By Sarah Hall

Editor

In 2006, New York state’s highest court said the state was required to increase the amount of aid it paid out to its public schools. Failing to do so violated the constitutional rights of New York’s students to a “sound, basic education.”

So far, New York has failed to live up to its end of the bargain.

“At this point, Liverpool has lost approximately $100 million dollars in state aid,” said Dr. Mark Potter, superintendent of schools for the Liverpool Central School District.  “The only other area to fund the district budget is local taxes — and program cuts. Both Liverpool and North Syracuse have made significant cuts impacting the career and college readiness for our students.”

In order to limit the tax burden and restore some of that funding going forward, Liverpool and North Syracuse will be hosting a forum entitled “Educating our Future: How Equitable Funding Promotes School Success.” The event will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 9, at the North Syracuse Junior High School on West Taft Road.

The forum is modeled after several hosted over the last two years by the Central New York School Boards Association, which called on the public to lobby their legislators to get rid of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), a program that took aid money from schools to plug the state’s budget gap. Responding to public pressure, the state did away with the GEA as part of the 2016-17 budget.

“The last few years, we’ve focused on the GEA. We’ve put a lot of effort into educating the community about what it was and what it was costing our district. That’s paid off,” said North Syracuse Superintendent Annette Speach. “Now we’re looking at the Foundation Aid situation.”

“Annette and I talked about the serious nature regarding funding for our school districts and we wanted to share our concerns with the community,” Potter said. “We liked the format of the previous forum two years ago, but didn’t want to have CNYSBA host the forum — we wanted it conducted by Liverpool and North Syracuse.”

The two districts are hosting the forum jointly because they share similar demographics and funding needs.

“Liverpool and North Syracuse and very similar in terms of poverty, wealth, and property value,” Potter said. “Given the proximity of the two districts, we thought it would be beneficial combining resources, voices, and taking advantage of their large auditorium, which seats about 1,400.”

Speach and Potter hope the forum will educate residents on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) decision in 2006. The organization was formed in 1993 by a group of parents from New York City, who sued the state for failing to provide students with a quality education. In 2006, the state’s highest court agreed with the group, deciding that the state had failed to provide the necessary resources to receive a “sound, basic education” as guaranteed by the state constitution.

“The lawsuit determined how much is required per district to provide a ‘sound, basic education,’” said Don Keegan, assistant superintendent for business management for North Syracuse. “The whole case was about how much state aid each district should get and how much local taxpayers should pay. The formula is very thorough, taking into account the wealth ratio of each district and whatnot.”

The court ordered the state to pay schools an additional $5.5 billion in operating aid to be phased in from 2007 to 2011. The formula was adopted in 2007 and 2008 — but then the recession hit, and the state froze the formula and instead began taking money from the schools through the GEA. From 2009 to 2012, $2.7 billion was cut from school aid statewide. At the same time, the state introduced tax cap legislation that limited how much schools could raise property taxes, meaning schools were often forced to cut programs and staffing.

As part of last year’s budget, the GEA was cut. However, Foundation Aid levels are still far below the CFE recommendation. According to the CFE, the state still owes schools $3.9 billion, the majority to schools with a high percentage of nonwhite students. In Liverpool, the schools have lost a total of $100 million in the last 10 years.

“We’re losing $9.3 million this year alone,” Keegan said of North Syracuse. “The governor increased our aid by $1.1 million [in this year’s budget], but that’s inadequate.”

The March 9 event will include several speakers, including Potter and Speach, as well as North Syracuse Board of Education President Mike Shusda and students from both districts. There will also be a question and answer session and informational materials on how to contact your state legislator.

If you are unable to attend the event, Potter said Liverpool is creating a “toolbox” that will include contact information for legislators, form letters, talking points and “other resources folks will have at their disposal for speaking with others and being fully informed.  We will also provide the power-point and video of the event on our web pages,” he said.

The whole idea, both superintendents said, is to ensure that residents understand the funding crisis schools are facing — and its roots.

“I really don’t think people in the community have any idea that there is such a thing as this lawsuit that occurred, or that there are millions of dollars of funding that we should be receiving,” Speach said

“We’re in crisis mode right now. North Syracuse is being grossly underfunded. The state is putting North Syracuse and its students and residents in a crisis situation,” Keegan said. “It’s important that people understand that this is affecting not only the quality of education, but also the value of the homes in our community. They’re woefully short of paying what they need to in accordance with the court’s decision.”