"Educate NY Now" Rally Held At H. Lee Dennison Building

A rally to “Educate NY Now” was held outside the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge on Thursday, September 20, 2012.

According to the organizers the point of the rally was to bring attention to the educational crisis that is unfolding in the schools.  Teachers from local districts were in the crowd as were students, parents, grand-parents, union representatives and administrators. Speakers condemned the two percent tax-cap and cuts in programming.

Calling the tax-cap “policy folly”, the speakers placed the blame for the educational crisis on elected officials. The audience was speckled with signs condemning Gov. Cuomo and Senate Majority Leader Skelos. 

According the Educate NY Now web site – NYS is facing an educational crisis.

 1. Class sizes have grown, school buildings have been closed, and schools have cut advance placement courses, tutoring career and technical education, arts, music, sports, foreign languages, kindergarten, pre-kindergarten, high school electives and more.

2.  More than 30,000 educators have been cut from schools.

3. There needs to be an approach to school finance which does not overburden local property taxpayers, is fair and equitable, and provides the opportunity for all students to receive a quality education.

According to the organizers  - The combination of the newly imposed cap on state school aid and the cap on local funding through property taxes is detrimental to education.  These caps and a reduction in state funding will leave NYS’s children unprepared to meet the global challenges and competition they will face.

NYSUT (New York States Union of Professional Teachers) on their website has the following guiding principles the Educate NY Now Campaign.

Statement of Principles 

The Statement of Principles for Educate NY Now! Calls for New York’s elected leaders to: 

* Prioritize successful student achievement, instead of undermining the quality of our schools. 
* Ensure educational equity and that all students have access to a high quality education that opens up personal and economic opportunities for them and benefits the future of New York. Prepare all students for college or other post secondary education, careers, and life. 
* Support public education as an engine for economic growth. Reverse the numerous cuts to the quality of education that our schools have been forced to implement. 
* Fulfill the moral, economic and constitutional imperative to provide every student a “sound, basic education.” 

The Statement of Principles identifies the following policies as undermining the quality of education: 

* The State has significantly reduced its role in funding our schools and passed the burden on to local communities. Ten years ago the state covered almost 50% of the costs of educating students, now the State covers only 40%. State funding for schools is now below what it was 4 years ago and this does not even account for inflation. 

* The combination of the newly imposed cap on state school aid and the cap on local funding through property taxes will force schools to continue cutting the quality of education year in and year out. 
* New York State has largely abandoned its commitments under the Campaign for Fiscal Equity to provide statewide funding for a “sound, basic education” which is the constitutional obligation.