(Long Island, NY) “Yesterday’s announcement by the Governor and the legislative leaders of a preliminary agreement to add $240 million in school aid to the Governor’s budget would mean more classroom cuts across the state,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education. “The Education Committee Chairs both announced at yesterday’s conference committee that they will push for more education funding which is heartening. They need to get another $400 million to achieve the recommendations of the Board of Regents and avoid more program cuts for our kids. The money can be found. Instead of investing in our public schools, Governor Cuomo is proposing tax cuts for bankers and millionaires and his so-called “tax freeze” that is designed to redistribute funding from poorer upstate communities to wealthy downstate suburbs. Meanwhile, the Senate Majority wants to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on private and charter schools through their tax credit proposal. All of this while the State continues to ignore its obligation under the Campaign for Fiscal Equity to fairly and adequately fund our schools. New York’s 3 million public school children need the Governor and the Legislature to make our public schools a priority.”
About AQE
The Alliance for Quality Education is a coalition mobilizing communities across the state to keep New York true to its promise of ensuring a high quality public education to all students regardless of zip code, income or race. Combining its legislative and policy expertise with grassroots organizing, AQE advances proven-to-work strategies that lead to student success and echo a powerful public demand for a high quality education.
