Hi John,
September is just days away. And with each passing day, Cuomo’s threat of 20 percent cuts to our schools becomes more and more likely — just as schools plan to reopen amidst one of the greatest challenges that has ever been confronted.
New York’s schools are facing a crisis of future-altering proportions, and we must decide whether we will move forward into a better future, or one that deepens the inequity and injustices of our past. The time is now: the New York State Assembly and Senate must get back to Albany and pass legislation to raise revenue to protect our schools. Email your legislators now.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousin have both said they support taxing the wealthy instead of making cuts. But we need more than just words, we need action.
School districts around the state have already begun to prepare for the worst, especially schools serving predominantly Black, Brown and low-income students, which have been chronically underfunded by New York State. Rochester is planning to cut $128 million from its budget; New York City announced they could lay off 9,000 educators. Districts across the state are now facing the same impossible calculations, at a time when they were already struggling to find funding in order to reduce class sizes, purchase technology and train educators in new teaching practices.
Andrew Cuomo has a history of pushing an agenda that has the potential to destroy public schools, and these devastating cuts are no different. Cutting funding for public schools to the bone during a crisis opens the door to privatizers to step in to fill the gap, and threatens the very fabric of our public education system in the long term. In New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina spelled the end of public schools, which never reopened after the storm. The pandemic has proven just how vital our public schools are to our communities, as hubs that provide everything from meals to child care for essential workers. It is essential that we support them so they can continue to serve our children and their families when this health crisis is over.
For New York State to intentionally hold back 20 percent of state funding for public education at any time is unconscionable; to do so now, weeks before schools are set to reopen amidst a pandemic, is a direct attack on the safety of students, educators and our communities.
Email your State Senator and Assemblymember now! The New York State legislature must return to Albany to pass legislation to raise revenue to protect our schools from this catastrophic loss of school aid as they prepare to reopen.
In solidarity,
Jasmine Gripper
Alliance for Quality Education
