CURRAN: NEARLY 60 PERCENT OF GEA GONE IN BUDGET, MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE

Statement from Assemblyman Brian Curran (Lynbrook-21st A.D.)

“Like any budget, there are good and bad parts. I am pleased that the final education portion of this budget takes a big step toward fully funding our public schools by eliminating nearly 60 percent (state average) of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) cuts from 2010. While I am pleased, I am also disappointed that more was not done to expedite the phase-out of the GEA. Between the draconian cuts, the GEA and Long Island schools not receiving their fair share of education aid, our children’s education is getting the short straw and many programs and services vital to the quality of their education have suffered. Fully funding our schools is a top priority of mine and I will continue to advocate for the complete phase-out of these drastic cuts and the GEA in future budgets.

“While I was happy to vote in favor of the appropriation bill allocating the education aid increase to our schools, I was disappointed and felt compelled to vote against the Article VII budget bill which included Gov. Cuomo’s Education Transformation Act of 2015, which is anything but transformative. This measure provides authorization to the State Education Department to independently make changes to APPR, which I voted against two years ago because it is a flawed system that does not enhance the education our kids are receiving. It also places additional unfunded mandates on our school districts to comply with any directives that come out of the State Education Department. The most troublesome aspect of the bill is the requirement for school districts to comply with the unknown future directives of the State Education Department by a certain date or lose the entire state aid increase for that school district for 2015. Needed educational aid for our kids should not be used as a tool to force school districts to accept unknown future requirements of the State Education Department. I could not vote for that.”

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/2W