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Vote May 16 for the heart of your community Unions work to get out the vote
May 11, 2006 Frances Boyer teaches a class at Amsterdam Middle School in Montgomery County. Educators, union members and parent groups are taking their message to the airwaves and the streets: Vote May 16. With many districts statewide facing an anti-tax-hike sentiment and reporting uncertainty over the devilish details in the state budget, New York State United Teachers members are gearing up for what could be a tough school budget voting day. "The message we need to get out and keep repeating is, 'your vote matters,'" said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi (see President's Perspective). "NYSUT members — more than 525,000 strong — represent a tremendous voting bloc. We need to take that power to the polls and support our public schools," he said. Locals statewide are joining forces with the community to ensure success on school budget voting day. On Long Island , where 21 districts were forced to work under contingency budgets this year, the Amityville Teachers Association is teaming up with School-Related Professionals, CSEA, clergy and the local AFL-CIO to help pass the school budget this year. "Contingency has been a nightmare," said ATA President Ron Weber. "We won't let that happen again." Amityville's budget failed last year by 32 votes. Members of the local have been walking neighborhoods and distributing informational door hangers. The ATA also is using newspaper ads, direct mail and phone banks, Weber said. Hannibal In Oswego County , coalitions are also proving vital in the Hannibal district, where sports and several elementary and secondary teaching positions were lost last year as a result of a contingency budget. Members of the Hannibal Faculty Association and the Home and School Association are joining forces this year not only to get the budget passed, but also to maintain a pro-education school board. "We have a nine-person board and five slots are open," said Terry Dunning, a special education teacher at Hannibal High. "The nature of the entire board of education could change quite a bit." The local is co-hosting a "meet the candidates" night a few days before the budget vote. The association is reaching out to NYSUT members in the district and sending postcards to encourage people to vote. "We don't just want to get out the vote. We want to get out the 'yes' vote," added Dunning, second vice president of the HFA. NYSUT has launched a multi-pronged get-out-the-vote effort, including a $1 million television and radio ad campaign urging New Yorkers to support students and their local schools. Several local unions have received school budget training and learned strategies for reaching out to the community. The statewide union is offering get-out-the-vote postcards on its Web site, www.nysut.org. Neighborly support In districts where tough decisions are already being made, local unions are helping each other. Rome TA President Eugene Terenzetti, who last year dealt with a budget that called for 70 layoffs, has offered assistance to a rural neighbor experiencing a similar situation this year. Terenzetti has reached out to Clinton TA President Sheri Hunter, whose Oneida County local is proposing to cut nearly a dozen teaching positions and impose a tax increase of 10 percent. Terenzetti has offered phone bank assistance, as well as strategies on how to deal with layoffs and survive a bare-bones budget year. "We're talking about real serious program cuts here that will have an impact on the quality of education in the district," Hunter said. "You're talking about cutting into the heart of what the community is all about." — Clarisse Butler Banks |
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