Consequences of aid loss, rising costs felt in vote results
When the smoke cleared after Tuesday’s school budget vote, three
of HFM BOCES 15 component school districts saw proposed spending
plans rejected by their respective voters. Amsterdam,
Broadalbin-Perth and Northville Boards of Education will
reconvene to discuss their next steps after the defeat of their
proposed budgets. [more]
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Districts average spending increase of less than 0.1 percent
Loss of revenue drives tax levy increases for HFM BOCES schools
Immediately
following the passage of New York State’s $132.5 billion budget
for 2011, Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy said that the $1.3
billion cut in education spending would not hurt students,
despite the outcry of school districts around the state. His
comments echoed Governor Andrew Cuomo’s earlier claim that
school districts were only using students as “pawns in a
political game.” Oh, really?
HFM BOCES’ 15 component school districts lost more than $11
million in state aid for the upcoming school year, an average
reduction of 10.36 percent per district. Combined with
skyrocketing expenses, area school districts struggled to
maintain existing programs without burdening their communities
with crippling property tax increases. [more]
COMMENTARY
- Friday, April 15, 2011
Help build a new barn
Collaboration between state and schools needed to create real
change
by
Dr. Patrick Michel, HFM BOCES District Superintendent
There
is a saying in rural upstate New York that I have heard several
times now: “Any idiot can tear a barn down, but it takes a
community to build one.”
Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy, in a commentary published in
the Times Union, has accused school districts of inefficiency
and poor management, downplaying the impact of a $1.27 billion
cut in state aid for schools.
Use up your reserves and spend your federal jobs money, Mr.
Duffy tells school districts, and the kids will be fine. Schools
will hardly notice the millions withheld from them. [more]
COMMENTARY
- Friday, April 8, 2011
Creating the new Appalachia
Upstate educational opportunities flowing downstream with state
aid dollars
by
Dr. Patrick Michel, HFM BOCES District Superintendent
I received an article from a fellow BOCES Superintendent titled
“New
York’s own Appalachia in the making” by Mark Gillespia, the
general manager and editor of the Livingston County News in
Geneseo, New York. My first reaction was to bristle at the
title. I am in the process of making upstate New York my new
home. However, when I read the content I had to agree with
Gillespia’s conclusions.
The new budgetary policies out of Albany focus on further
divesting Upstate New York of fiscal support for education,
especially in small cities and rural areas. The result is the
creation of poverty levels seen in pre-WWII Appalachia. [more]
Thursday, March 31, 2011
School districts in HFM BOCES region see slight net increase in
state aid
Funding inequities still not addressed under revised state
budget
While Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders celebrate a
rare, on-time budget agreement, HFM BOCES school districts, like
others across upstate New York, are taking a close look at the
restoration of funds for education.
Negotiations in Albany restored $230 million of the proposed
$1.5 billion cut originally proposed by the governor, but the
aid distribution still reduces state aid to HFM BOCES’ 15
component districts by an average $800,668 per district – for a
10.36 percent decrease in state aid compared to 2010-11. [more]
Monday, March 27, 2011
Editorial:
Fix state formula so poorest school districts get more
Upstate-downstate battle being lost up here...
Daily Gazette, Schenectady, NY
Sunday, Mar. 27, 2011
Even if the state Legislature restores some of the $1.5 billion
in school aid Gov. Cuomo proposed cutting, this is shaping up as
one of the roughest budget years for school districts across the
state in recent memory. And as a story in Monday’s Gazette
indicated, it could be the roughest of all on poor rural
districts in places like Gloversville and Amsterdam, because the
degree to which a community’s income levels get factored into
the state’s foundation aid formula is limited. That hardly seems
fair. [more]
Friday, March 25, 2011
Superintendents Council: Almost all districts would get less
state aid than in 2008-09 under Governor’s budget
Current proposal drops HFM BOCES districts 15.6% below 2008-09
aid amounts
All but two of the state’s 676 major school districts would see
their state aid for operating purposes fall below 2008-09 levels
if Governor Cuomo’s proposed cuts are enacted, a study by the
New York State Council of School Superintendents has found.
[Read complete story]
Wednesday,
March 16, 2011
Education leaders join forces with legislators to seek
more equitable distribution of school aid
Governor’s proposed budget would devastate
local school programs; grassroots effort launched
JOHNSTOWN
– Local school leaders and three area legislators have a clear
message they want politicians in Albany to hear:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s
proposed distribution of school funding for 2011-12 is patently
unfair to poor, rural schools. Adopt his proposed budget, they
say, and it would be the “kiss of death” to programs and
services that thousands of students in the
Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES region – and indeed across New
York – count on to help them meet the state’s learning standards
as they prepare for college and careers.
“We know that New
York State is facing unprecedented fiscal challenges,” said HFM
BOCES District Superintendent Patrick Michel. “We’re not asking
the Legislature to add one dime to the governor’s proposed
budget for 2011-12. What we are asking our legislators to do is
recalculate how state aid is distributed so that the schools in
greatest need are not asked to bear the largest cuts.”
“Today’s kids are
being shortchanged for tomorrow. The losses they would
face under the governor’s proposed budget would be
tremendous – and unnecessary. This could all be resolved
if the available state funding is more fairly
distributed.”
Dr. Pat Michel
Legislators pledge
support
State Senator Hugh Farley and
Assemblymen George Amedore and Marc Butler have pledged to join HFM BOCES and 15
component school districts in their efforts to have the state funding plan
reworked. All three legislators sent representatives to a press conference held
March 16 at the HFM BOCES campus in Johnstown, where a crowd of parents,
students, local business representatives, teachers and board members heard their
message.
“While we all recognize the
state is facing a $10 billion deficit, the governor’s budget was
particularly unfair and inequitable to upstate,” said Sen. Hugh
Farley. “Our schools were hit the hardest.” On Monday, the
Senate passed its own proposed state budget for next year, which
would add $280 million for school funding. Most of that
additional funding would be given to upstate schools, Farley
said.
In New York
State, the governor proposes a state budget, and the Senate and
Assembly will typically each adopt modified versions. Both
houses must eventually vote on one final budget, which the
governor must then either approve or veto. All of this, by law,
is supposed be done prior to April 1 when the new fiscal year
starts, but in most years, a state budget agreement is not in
place April 1. [more]
SAVE
OUR SCHOOLS
There
is a saying in rural upstate New York that I have heard several
times now: “Any idiot can tear a barn down, but it takes a
community to build one.” 
COMMENTARY
Editorial:
Fix state formula so poorest school districts get more
