Politics on the Hudson
New York City
Two state-wide advocacy groups are calling on Rockland County residents to protest the potential loss of millions of dollars in local education spending called for in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed 2011-12 state budget.
Members of Alliance for Quality Education and Citizen Action of New York plan to be among the first to gather at New Hempstead Road and Main Street at 2 p.m. today, holding signs declaring, “College and Careers. Not More Cuts.”
Protest organizers said the event is meant to bring awareness that Rockland’s districts could lose millions in state funding for the next school year, which would likely result in heavy staff reductions and the elimination of numerous programs.
Among those districts most affected by the proposed cuts are East Ramapo, which stands to lose $5.6 million (10.3 percent of its state funding); North Rockland, which could lose $5.4 million (11.5 percent) and Clarkstown, which is looking at up to $3.6 million (12.8 percent).
Alliance for Quality Education is a nonprofit organization that fights for high quality public education, according to its website.
Nikki Jones, communications director at AQE, said the group has taken $425,000 from the New York State United Teachers union to organize these types of protests across the state in the coming months. She said other stakeholders, including parents and students, are involved with the protests as well.
Citizen Action in New York is a grass-roots organization that fights for a number of social causes — including public education — and aims to elect progressive leadership on the local and national levels.
Today’s protesters are mainly expected to come from the East Ramapo School District, Jones said.
Rockland, along with Westchester, are among the most heavily taxed counties in the state. In the Lower Hudson Valley, school taxes account for about 64 percent of property taxes on average.
Jones said that the high taxes are partially the result of poor state leadership.
“When the state declines to meet its obligations, the burden gets placed upon the local communities,” she said, adding that her group’s protest is strictly aimed at the Governor’s Office.
Cuomo says his proposal, which includes billions in spending cuts to health care, state agencies and education across the rest of the state, will put New York on the path to closing a $10 billion deficit without borrowing money or raising taxes.
Jones said Wednesday that no additional protests had been scheduled for Westchester and Putnam counties. Members of the AQE are planning a larger protest to take place in Albany on March 9.
