With another year of significant state revenue reductions looming for New York State’s public school districts in 2013-14 and more difficult educational decisions to be made, school district stakeholders are participating in an important event this month to help draw region-wide attention to the fiscal crisis facing all public schools.

District leaders, educators, parents and community members from 47 area school districts are joining together on Thursday, January 31, (snow date is February 7) for a forum entitled, “Your Public Schools in Fiscal Peril – Running Out of Time & Options.” The event, to be held at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Columbia High School, East Greenbush, will illustrate the magnitude of the crisis collectively facing all schools unless significant action is taken during the 2013 New York State legislative session.

Joining Forces
The purpose of joining together as one on January 31 is to:

• Draw regional attention to the looming fiscal crisis facing all public schools and warn of another round of unpopular to untenable school budget cuts forecast for 2013-14.
• Help elected state representatives understand their responsibility to act with urgency to adequately and equitably fund public schools and deliver on the promise of mandate relief.
• Inform and energize influential stakeholder teams in the 47 school districts served by Questar III and Capital Region BOCES, and catalyze grassroots advocacy in communities all around the region.

Headlining the forum is Dr. Rick Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium, who will discuss the importance this legislative session of eliminating the GEA, providing adequate and equitable aid to education, and providing a meaningful measure of mandate relief to school districts.

Following Timbs’ presentation, leaders from three vastly different geographical school districts – suburban Guilderland (Superintendent Dr. Marie Wiles), Schenectady City (Superintendent Larry Spring) and rural Schodack (Superintendent Bob Horan), will offer their personal perspectives on how failure to act in Albany will continue to harmfully impact their students next school year, and for years to come.

The Stark Reality
The stark reality is that due to these economic circumstances, students who graduated in the Class of 2012 may have received the best education that most school districts will be able to offer for the foreseeable future. With the erosion of state aid across the state, staff has been cut and numerous student programs have been reduced and eliminated. Meaningful mandate relief from Albany, while promised by the governor, has not materialized.

As such, the 47 school districts joining forces on January 31, representing more than 112,000 students in two counties, have lost over $110 million in state funding this school year alone due to the state’s Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA).

What’s Next?
Following the January 31 forum, district stakeholders from across the region will be asked to take the next step and mobilize by the hundreds (perhaps thousands) by advocating for change with the elected leaders serving their communities. To help them in that process, the Niskayuna Central School District will host a second forum on the evening of Monday, February 11, to teach effective advocacy strategies and techniques. Joining them will be Robert N. Lowry, Jr., Deputy Director
for Advocacy Research & Communications, for the NYS Council of School Superintendents (NYSCSS).

Education Speaks will be covering the event on January 31. If you are not attending with your district, you can watch the event via live-stream from our blog, or follow along with us on Twitter, as we will be live-tweeting as well. More on this to come next week. We hope you stay with us.