In recent weeks, much of my legislative work has dealt with Governor Cuomo’s proposed bold and drastic cuts to all sectors of state government. Many of these cuts are necessary and go a long way in reforming and restructuring how Albany operates. One of the proposed cuts that I believe contains flaws is a $1.5 billion decrease, or 7.3 percent, reduction in school aid. Without question, New York State is in a difficult financial situation. For far too long, we’ve been spending beyond our means; but what concerns me is cutting costs at the expense of our children and taxpayers. If cuts must be made to education, they must be fair and proportional. Unfortunately, more and more school aid is being funneled to New York City, a practice that began with the Pataki Administration and has continued through the Spitzer, Paterson, and now Cuomo administrations. If the governor’s school aid proposal remains in the final budget, North Country schools will take a disproportionate hit as compared to other “high wealth” areas such as Westchester and Nassau counties. For example, Lewis County will see an average loss of $1,480 per student, whereas a student in Westchester County will face a $722 reduction. Obviously, the formulas that are in place to ensure that low-wealth school districts face a smaller cut than a higher wealth district are not working. The governor and the Legislature need to take a serious look at formula criteria and consider changes to ensure that lower wealth, smaller districts, like those here in the North Country, do not continue to take unfair hits in school aid. Furthermore, I do not believe that instructional aid is where the state should be looking to save money. Instead, we need to look at reducing unfunded mandates, lessening the load of onerous paperwork and yearly audits, instituting fixed-price contracts so that procurement costs do not keep rising unexpectedly, and finding ways to cut administrative costs. There is much work to be done before the April 1 budget deadline and, as your assemblyman, I am committed to ensuring that the North Country and rural upstate school districts do not continue to bear the burden of balancing the state budget. As always, I am open to hear your thoughts, concerns and ideas on this subject, or any other state matter. Please contact me at 315-287-2384, or by e-mail at
blankenbushk@assembly.state.ny.us.