Legislature Makes the Right Choice for Schools. Veto Overrides Restore $1.1 Billion to Education
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders

Year after year, Governor Pataki has tried to slash education spending, and year after year, the Assembly restores it. In fact, prior to this year, the Assembly had successfully restored $2.8 billion of the Governor’s education cuts.

This year was no different. The Governor wanted to cut $1.4 billion from schools. The Assembly and Senate came together to make a better choice, restoring $1.1 billion for the coming school year. Both houses voted to successfully override 119 Pataki vetoes. As a result, effective education programs will be spared, and here in New York City, our schools will receive a restoration of upwards of $360 million—about 85 percent—of the $422 million cut in the Governor’s budget. And this restoration is in addition to the funding that was also included to underwrite costs associated with the second year of the salary increases provided in the New York City teachers’ contract, to help the school system, hopefully, succeed in attracting— and retaining—qualified teachers. (Shamefully, the Governor hadn’t budgeted even one dollar for teachers’ salaries in New York City.)

Neither our state nor our children could afford the Governor’s wrong choices. That is why the Assembly and Senate came together in a spirit of bipartisanship to make the right choices for children and to help sustain our most important early education programs.

Had the Governor’s vetoes been sustained, elementary and secondary schools would have been slammed with the largest cuts in New York’s history. In addition to eliminating early childhood education programs, the Governor’s budget would have cut funding for after-school programs, classroom technology and the necessary maintenance of school buildings.

While the Governor wanted to shut the door on New York’s commitment to our youngest students, the Legislature’s budget continues to invest in universal pre-K, full-day kindergarten and smaller classes. The Assembly has steadfastly championed the merits of early education and the unique and lasting advantage it gives students.

Research shows that smaller class sizes and pre-kindergarten benefit children through higher achievement, lower dropout rates, and less disruptive behavior. Early education investments also save money in the long run by reducing the need for costly special education placements and helping prevent students from repeating grades.

If the Governor had prevailed, approximately 240,000 students would have lost the benefits of personal attention in smaller classrooms, and 60,000 children would have been forced out of pre-K. Another 60,000 would have been denied pre-K this coming fall, losing an opportunity that can never be regained.

To protect these invaluable programs, the Legislature’s budget fully funds early education and protects pre-K from elimination by the Governor. At a time when our schools and children are facing higher standards, as chairman of the Assembly Education Committee I remain committed to ensuring, as do many of my colleagues in both parties, that every student has access to a quality education taught in a top-notch school.

The Governor’s assault on our schools was wrong-headed and unacceptable. Now we need to move on and hope that the Governor provides the leadership New York is depending on.#

Steven Sanders is Chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. He can be reached at (212) 979-9696 or by e-mail at sanders@assembly.state.ny.us.

Name:- E-mail: City: State: Comments:

Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001.
Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919.Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2003.