By Danny Teigman
, intent on lobbying lawmakers for an increase in state aid for education. Thanks to 11th-hour negotiations among legislators over the weekend, much of the funding districts hoped to see was restored.
In the 2007-08 state budget - which must still be approved by Gov. Eliot Spitzer - Lynbrook schools will see a 21.6 percent increase in state funding from 2006-07, amounting to a $7.5 million aid package. Meanwhile, East Rockaway's state funding will grow by 10.2 percent, with $5 million coming from Albany.
Although lobbying is an annual ritual in the budgetary give and take, East Rockaway Superintendent Arnold Dodge said that this was the first time in several years that students from his district attended.
A group of 24 students and educators traveled to the capital, where they met with Assemblymen Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) and Robert Barra (R-Lynbrook), Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and professional lobbyists from the New York State Council of School Superintendents.
"We felt it was really important this year that [elected leaders] saw their constituency face to face," Dodge said. "There's just too much of an imbalance between what the state funds are and what the local property tax share is."
"We definitely won," said Barra, reflecting on the battle that began when the tentative budget was first released in February. "We funded education properly, and continue to give our kids the best education and to help stabilize taxes for the residents. Senator Skelos did a wonderful job in the Senate and really set the tone. I was happy to join with him shoulder to shoulder in the fight to increase aid for Long Island."
The governor's original budget proposal budget called for an increase in state aid of only 3 percent for both the Lynbrook and East Rockaway districts, and Nassau County's proportion of state aid would have fallen from 13 percent to 8 percent. "As a Democrat, I found myself in the unique position to be adamantly opposed to the proposed funding for both health care and education, and how it would impact the quality of education that we have," Weisenberg said. "While the governor's proposed budget had positive attributes, the consequences of the initial proposal would have been devastating to the taxpayers of Long Island."
Jason Schaeffer, an East Rockaway High School senior who took part in the lobbying effort in Albany, said that convincing legislators that the schools needed more funding was the easy part. "The representatives already seemed to be on our side," Schaeffer said. "The group we were with was more concerned with whether Governor Spitzer was going to allocate more aid for us."
Dodge stressed that any increase in funding is helpful. "Ideally, we'd like the state to fund the lion's share of costs," he said. "The more, the better."
Lynbrook Superintendent Dr. Philip Cicero said he, too, was pleased. "You're always optimistic that you're going to get a little more," he said, "particularly because Assemblyman Barra and Senator Skelos fight very hard for us."
Funding aside, Dodge and Cicero said they agreed that the experience would help enliven future classroom discussions of government by bringing students and their concerns right to the Senate and Assembly floors. "The experience was great," Cicero said. "I think particularly for our students, it was an opportunity to see democracy at work. It was great to see two local communities come together with common concerns. And that makes our collective voice much louder than going as individual communities."
"It was very interesting," Schaeffer said of the experience. "I had never seen the legislative floor before."
Comments about this story? DTeigman@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 246.
