor of the wealth ratio used in the school aid formula to .25 and increase the ceiling to 3.0.  The average wealth ratio across the state is 1.0. 

“At a time when resources are scarce, we must review our policies to ensure they continue to work in practice,” Russell said.  “When school funding increases, the inequity in the formula is not as problematic, but when funding is cut, the problem is serious,” she added.  “Local schools are feeling the brunt of the cuts while wealthy school districts are essentially unaffected,” she stated.   

Russell is also an advocate for enacting a true millionaire’s tax as a compromise to the current millionaire’s tax that is set to expire at the end of December. 

“The revenue from the wealthy can get our state’s educational system back on the right track,” Russell insisted.  “We need to be able to stop further cuts, and reverse the inequitable school aid distribution,” she explained.  “If we do not commit to reforms now and make the tough decisions necessary to fix the inequities, the problem will only grow, making it that much more difficult and expensive to overcome in the future,” she concluded.    

Russell arranged for six area school superintendents to meet with high level assembly budget staff earlier this week.  “It was important for us to inform the budget staff about what the cuts actually mean for our students,” Russell stated.  “You cannot generalize how cuts impact schools because the reality is that our schools are being hurt to a much larger degree than in wealthy areas,” she stated.  “Some local districts have been cut roughly $2,000 per student, while other, very wealthy areas of the state were cut less than $500 per student,” she explained.  “Early advocacy on this issue is critical, and especially timely if we are called back to Albany this month to address the current years’ budget deficit,” she concluded. 

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Assemblywoman Addie Russell Special News Conference

Assemblywoman Addie Russell will hold a special news conference today at 1:30pm at her Watertown office to announce her introduction of a significant bill relating to education funding reform.  Media only. Please RSVP your attendance to Mark Pacilio, chief of staff at mark.pacilio@gmail.com or through text at 315-486-7160.