With sequestration dealing New York huge cuts, civil war raging in Syria and the world's one billion Catholics awaiting selection of a new pope, the Times Union devotes three-quarters of its front page to the "news" that NYSUT is running a budget deficit? ("Red ink flows at NYSUT," March 3). Seriously?
Like just about every other member organization impacted by the recession, NYSUT has had to tighten its belt and is on track to erase its deficit, using savings in the meantime just like any business or family would do when dealt a financial stress. What NYSUT has not done is cast aside dedicated employees or break promises, as the Hearst Corporation and many other corporations often do whenever times get tough. Nor will NYSUT ever stop fighting for what students, their public schools and colleges — and union members — need to be successful.
That fierce advocacy includes challenging the constitutionality of the tax cap. NYSUT is proud to defend the democratic principle of one-person, one-vote; the right of citizens to exercise local control of their schools; and the commitment that all children, no matter where they live or go to school, deserve a quality public education.
NYSUT has never "feared the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it," as Robert F. Kennedy said. That path of truth includes challenging the devastating inequities in New York's tax cap that, when combined with deep and painful state aid cuts, have brought up to 200 school districts to the brink of educational and financial insolvency.
Carl Korn
Chief press officer
New York State United Teachers
Latham