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Governor Cuomos Proposed Budget for 2015-16 An Anti-Public Education Agenda Rather than provide what all children need, the governor is pushing a Billionaires Agenda to decimate the states public schools. THIS IS HOW

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Holding Back Funding Cuomos 2015-16 budget does NOT contain a school aid proposal. While he talks about an increase of $1.1 billion, there are still no school aid formulas to allocate any funds as of yet.

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Inadequate Funding Cuomo will give 1.1 billion dollars in school aid. Think this sounds good? The Board of Regents requested 2 billion dollars 82 Legislatures advocated that the state would need a 2.2 billion dollar increase if public education is to be properly funded

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Undermining the truth This year, there is a 5 billion dollar surplus! FACTS: In 2007, the Governor and Legislature enacted the Foundation Aid Funding Formula. The State COMMITTED $5.5 billion in Foundation Aid, to be phased in by 2011. The Formula and the implementation of it has been substantially delayed it is 2015! SO... The NYS Court of Appeals found that NYS is violating students constitutional right to a sound and basic education by leaving schools without the necessary funding.

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Attaching strings to school funding The short-funded 1.1 billion dollars will ONLY be given to public schools if The members of the Legislature approve his reform agenda. Thats right! Our local school communities will only get this money if they do what Cuomo wants.

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This is what Cuomo wants His reform initiatives: Increasing the weight of state tests from 20 to 50% Mandating the other 50% come from observations with at least one conducted by a so called independent observer selected from a State Education Department list No student can have 2 ineffective teachers in a row Just think about the potential issues surrounding teacher assignments and student schedules.

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Extinguishing Teacher Tenure Teachers remain on probationary status until they receive 5 CONSECUTIVE effective ratings Cuomo amends the 3020a hearing process even further. You may not remember, but in recent years, it has already been established that a teacher can BE REMOVED through an EXPEDITED process if he or she receives 2 ineffective ratings in a row.

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No Due Process Due process is THE RIGHT TO Know the charges in a 3020a proceeding See, confront, and rebut evidence including that from unreliable test score data from flawed STATE assessments An impartial decision maker Counsel Be presumed innocent until proven guilty!

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Think of the Possibilities Teaching becomes a high-risk profession Non-tenured teachers ~ 4 years of consecutive effective rating and in the 5 th year you receive ineffective you have to start all over again to try to earn tenure. Tenured teachers ~ you are deemed ineffective through your students test-scores and/or an outside observer (2 years in a row) and you can lose your job whether you have been teaching 7, 15 or 30 years!

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Other Lowlights of his Budget Make the tax cap permanent without any meaningful public review of its impact on schools and municipalities Raise the cap on Charter Schools by 100 to a total of 560 in the state. Increase their per pupil funding by $75 (Interesting follow where the money is going) Millions of dollars in tax credits for wealthy individuals and corporations who donate money to public and private schools Launch a back-door voucher program that will siphon money away from schools that need it most

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Lets Recap How is Cuomo getting away with his anti-teacher / public education agenda? Remember, if Legislators do NOT go along with the plan, Cuomo will cut the $1.1 billion dollars in school aid by two-thirds Then, schools statewide will have to share less than 400 million dollars!

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What must we do? Political Action Get involved in political action and do your part. Reach out to your local assembly people and senators on Long Island. Many of those 82 legislators who advocated for a $2.2 billion increase in state funding are our representatives here on Long Island. We must throw our support behind the Republicans and Democrats at the state level who support public education so they feel empowered to stand up to Cuomo during the budget process. They may not do that unless we get involved!

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Our power is in numbers, not money. Think about it. The reformers like former CNN host, Campbell Brown, whose husband is hedge fund manager and a director of StudentsFirstNY, the Walton family (Walmart), and the Koch brothers (oil and gas) have big bucks and they have the ear of the public! We are not in the top 1%, so we dont have their money. We must, therefore, act as a group because there is power in numbers!

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You can Make a phone call or write a letter to you local assembly people and senators on Long Island Look up your representatives at 1. EWTA website at www.ewtaunion.orgwww.ewtaunion.org 2. Click on the Political Action tab in the menu. 3. http://www.nysenate.gov/http://www.nysenate.gov/ 4. http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/search/http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/search/

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Dont stop there! Then Put their names and your district numbers in the Notes section of your phones so you always have them at the ready! Better yet, add them to your contact list. Take action by making calls or writing handwritten letters on Moral Mondays and sending faxes on Take Action Tuesdays of each week.

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Getting Involved works! If we fail to act, we will lose the integrity of our profession, our jobs, and the things children truly need in our schools. Recently, the legislature refused to require school districts to participate in field testing for state exams. They received 16,000 emails through our NYSUT MAC campaign. Your efforts can bring change!

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The NYSUT APP NYSUT MAC App makes political action easy! See handout to download the app for iPhones and Droids Sign up for MAC text alerts by: Texting the word nysut to the contact number 38470 Dont just go on once a month, go on several times a week. Take action when you get an action alert.

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Advocate for your children Attend Board meetings Have discussions with family members and friends Give resources to community members and websites they can go to for more information like nysape.org Get involved with the OPT-Out Movement in your home district

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Show Your Solidarity After you take action on Tuesday, wear your EWTA sweatshirts to school until the budget process is finished or just simply wear Red for Public Ed! Our professional future and your childrens futures are in your hands. You cant ignore the call. Get involved now!

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Stand Up, Speak Out for Public Education! Thursday, March 12, 7:00 9:00 p.m. Westbury High School 1 Post Ave, Old Westbury, NY