Crowd Rallies To Demand $31M In Riverhead State Aid

RIVERHEAD, NY — Waving colorful signs that read "Fair Share For Riverhead," "Cuomo, Pay Up $31 Million," and "Please Help My School,"and chanting "Fair Share Now!" a crowd of parents, students, teachers, administrators and community members turned out at the Riverhead Middle School Saturday at a rally where all joined hands to demand Riverhead's equitable share of state aid for students.

Riverhead Board of Education President Greg Meyer said the Riverhead Central School District is owed $31 million in state aid.

"The truth is that our district is in dire need of funding to help us address the growing needs of students," said Riverhead Superintendent of Schools Dr. Aurelia Henriquez. "It is our hope that this rally will get our voices heard at the state level."

The Riverhead CSD is one of five districts in New York State, known as the "Harmed Suburban Five," fighting for Foundation Aid because they are facing financial crisis due to rising student enrollment and poverty rates, as well as an inequitable distribution in state aid, the district said.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget is expected Tuesday, Meyer said, and by Wednesday, districts should be receiving expected state aid runs and learning "what our governor thinks we should be getting in state aid. Over the next weeks and months, our state senate and state assembly will be haggling with colleagues to help us get our fair share. I hope those legislative leaders remember that this district needs its fair share of assistance. The boys and girl in the room today deserve nothing less," Meyer said.

Debra Rodgers, president of the district's administrators' union and principal at Phillips Avenue Elementary School said she has a daughter in the high school and is proud of the community. "It's amazing to see how many of us have come together today to show support and the support that we have throughout our community to stand up for what is right for our kids. But it's unfair that we even have to hold this rally. This is a community that needs help from New York State," she said.

For far too long, Rodgers said, "Residents of this community have had to shoulder the burden of challenging and changing educational needs and increasing state mandates. As we strive to meet these new mandates and requirements, please understand that we do so with almost no help from New York State; the teachers and staff of this district are doing their very best with limited resources. Our students, our children, deserve the same opportunities as their counterparts in other districts. . . I say directly to our state legislators and the governor: Please help us. Please make sure our children are not left behind."

"If the money doesn't come to us, we're going to go and get it"

Newly elected Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said, "We need to level the field. I ask, 'Why does Southampton get their fair share? Why does Quogue get their fair share? Why does Westhampton get their fair share, and not Riverhead?' We need answers. There is a substantial division of appropriations and a huge economic gap exists here in Riverhead. We need to close that gap. Today we are on our own turf with a cry out. However, soon Albany and Washington should follow. If the money doesn't come to us, we're going to go and get it."

Riverhead Town Councilwoman Catherine Kent, also a former teacher in the district for 33 years, said she has spoken out for years about how Riverhead "is continually shortchanged in state aid. We have been down this road before. . . Riverhead is a close-knit community of hardworking people who place high value on education. While other districts went on austerity, split sessions, and cut programs, we continually go to the polls and pass our school budgets, shouldering the burden of high property taxes, paying out a large percentage of our salaries. We did that because we want the best for the children of our community and we are willing to sacrifice to achieve it."

As a teacher, Kent said she has seen, time after time, parents, exhausted after long days at work, struggling to put food on the table, yet still sacrificing to make sure their children have the proper school supplies, ensuring their kids' homework is done, and attending parent-teacher meetings and saying, "Whatever you need, Miss Kent, I'm here to help.'"

Kent added: "We want our children to have the same opportunities as a child a few miles down the road where their district can afford to allot $6,000 more per year for each child. . .The situation is more dire now than ever before."

While enrollment may be dwindling in neighboring districts, she said, in Riverhead, that number continues to rise, including a spike in students with special needs, ELL students, and students coming from poverty stricken homes who need additional help and services.

"The stress of our financial burden is dividing our community and many residents speak of voting down the school bond, so needed to add classrooms and improve facilities," Kent said. "This only hurts our children and erodes the close knit spirit of our community. . .What we need to do is demand our fair share of state aid. Riverhead not asking for an exorbitant amount of aid; we are simply asking for what is owed to us. We want more than 50 percent of our share and we need our $31, 159,786 in unpaid Foundation Aid. . . As it stands now, grow up in a wealthy neighborhood with a large property base and you will get well-funded schools. Grow up in a poor neighborhood and the opposite is true. Inadequate funding does more than hit us in our wallets. It derails the future for students already struggling against odds."

Mary Maki, Riverhead PTO president, thanked the parents and faculty in attendance Saturday who were sacrificing by missing track meets, basketball games, college visits but who turned out because the need was critical. "We're here to tell Albany, 'Give us our $31 million.'"

Riverhead Town Councilman Frank Beyrodt added that the town board would continue to stand behind the district in its battle for equity.

A sample advocacy letter to New York State legislators asking for an increase in Foundation Aid for the Riverhead Central School District is posted on the district's website.

"I am a resident of the Riverhead Central School District and call upon our state leaders to reverse the trend that has caused the following school districts to receive the lowest percentage of Foundation Aid from New York State: Riverhead Central School District; Glen Cove City School District; •Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District; Ossining Union Free School District; and Westbury School District," the letter said.

Those districts, the letter added, receive less than 50% of their allocated Foundation Aid based on the formula. Currently, the average Foundation Aid funding level for school districts across the state is approximately 80%. Since the Foundation Aid Formula was established in 2008, Riverhead has experienced a 22.8% increase in student enrollment and a 307.9 % increase in the number of English Language Learners, the district's sample letter said.

"Furthermore, Riverhead serves an ever-increasing number of students who receive free and reduced lunch. The Foundation Aid gap in these districts will continue to grow as their student needs and enrollments increase. We are simply asking that we be funded at the same level as our peers by providing these districts with at least 70% of their fully phased-in amount," the letter said.

According to cityandstateny.com, the main source of state funding for public schools comes from "Foundation Aid," created following a 2006 state court decision in the case, "Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York." The "landmark" case focused on whether or not the state was funding schools at a level that ensured all students received a "sound basic education," as required by the state constitution, the site said.

The New York State Court of Appeals said that the state was violating the rights of children by failing to provide an education that would give them the "basic literacy, calculating, and verbal skills," the site said. Subsequently, state lawmakers were mandated to increase public school funding, the site said.