NYSUT RC 10 members Jane Weihe, Priscilla Mueller, and Bonita Maxon join in-service members as they crowd into the office of Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner to talk about the crippling loss of local control caused by the tax cap. Photo by El-Wise Noisette.
BY DEB ESCOBAR, BONITA MAXON and JANE WEIHE 30 Mar 2019
On March 5, 2019, RC 10 members Jane Weihe, Deb Escobar, Priscilla Mueller, Tony McCann, and Bonita Maxon attended the NYSUT Committee of 100 Lobby Day and the information session at the Desmond that occurred the evening before. At the meeting, members heard from Andy Pallotta, Vote Cope Coordinator Jeff Zuckerman, and others. The meeting prepared members with a packet, and the speeches gave understanding to the 28 issues NYSUT was targeting during the lobbying effort. NYSUT Requests and Recommendations included:
- School Aid: Provide a total increase of $2.2 billion ($1.3 billion in Foundation Aid, $409 million to fully fund expense-based aids and $500 million for targeted programs.
- School Spending Reporting and Equity Funding: Reject the executive budget proposal that would require school districts to re-allocate up to 75% of their Foundation Aid increase, in certain instances, to specific schools within a district.
- School Aid Growth Cap: Reject the executive budget proposal that would base the school aid growth cap on a 10-year average of annual income growth, as opposed to the current metric of annual income growth.
- APPR: NYSUT thanks the Legislature for passing S.1262 (Mayer)/A.783(Benedetto) which would allow educators to teach and students to learn.
- Tax Cap: (1) Reject the executive budget proposal that would make the tax cap permanent. (2) Short of a full repeal, enact key reforms to ensure this policy would not continue to harm our students and public education. These reforms include but are not limited to: removing the 60 percent supermajority requirement to exceed the cap; making the cap 2 percent or the average consumer price index, whichever is greater; exempting BOCES capital projects, services and program costs; exempting enrollment growth; exempting costs related to natural disasters; and exempting costs for school safety and school resource officers.
- Power Plants, Tax Certiorari and Final Cost Reports: (1) Increase funding in this year's budget to ensure school districts are fully reimbursed by the state when districts are affected by the closure of power plants, like Indian Point, or where the full valuation of a tax base has been reduced, such as in North Rockland. (2) Eliminate financial penalties for school districts that have ministerial errors on their final cost reports.
- Community Schools/Receivership: (1) Maintain the $200 million in existing community school funding and allocate the proposed new $50 million in Categorical Aid. (2) Continue to provide $75 million exclusively for struggling schools. (3) Repeal the Receivership Law and support policies that have been proven to increase student achievement by allowing struggling schools to use realistic, research-based tools, time frames, and solutions to properly turn around these schools.
- Students with Disabilities (Special Act, 853, 4201 and 4410 Schools): (1) Provide funding parity with surrounding, traditional, public school districts so these schools can maintain and expand services for students. (2) Support the executive budget proposal to provide minimum wage assistance for Special Act, 853, 4201 and 4410 Schools.
- Charter Schools: (1) Oppose the executive budget proposal to increase operating aid and facilities aid to charter schools, without the enactment of legislation to provide transparency and accountability of this industry. (2) Oppose any expension of charter schools until the enactment of transparency and accountability legislation. (3) Implement a charter tuition formula fix to fully reimburse school districts for the per-pupil increase in tuition for charter schools.
- Take a Look at Teaching: Provide $10 million each for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, the Mentor-Teacher Internship Program and the Teaching Opportunity Corps Program to help address the looming teacher shortage, address teacher diversity challenges facing our state and highlight the benefits of a rewarding career in education.
- Teacher Centers and Professional Development: (1) Restore Teacher Center funding to its 2008-9 level of $40 million. (2) Increase funding for National Board Certification to $1 million.
- Career and Technical Education (CTE): (1) Support and expand access to critical CTE programs in BOCES, component districts, and the Big 5 school districts. (2) Increase the aidable salary for all CTE programs, including Special Services Aid in the Big 5 school districts as these districts have limited ability to raise local revenue and, therefore, rely heavily on state funds.
- Special Education Servies: Oppose the executive budget proposal to allow school districts, BOCES, and private schools to petition the State Education Department for flexibility in complying with certain special education requirements.
- Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES): (1) Support the executive budget proposals that allow BOCES to apply for grants for the Advanced Courses Access program and Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program. (2) Address BOCES capital needs, either through an amendment to the tax cap or by providing a dedicated BOCES capital funding program.
- Improving School Climate: Support the executive budget proposal to direct $3 million to increase the use of therapeutic approaches to student discipline through activities such as restorative justice techniques, therapeutic crisis intervention, staff training on alternative discipline and trauma-informed education.
- Comprehensive Mental Health Curriculum: Provide school districts with adequate funding so they may offer a more robust and comprehensive mental healt curriculum, as required by state law.
- State Investment in SUNY and CUNY: Make operating aid for public higher education a priority in this year's budget negotiations.
- CUNY Wage Justice for Adjuncts: Allocate $150 million to address adjunct salary parity issues at CUNY and provide adjuncts with wage justice.
- Eliminate the TAP Gap: Provide $150 million ($64M SUNY/$86M CUNY to eliminate the TAP GAP at these public institutions of higher learning so they will be able to maintain current programs and services for our students.
- Community Colleges: Provide an increase of $250 per full-time equivalent student in this year's enacted budget.
- SUNY Hospitals: Restore the state subsidy to the SUNY hospitals to the SFY 2017-18 level of $87 million.
- Protecting Public Employees From Union Busting Activities: Support the executive budget proposal to protect union members from organizations that seek to obtain personal information through freedom of information policies, in an attempt to disseminate propaganda designed to erode union membership.
- Protecting Collective Bargaining Agreements: Oppose the executive budget proposal to include collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that have not been ratified by union membership from being subject to the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).
- Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA): Oppose the executive budget proposal to freeze Medicare Part B premiums and to eliminate the IRMAA reimbursement for NYSHIP retirees.
- Differential Premiums (Sliding Scale) for Future NYSHIP Retirees: Oppose the executive budget proposal to require new state employees to pay health insurance premiums on a sliding scale, based on their years of service, as opposed to paying the same premium, regardless of years served.
- Revenue Enhancement: Enact a progressive tax plan for the state's highest earners, who make more than $5 million a year, which would raise several billion dollars annually in new revenue to support public education, health care, and infrastructure improvements.
RC 10 members attended the following meetings with legislators:
John McDonald – Bonita reports that he was agreeable with the areas discussed.
Jake Ashby – Ashby is a newly elected Assemblymember, and teaches part-time at Maria College. He is from a family of teachers, and was agreeable with most of our issues, including the need to not make the property tax cap permanent. He was also pro-BOCES, pro-SUNY CUNY adjunct assistance, and supportive of teacher centers.
Carrie Woerner – She was very supportive and in response to NYSUT’s support of community schools, she wants to visit Troy’s Community School.
Angelo Santabarbara – As always, he is very supportive of education. He realizes the need to have exemptions from the tax cap so that money “is not taken away from education.” He is very concerned with mental health and school climate. He has been working with others on Jacob’s Law – which affects the reporting of bullying to parents under DASA. He understands the need to encourage students to go into teaching programs,
Patricia Fahy – Representatives met with Legislative Assistant Jake Egloff. He will discuss the amendments to the tax cap, need for more foundation aid, receivership law, and impact of testing with the assemblywoman.
Senator Daphne Jordan (SD43) – Our representatives were told to go from the 5th floor to the 9th, which made a few of them late. This being her first year as a Senator, we thought she would have made time for us but instead, we met with Patrick Cronin, the Legislative Director. He would not give us any commitment as to her views on the areas we discussed. This Senator also does not yet have a district office.
Senator George Amedore - Deb attended this meeting but was shut out due to lack of room in his new (minority) office. She spoke to his aide Dan in the hallway. He took notes, agreed on our funding proposals and said Amedore is behind programs to get new teachers into classrooms. Noncommital about the tax cap – called it “fuzzy math.
Mary Beth Walsh – Jane attended this meeting because Assemblymember Walsh represents the BHBL School District. Walsh expressed support for many changes to the tax cap, including making the cap 2% or the average of the CPI, whichever is greater (as opposed to the current situation where it is whichever is lower, meaning the 2% tax cap in recent years has not been 2%, but less). She was also supportive of exempting certain costs from the tax cap and removing the 60 percent supermajority required to exceed the cap. She also expressed support for mandate relief but was not specific about which mandates she would like to remove.