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Dear Parents and Students:
With the arrival of 2003, the Riverhead
School District is well on its way planning for 2003-04. A major
part of our planning includes the preparation of the school budget,
which will be voted on in May.
As many of you are aware,
Governor Pataki in his 2003 State of the State address focused
on promoting economic development, managing state budget deficits,
holding the line on taxes, combating crime and terrorism and rebuilding
lower Manhattan.
On the issue of the state
budget the Governor stated, “We face a fiscal crisis today
of a magnitude that we have not faced in our lifetime.”
He announced that, “The
budget plan I will put forward in three weeks will spend less
money than we did last year. With the exception of public security,
no segment of the budget will be exempt.” This clearly suggests
that a cut in education funding will be proposed. I have received
additional information that indicates the State will be extremely
late adopting a budget, which again places the school district
at a disadvantage in planning our budget. The most recent reports
from Albany indicate that the State will be facing a budget deficit
somewhere between 8 and 10 billion dollars.
I must again call upon the
taxpayers of our community to contact our state legislators, and
request that education funding be one of its absolute highest
priorities. Research by the State Education Department confirms
the clear linkage between student poverty, school resources and
academic performance: the poorest children most often attend schools
with the most limited resources and achieve the weakest results.
I am requesting that all parents,
students and staff contact our representatives (Link
to Legislators' addresses), Member of the
Assembly Patricia Acampora, Member of the Assembly Fred Thiele
and Senator Kenneth LaValle, and express your concerns regarding
the following:
- Urge the Legislature to simplify state aid,
by streamlining data requirements and consolidating aid categories.
This should enhance predictability, as would timely adoption
of the state budget.
- Urge the Legislature to place and abide by
a moratorium on new unfunded mandates, and reconsider and rescind
some of the existing unfunded mandates.
- Urge the Legislature to reform the Wicks Law.
The Wicks Law requires school districts to use multiple contractors
on most construction projects. Studies have indicated that Wicks
adds as much as 14 percent to project costs and results in increased
taxes.
- Urge the Legislature to place a moratorium
on new charter schools, provide supplemental state aid for districts
heavily affected by charter schools, and exclude charter school
costs from expenditures those districts must accommodate within
a contingency budget.
- The last point is extremely important. If a
school budget is defeated twice, a capped or contingency budget
requires that the district provide payment to the charter school,
even if the district must cut programs for students in order
to provide the payment to the charter school.
- Urge the Legislature to continue to provide
adequate state aid for education.
With increasing contractual obligations
and increasing cost of living, a flat line (no increase) in state
aid is the same as a cut. A cut in state aid is even more devastating.
Now is the time to have your voice heard. Please take the time
out of your busy schedule to contact our state legislators, and
urge them to support the educational programs for our children.
The names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of our
representatives in Albany are listed in a link to this letter.
Thank you for your support.
George
L. Duffy III, Superintendent of Schools
P.S.--This letter was written before the release
of the Governor’s Budget on January 30. At the time it was
written, we were not sure of the final figures. They are even
worse than anticipated. It is, therefore, even more critical that
we contact our state representatives on this matter! |
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