Letter to the Editor: We Need More State Aid For Seaford Schools

The following is written by Lisa Lent of the Seaford Manor School PTA.

As residents of the Seaford Community, we urgently need your help in contacting Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Senator Charles Fuschillo and Assemblyman David McDonough.  

Once again the state aid we are receiving puts Seaford in a very bad position. Currently it looks as if over $2 million will have to be cut from our current budget. New York State continues to implement unfunded mandates and has now also mandated the Common Core Curriculum, which is to bring equality to all students. This does not seem equal when for every $1.00 we send to New York State we only receive back $.23 with $.77 being sent to other districts off of Long Island.  

Our children in Seaford are year after year losing out and this year may be the worst yet.  There are many Seaford families that have lived in this community for a number of generations and many who move to this community for the reasons that the generations have stayed we need to let our voices be heard LOUD & CLEAR in Albany that we can no longer stand for inequality.

The state will be making final decisions by March 21, 2013 so please print out your letters sign them and send them off as quickly as possible. An example of a letter sent out to Governor Cuomo, State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick and Assemblyman David McDonough, R-North Merrick, by the Seaford Manor School PTA is copied below.

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Lisa Lent 

Seaford

Letter sent to Cuomo, Fuschillo and McDonough

Another New York State budget season is upon us and again the Seaford School District is facing the incredible challenge of reducing the current budget $2 million to stay within the parameters of the tax levy limit. We are well aware that Boards of Education may choose to pierce the tax cap and attempt to gain a 60 percent super majority; however, the prospect of doing this in our community as we recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy is remote. Cutting an additional $2 million dollars from a school budget that has seen so many recent cuts is a truly frightening prospect.

Recently Seaford’s Board of Education and administration shared with us the state aid run that accompanied Governor Cuomo’s 2013-2014 budget proposal. Everyone with an interest in our children’s education was crestfallen to see yet another cut in aid that amounted to approximately $730,000 for our district. The last three years have seen unprecedented cuts to the programs in the Seaford schools. The positions of teachers, administrators and support staff have been cut and along with them several valuable and important school programs and services. While once thought to be impossible, the prospect of insolvency is one that now appears feasible in districts like ours as unfunded mandates and uncontrolled costs rise faster than the ability of a school district to raise funds within the confines of the cap.

In Seaford’s most recent aid run, nearly $500,000 was cut from our High Tax aid. This appears to have been a deliberate action by Governor Cuomo to take from district’s that he deems wealthy. As the majority of this money was taken from Long Island districts, it is clear that we are once again the victims of regional bias. Additionally, keeping the Foundation Aid formula frozen since 2008 has led to our full day kindergarten program being funded as though it were a half-day program for the last five years. These two issues are emblematic of the struggles and frustrations that Seaford always seems to have to endure and are now completely intolerable. Nassau and Suffolk Counties educate 17 percent of the state’s children yet only receive 12 percent of the aid. How is that possible?

We urge you to do everything in your legislative power to fight for Long Island and to fight for Seaford. Our community and our school district are small but proud. We have among the smallest spending per pupil in Nassau County yet we consistently achieve all of the necessary benchmarks that are set for us by New York State. We are not asking for funds we do not deserve. We are asking for Seaford’s fair share so that we can continue to offer our children an education that will give them the foundation for success in life. Please help us to maintain the most basic needs of our school district as we all await the slow and laborious economic recovery and as many of our neighbors rebuild their lives after the unprecedented storm of the century.

Your anticipated assistance in helping our community and school district to weather this crisis is greatly appreciated.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any additional information.