Mount Vernon Official: Current School Spending Formula Shortchanges Communities Like Ours
MOUNT VERNON (CBSNewYork) - Lawmakers in Albany have three weeks to deliver an on-time budget.
Education funding is a huge sticking point.
Senate Democrats want a big increase in school spending, saying it's a matter of fairness for struggling districts.
The vocational tech barber program is the main source of trimming at Mount Vernon High School these days. The district trimmed programs dramatically after the 2008 recession.
"My brothers were actually both part of the swimming team back then. The pool just now got redone so we're only now getting that back, might have swim team next year or so," said Mount Vernon senior Ygor Pereira.
Pereira says Mount Vernon can afford to offer far fewer enrichment opportunities than schools in neighboring Bronxville and Pelham. Many say fixing that is a matter of fairness to a district with 96 percent minority enrollment.
"The current school funding formula does a huge disservice to communities like Mount Vernon," said Mount Vernon School Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Hamilton.
For example, the Legislature gives Buffalo schools $22,000 state aid per pupil. Mount Vernon gets $11,000 per pupil. The aid formula is complex, but State Senator Alessandra Biaggi says the bottom line is unfair.
"It is not OK that every single child, in every single zip code, doe not get access to the same education," Biaggi said.
Democrats now control the State Senate and want to increase education funding by a billion dollars beyond what Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed.
Governor Cuomo's office points out state education spending has grown 35 percent on his watch, far faster than the rate of inflation.
Mount Vernon and other districts say local property taxes are maxed out and can not increase, so the pressure is on Albany.
"I know many people who work with what they've got and they've gone extremely far, but if we're given even more reseources we could see more kids going even farther," said Pereira.
The state budget deadline is March 29th.
The state is looking at a possible multibillion dollar shortfall over the next few years.
Critics say any extra money this year should be saved, not spent.