These are challenging times for most New York schools. Buffeted by declining state aid and mounting property tax fatigue, school districts are struggling to maintain educational programs with fewer and fewer resources. As chair of the Senate Education Committee, I fought hard to avert devastating mid-year cuts to state education aid in 2009, affording school districts an opportunity to plan for the difficult fiscal year ahead. But with a projected budget deficit of $9 billion, the grim reality is that education funding, like virtually all areas of state spending, will experience reductions this year. So what can we, as state legislators, do to help our schools weather the prolonged economic downturn?

That is the difficult task facing the education committees of both legislative houses. My approach in the Senate has been two-fold. First, we must reduce or eliminate state mandates that impose costs. Second, we must empower our school districts with greater flexibility to use existing resources more effectively. Over the past month, the Senate Education Committee has acted favorably on several key components of my reform agenda. These bills would:

• Prohibit the implementation of new state mandates after the start of a school fiscal year;

• Enable Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to provide additional shared services to member school districts and study the viability of cost-sharing arrangements in areas such as health care and bulk pre scri ption drug purchasing;

• Permit school districts to hire a single general contractor for school construction projects rather than multiple contractors as required under the Wicks Law. This measure is expected to save up to 30 percent of a school’s construction costs, potentially saving state taxpayers $200 million a year;

• Reduce or eliminate duplicative paperwork requirements;

• Authorize the creation of reserve funds for future employer contributions to the Teachers’ Retirement System;

• Allow school districts the flexibility to use unexpended Universal Pre-kindergarten Program funds to maximize the number of children who are served.



Additional cost savings could be had by permitting school districts, through BOCES or another vehicle, to share or consolidate services with municipalities and other public entities. I am currently drafting legislation to allow such arrangements, which New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has estimated could save $765 million tax dollars. I also support legislation to provide a temporary early retirement option for qualifying NYSUT members who are at least 55 years of age and have at least 25 years of service.

These measures taken together will benefit students by preserving resources for core educational programs and reducing teacher layoffs, while easing the pressures on local property taxes. At the same time, the State must aggressively pursue all available sources of education funding. Earlier this year, the State Education Department submitted a strong application for federal Race to the Top funds that included innovative reforms to overhaul teacher training and certification and new ways to collect and track student data and performance. I am pleased that the Obama administration named New York one of 16 finalists for this federal funding.

In good times and in bad, we must honor our commitment to the children of New York. It is my privilege to chair the Senate Education Committee, and I will continue to fight for ways to enrich the educational experience of all our students and better prepare them for success in the global economy. For educating our children to achieve their full potential remains our best hope for sustained economic and social prosperity. Our students are our future, and whatever the challenges that lie before us, we must not lose sight of that reality. 


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Suzi Oppenheimer, a Democrat representing parts of Westchester County, is chair of the Senate Education Committee.