On March 4 th and 5 th , at the New York State Capital and Legislative Office Building over 500 NYSUT members attended the Committee of 100 (C-100) legislative lobbying day. A group of NYSUT activists from Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Warren, and Washington Counties met with our legislators on Tuesday, March 5 th . Other members of the Committee of 100 spoke with legislators in the western part of RC-9. Those legislators we spoke with; Assemblyman Billy Jones, Assemblyman Matt Simpson, and Senator Dan Stec.
The focus of this C-100 visitation was focused on State Aid and other revenue issues related to the state budget presented by the Governor earlier this year.
● Foundation aid to properly fund our schools and keep the promise of fully funding our schools under the foundation aid formula. Many of the districts across the state and within our region of RC-9 have lost millions of dollars in state “Save Harmless Aid”. With tax caps it is impossible for any of these districts to raise local taxes to fix the budget problems these losses will create. All three legislators support a budget that restores these losses. All of RC-9 school districts have a $15 million loss in save harmless aid under the Governor’s budget.
● We were seeking support of $100,000,000 for increasing the number of Community schools models across the state.
● We pushed for more funds to help with greater availability of Career and Technical Education courses at our BOCES. Part of this is to remove the restrictions on money that can go toward the 1990 cap of $30,000 for instructor salary aid.
● We asked and argued for the restoration of the $21.4 million cut from the teacher centers. There is strong support for this among our legislators.
● This year a new request has been added and that is having the state work on assistance in helping all schools deal with extreme heat in schools. This is a new one for them but an old issue for all who are in our schools during those extremely hot days in the fall and spring.
● The call for fixing Tier VI and support for such is gaining momentum but will be slow in coming. There was a large rally on the “Million Dollar Staircase” in the capital with several legislators and labor leaders speaking out.
● We pushed the legislators to put APPR back into the hands of local control. We emphasized that this discussion has been going on too long and a solution is expected this year. ***Since the Committee of 100 this has happened. **
This fall we will ask you to remember to renew your membership (or join if you have not joined before) in RC-9 and your sub council. It is this involvement that makes your NYSUT Retiree Council so important for you to join and support. We are NYSUT and have been there for you in your entire career and will be there in retirement.
Editor’s note: We expect that when you receive this newsletter the budget will have been passed. The work of our
union never ends.
