State Needs to Fully Restore School Funding in Budget

Providing our youth with the opportunity for a strong education is one of the most important jobs of our government. Unfortunately, the education system has had its fair share of challenges recently, both in terms of funding and from policies stemming from federal and state laws.

First among the challenges was the implementation of the Common Core, a set of academic standards mandated on school districts by the State Board of Regents. 

While most people are open to higher academic standards, the implementation of the new standards was widely criticized by parents, teachers, and administrators. Parents objected to the high-stakes testing that their children were required to undergo, teachers opposed having their evaluations tied to the testing results, and administrators objected to the cost of implementing the Common Core curriculum.

Due to the public outcry, the New York Legislature has made several changes to the Common Core implementation, including prohibiting standardized testing for pre-kindergarten through second-grade students and prohibiting state assessment scores from being placed on a student’s transcript. In addition, the Board of Regents has delayed until the 2019-20 school year, teachers and principals being evaluated based on students’ state test scores. 

While these changes are welcome and needed to be made, more needs to be done on Common Core. Short of scrapping it in its entirety, at the very least, the state needs to allow more flexibility in the curriculum’s implementation and execution. A one-size-fits-all mandate does not work in education because every school district and student is different. Input from local school districts, parents, and teachers on the Common Core and its implementation is a must. Moreover, while a student’s progress needs to measured, it shouldn’t be accomplished solely by means of high-stakes testing. Rather, testing should be used and seen as diagnostic tool, not a measurement to be used to bludgeon students, teachers, and school districts with punitive measures.

While reform of Common Core is necessary, it is also essential that the state ensure that our schools are provided with appropriate resources. One way to accomplish this is to close completely the gap elimination adjustment (GEA) in this year’s state budget. GEA was implemented in 2010, when the state was facing severe budget constraints. Essentially, GEA was an across-the-board cut in state education funding. The reduced funding was particularly burdensome for low-wealth school districts that were highly reliant on state aid. Low-wealth upstate districts, unlike high-wealth districts, are unable to raise revenue from other sources like property taxes to pay for state mandates (like Common Core). Since 2012, the state has been increasing education funding and closing the GEA. This year, Governor Cuomo is proposing to close the GEA over two years. I am urging the governor and my legislative colleagues to go a step further and close the GEA completely this year. This would be a big step in helping provide the resources our schools need, particularly during a time when they are hampered from raising revenue through property taxes in light of the property tax cap. I will continue to advocate for education and make sure that our schools receive the funding they need.            

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us, or (315) 598-5185.