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Update January 2006 Vol. 11 #1
Happy New Year! The 2006 Legislative session begins what will be a very active and important political year. In addition to the prospect of a State budget deficit ranging anywhere from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion for the 2006-07 fiscal year, all 212 legislative members are facing elections in the fall. Also, the upcoming gubernatorial election will mark the first time in over two decades that an incumbent will not be running for Governor. Closing the funding gap between wealthy and needy districts throughout the state and addressing chronic funding problems in higher education are major priorities for the union this year. Also, we will challenge the Executive's efforts to "dramatically" expand charter schools. As part of these efforts, we will be sending many communications including the Legislative Update, PAC alerts and e-mails as well as regular postings on the NYSUT website regarding the many political and policy related issues that we will be involved in as the year progresses. Please check regularly for information about the issues and what you can to do help. With so much at stake for our union, it is only with your continued participation and commitment that we can be decisive in shaping the landscape in which we will pursue our agenda over the next several years. The Executive's State budget is expected to be submitted Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. A special edition of the Update will be posted with an initial analysis of the budget proposal. With the New Year, I would like to welcome and wish good luck to Steve Allinger, our new Director of Legislation. Steve has been an education advocate for over 25 years. In addition to his years of advocacy, Steve is an expert in the technical aspects of education policy and possesses first hand knowledge of the governmental processes. I would like to extend my deepest appreciation and thanks to Debra Nelson for her years of outstanding service and accomplishment as Legislative Director. In solidarity, Alan B. Lubin
2006 – STATE OF THE STATE January 4, Governor Pataki delivered his twelfth State of the State Address as the prelude to his final State budget. Although there is a $2 billion surplus expected this year, the estimated deficit for the 2006-07 fiscal year ranges anywhere from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion. The Governor's speech outlined initiatives in five key areas: education, public safety, tax reduction, economics, and energy conservation. With the exception of education however, little detail was given about the issues that directly affect working families such as the mounting crisis in healthcare, underinvestment in education and higher education and job creation and protection in our communities. We eagerly await the Executive Budget to examine the details of all of these areas. Education initiatives Comprehensive educational reform and enhancement package including:
Although the Governor committed to providing additional funding for high-needs schools, he avoided any reference to the CFE lawsuit. In addition, until the language is available it is unclear how these proposals would work with the NCLB requirements. Higher Education
Higher Ed/Technology
Tax cut initiatives
In his State of the State Address the Governor stated that “Charter Schools have been a great success - competition works.” He called on the Legislature to “dramatically expand charter schools throughout the entire state.” The stage has been set for the charter school battle. We will be taking the lead to ensure that a high standard of education in New York is maintained. We oppose lifting the statewide cap of 100 charter schools. We will not allow the arbitrary expansion of a largely unproven and unsuccessful program at the expense of the vast majority of our students. Charter schools are draining thousands of dollars per student from the public school districts who are responsible for educating the vast majority of the state's students, with disastrous consequences for quality of education for the majority of those students. Charter schools' financial drain on school districts represent a real financial loss to the district because school districts' fixed costs don't fall by much when a student leaves creating budget shortfalls, property tax increases and programs and services reductions or elimination. With the exception of a few, such as the “ Teachers Elementary Charter School in Brooklyn ,” which is off to a promising start, the majority of charter schools have failed. They have not achieved their original legislative mandate of improving student learning and achievement. Even in the cases where scores have been increased, they have not compared to the level of overall achievement of public schools who serve all populations of students including those with disadvantages and disabilities. Albany – A Bad Example Albany , a city of fewer than 100,000 people currently has six charter schools. Last year the city committed $10.2 million to charter schools. Meanwhile the district laid-off 63 administrators, teachers and instructional support staff members. Not even fully implemented, only six out of nine schools have been started. As these other schools start up even more scarce resources will be drained. As part of our charter schools campaign, we have drafted and introduced the following bills. S. 4990 (Maziarz)/ A. 8477 (Bradley) - Seeks to limit the combined charter school population within a school district to no more than five percent of the school district's total enrollment. S. 4948 (Maziarz)/ A. 7504 (Tonko) – Provides for a more stringent and accountable charter school application process while involving participation of the school district community affected by the charter school. This bill encourages more local control over the fate of proposed charter schools within a district. A. 2284 (McEneny ) – Prevents the approval of any charter school application (conversion charter school) when the school has shown a history of anti-union animus. S. 3096 (Balboni)/ A. 3279 (John ) – Expands prevailing wage legislation to include charter schools and provides all employees of a newly created charter school, with an enrollment of 250 or more students the right to collectively bargain.
TAKE ACTION ON CFE NOW - Contact your elected state representatives now. The State budget is just around the corner, kicking off the issues that will dominate this legislative session and nothing has been done to implement the CFE court ruling to provide a sound, basic education for all students. We need to get out early on this issue. Now is the time to make your voice heard. Log onto http://www.nysut.org “contact your elected representatives” and send a web letter calling for the implementation of a statewide solution to the CFE case this year. UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE HEARINGS Education reform and responsible tax policy is another fight we will continue this year. The Senate has introduced its “ Rebate-NY” legislative proposal , a comprehensive, three year, 25 point school and municipal property tax cut legislative package. We have indicated our support to the Senate for moving in a direction that will provide property tax relief for homeowners, but it must maintain adequate funding for education. The proposal is very detailed and we will be carefully examining the proposal over the next several weeks. In addition to the several tax cut and rebate initiatives, the proposal includes many components of concern that will directly impact the content, structure and process of school budgets and financing. In light of the current CFE decision and No Child Left Behind requirements we will be fighting to keep funding for education in the classroom and not to diminish already scarce resources. We will be participating in upcoming legislative hearings on the proposal in order to pose questions about our concerns and to continue our call for statewide equity in education funding. Watch for additional information on the hearings and this issue. NYSUT FIGHTS FOR PUBLIC PENSION Attacking public pension systems is the latest assault on working families. At a time when we are experiencing an increasing number of damaging and misinformed attacks on workers' pension by some conservative and ideological groups and many private pension funds are in collapse, NYSUT is gearing up to fight hard to protect the public pensions that so many working families rely upon. Watch for the January 19 edition of the New York Teacher for an important discussion of what is going on and what we need to do to protect all of our futures. SPECIAL ELECTIONS There are several special elections coming up early in 2006. Election dates should soon be set by the Governor.
PAC Reporting Forms In an effort to make monthly PAC reporting responsibilities much easier, PAC coordinators now have the option of sending reports to NYSUT HQ through e-mail. We have sent all PAC coordinators a PAC reporting form template along with directions for use. The templates can be saved on the computer and reused each month. Should you have any trouble with the forms, please feel free to call or e-mail Theresa Manny (tmanny@nysutmail.org). PAC Binders - New and Improved The Legislative Department has updated and revised its PAC binder. The new binders will be more comprehensive and more user-friendly. In order to better reflect your needs and provide a more useful tool, we have sent copies to a few of our veteran PAC coordinators for additional comments and suggestions. The new binders will be provided to you prior to the Committee of 100. Eco Friendly Information In an effort to be more environmentally and cost conscious, beginning with the next issue, the Legislative Update will go “paperless.” All those who currently receive the publication electronically will continue to receive it and it will continue to be posted on the NYSUT website. Anyone who does not have access to a computer or to an electronic version should call Theresa Manny in the Legislative Department (1-800-342-9810 or 518-213-6000 ext. 6621) and a paper copy will be mailed. We hope to see this initiative expanded throughout the organization not only as a cost saving measure, but as a way to be more environmentally proactive. In addition to this initiative we are continuing to look for ways to reduce waste, costs and be more efficient. Your suggestions and ideas are always welcome.
FEDERAL AGENDA We are waiting to hear what the President's agenda is to be for the coming year. The President's State of the Union will be delivered the first week in February. When Congress begins work in February, the budget reconciliation bills will likely be the first items of business. In exchange for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, important domestic programs such as student loan funding, Medicaid and other vital programs will be put in jeopardy. The total cut to student loan programs comes to $12.7 billion. The brunt of the deficit reduction—one-third of the total $40 billion in proposed cuts over the next five years, will be put on the backs of college students. ACE PROGRAM The A.C.E. (Activists for Congressional Education) Program is off to a good start and we have received some very useful reports. Thank you all for your hard work, especially during the busy holiday season.
* March 20 - There will be a mandatory PAC meeting prior to the Committee of 100. Dates to follow. ** August 7-9 - There will be a mandatory PAC meeting prior to the Endorsement Conference. Dates to follow. |
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