Bedford School Community Urges State Funding Changes
Passionate calls to make changes to New York’s education financing formulas were delivered last week to three local state legislators by Bedford School District community members who fear that inequitable funding will imperil the district.
State senators George Latimer (D-Rye) and Terrence Murphy (R-Yorktown) and Assemblyman David Buchwald (D-White Plains) listened to speakers for close to three hours during a Feb. 16 state budget forum at Bedford Town Hall. Many of those in the crowd demanded the lawmakers fight for changes because of factors that contributed toward making Bedford the third most fiscally stressed school district in New York in 2015-16, according to the state comptroller’s office.
“People are angry. They’re angry at Albany, they’re angry at these policies that are squeezing our school district, that are draining our resources, adding to our costs and will continue to add to our costs,” said resident and parent Keith Ferguson.
The speakers, which included Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Manno, said that Bedford has the seventh highest percentage of English Language Learners among the 46 school districts in Westchester and Putnam counties. However, it is ranked 40th among those districts in state aid received.
Bedford also is ranked 11th in free and reduced lunch participation in the two counties.
However, a state calculation using district wealth has Bedford as one of the wealthier districts despite the significant pockets of poverty, thereby limiting its state aid.
“The manner in which state aid is apportioned to school districts will continue to pose serious challenges for the Bedford Central School District, first because it does not recognize the significant needs of our population and the costs connected with the programming and the seriousness of our needs,” Manno said.
Another hurdle is the regional cost index that groups Westchester with districts in the mid and upper Hudson Valley where there is a lower cost of living, hurting all districts throughout the county, Latimer said. Meanwhile, Nassau County, which is similar to Westchester, is grouped with New York City, giving it more state resources.
Other speakers bristled at the tax cap, which doesn’t permit flexibility. Last year, the board of education voted to exceed the cap for the May vote, but it received only 59 percent, just shy of the 60 percent threshold needed to override.
As a result, the district was forced to cut 52 positions for the June revote, including scrapping most of its elementary school librarians and increasing class sizes to exceed board of education guidelines, Manno said. It has one librarian splitting time among the districts five primary schools.
With budget deliberations about to commence for the 2017-18 spending plan, community members fear that more cuts could be in the offing unless funding increases.
Mount Kisco Elementary School music teacher Carolyn Rowan said the music and arts program is hanging on and if more cuts are needed it would decimate what’s left.
“For some kids that’s the only reason why they come to school,” Rowan said. “That’s the other part of life. It’s not what we are teaching for the future.”
Others said with costs spiraling if there is no relief from the formulas, the tax cap or unfunded mandates, Bedford schools will be damaged.
“The lack of adequate funding hurts everyone in our district,” said Julie Williams, the parent of two children in the district.” There’s no one that wins from this. The problem is only getting worse. Based on the trajectory we’re on, it’s unsustainable.”
The legislators said there are various legislative proposals, among them forcing the state to pay for various state mandates. While they pledged to continue fighting, Latimer, Murphy and Buchwald urged the public to send e-mails to the governor’s office, SED and legislative leaders.
“I’m fairly new up there but the squeaky wheel does get heard, and so if we can get a tremendous amount of letters directed into SED and let them know this is a massive issue and we have them coming over the top on this, it gets listened to,” Murphy said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
