"Fair Funding for Education - The Time is Now!" is the rallying cry of the Farmingdale Lobbying Committee, who will be visiting Albany on Tuesday, March 23 to discuss a number of elements in Governor Pataki's proposed budget that will significantly impact school districts. Foremost on their agenda is the reinstatement of lost state aid. This aid must be fully restored in order to preserve academic programs, according to the committee.

Unfunded mandates are a major expense for school districts and taxpayers, lobbyists say. Many of these mandates are already in place, such as the New York State and Federal Testing Program, academic intervention requirements, test preparation, screening procedures, scoring, and staff development.

Additional unfunded mandates include the new requirement for defibrillators - with trained coaches and staff - in all schools and for all athletic events, and the implementation of a period-by-period attendance program, requiring a change in the student-management system and an increase in office staff. The committee's position is that if the new mandates bring additional costs to local schools, these costs should be fully funded through additional state support.

Operating aid is critical as New York State implements both higher standards and tougher graduation requirements for school districts. If operating aid is not increased, districts will be forced to increase local taxes. Since the cost of living on Long Island is substantially higher than in many other regions of the state, the Committee maintains that a regional cost factor should be a part of the operating aid formula. The state must recognize regional cost differences to assure that dollars allocated to Long Island schools have the same buying power as dollars allocated to schools in other regions of the state, the Committee says.

BOCES aid and excess cost aid for disabled and Limited English Proficient students must be removed from the district's operating aid, according to Farmingdale lobbyists. This aid - which is tied to specific special education students - will be capped under the governor's proposed budget, limiting schools' ability to meet the needs of these students. Pataki's budget will freeze aid for the use of BOCES-coordinated services.

School construction projects should be exempt from the Wicks Law, which requires a costly and time consuming bidding process for each trade, according to the committee. Eliminating this process will save school districts time and will reduce project costs, say lobbyists.

The committee also believes that the state must assure that funding for charter schools does not adversely impact the funding of public schools, and must hold charter schools to the same high academic standards as public schools. Lobbyists also feel that the legislature should act now to reform government pensions to bring these costs permanently under control.

The legislature must also protect school districts from responsibility for the tax refunds that result from reassessments, the committee asserts. These changes in assessment are not the responsibility of the local school district and should not impact the school budget process.

Finally, lobbyists insist that the state finalize its budget by April 1, 2004. The governor, senate majority leader and assembly speaker must utilize their leadership positions to ensure that the New York State budget will be completed on time.

The Farmingdale Lobby Committee is made up of a number of concerned individuals from the community, including residents, students, school administrators and teachers. The committee will continue to keep the public informed of the impact that state and federal programs will have on the Farmingdale School District and its taxpayers in the 2004-2005 school year.