Dever students learn first hand about government

With just four months on the job, New York State Assemblyman Ed Ra has spent much time traveling his district. On April 26, he visited the James A. Dever School to talk to students about state government.

Ra was elected in November to represent the 14th Assembly District, which includes North Valley Stream. The Republican from Franklin Square replaced Tom Alfano, who did not seek re-election.

During his visit to Dever to talk to fifth- and sixth-grade students, Ra spoke about how he typically spends three or four days a week in Albany. Much of that time is spent voting on bills, he explained, but he also takes time to listen to constituents and lobbyists.

Ra explained the difference between a bill and a law, and noted that tens of thousands of bills are proposed each year, but only a small percentage actually are voted on. With 150 members in the state Assembly, Ra said that 76 “yes” votes are required for a bill to become a law.

The students got to hear about how he votes. When he supports a bill, he presses a green button for “yes.” If he doesn’t, he hits a red button for “no.” If he chooses to abstain for some reason, there is a yellow button. And on what he described as a big scoreboard, Ra can look up to see how he and others voted — indicated by green, red and yellow lights.

In the Assembly, Ra said that each member can have up to 30 minutes to speak about a bill. Debate is usually civilized, he said, and a lot of discussion goes on between the Assembly members. “We’re probably told to quiet down much more than you guys ever do in class,” he told the students.

Ra, who serves on the Health, Education, Codes, Labor and Racing and Wagering committees, said it is very important to take committee responsibilities very seriously. If someone misses three meetings, he said, they could be kicked off.

He discussed the recent New York state budget, and drew some “wows” from the students when he told them the new spending plan is about $132 billion. “That’s a lot of money,” he said, “but this is a very big state.”

Ra noted that the biggest single areas of spending in the budget are health and education, but a lot of money also goes to various state departments such as the court system and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

In his time off from Albany, Ra has been visiting schools in his district which includes North Valley Stream, Franklin Square, Elmont, West Hempstead and Malverne. Before going to Dever, he stopped by the Wheeler Avenue School and also had a trip to Willow Road planned last week.

After speaking about government, Ra read to a first-grade class at Dever.

Students said they learned a lot from the assemblyman’s visit. Fifth-grader Brian Milone said he found out how people can bring up their concerns to their legislator, and often have suggestions that spark new laws. He also didn’t realize how big the state Assembly was — he thought it was maybe 20 people.

What Milone found most interesting, was that Ra can speak his mind. “He gets to argue without getting in trouble,” he said.

Sixth-grader Hailey Moonsammy said she was interested to learn how a bill gets passed and how the legislators vote. She also thought it was nice to learn that he is there to represent her community. “I think it’s pretty cool,” she said. “He’s making a difference. He’s voting for us so we can have a say.”