Port Chester: Sign Petition Telling Albany to Stop Cutting School Aid

PORT CHESTER, NY — New York State has serious school funding problems. And to add injury to insult, the state isn't even giving needy school districts the total amount its own formula calls for.

In Port Chester, advocates have mounted a petition drive in English and Spanish to urge state officials to fix the problem — and to start by giving it its full share of Foundation Aid according to the current formula.

"Port Chester is a high needs district," the petition says. "70% of our students qualify for Free and Reduced lunch and 27.4% require ELL services. Worse yet, Port Chester will receive only 36.36% of its rightful Foundation Aid allocation for 2016-2017 --- this is a decrease of nearly 9% from the previous year."

Port Chester has been shortchanged for years: "The failure to adhere to the original 2007-08 Foundation Aid formula has cut our state aid by nearly $153 million over 10 years at a time when costs have risen and our enrollment has grown by more than 800 students."

The petition will go to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State Senator George Latimer and Assemblyman Steve Otis.

Here is the link to the English language petition and here is the link to the Spanish language petition.

And don't stop there — make your voice loud. Residents can also go to the Advocacy section of the district's website (here or under “Parents/Community” on each school's website) for sample advocacy letters, legislator contact information and other Albany-directed advocacy initiatives.

The problem is not just with the state's Foundation Aid Formula, many advocates say. The formula itself is flawed, skewed toward wealthy districts, the Statewide School Finance Consortium argues.