Northern New York was a big winner in the just announced Regional Economic Development Council awards. We thank Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the council.
It is excellent news. However, the awards are at the risk of being meaningless if the governor and the Legislature do nothing to address the shortfall in school funding that threatens the core of economic growth: Education.
While my concern, and that of my family and community, regards the funding crisis that will have a particularly dramatic impact for the Canton Central School District in the 2012-13 budget year; it extends to rural school districts throughout the state.
We are one of the estimated 38 school districts that will exhaust our slim reserve funds next year to maintain what is an excellent, yet pared to the bone, curriculum. Our resources to meet the expense to close the funding gap are not adequate to do the job. While larger than some of our neighboring towns, we still are sparsely populated and revenue from our lower value tax base is not sufficient to cover funding lost due to the GAP Elimination Adjustment.
In addition, deficiencies in the school aid formula now in place leaves rural school districts in an inequitable position as regards to those with larger and higher-valued tax bases. Our children will be denied the opportunity to acquire the education promised them by our Constitution and the governor.
It is time to lay the Gap Elimination Adjustment aside. It will not achieve an equal level of education throughout the state. We provide many services to those outside of our regions in terms of recreation, agriculture and, in the cases of Potsdam and Canton, higher education institutions attended by many from the more well-to-do downstate districts. We need equitable educational funding to keep a work force in place to support these services enjoyed by so many from outside our region.
As the governor works with the Legislature to prepare the budget, they must not forget the needs of the K-12 students in our state's rural districts.
BRETT W. THACHER
Canton