Executive Director's Message
The month of January was certainly a busy one here at N-SSBA. The new year started off with a 2 hour meeting with the Newsday editorial board to discuss ways to define what a successful school looks like and how to measure it today. Several members of the Long Island Education Coalition (LIEC) and I discussed that it is more than tests scores on assessments grades 3-8. It is about performance on AP exams, students taking CTE courses, achieving certifications for gainful employment, earning college credits, the number of students graduating on time, along with performance on Regents exams. It's pretty evident by many measures that overall Long Island has very successful schools, but we know there is more work to be done. The meeting was extremely productive and we look forward to future discussions with them.
We were invited to attend the Governor's State of the State address in Albany. Some of the initiatives laid out in her address were encouraging. Her support for Universal School Meals (free breakfast and lunch) has been something we have advocated for several years, and something we support. Food insecurities impact families in almost every district on Long Island, and this investment will help address that for so many.
We were also encouraged with the Governor's budget proposal, in particular to see that there was no recommendation to eliminate the "save harmless" provision from the Foundation Aid formula. This is very different from her proposal last year. For districts that are "save harmless" she is proposing a guaranteed minimum increase of 2%. N-SSBA is advocating for a minimum of 4% to help districts address the impacts of the rate of inflation over the last several years. If you recall, the districts on "save harmless" last year did not receive an increase in Foundation Aid, and we feel a 2% increase over 2 years does not adequately support districts when inflation exceeded 7% over the 2 years. There is more work to be done on this issue, so be sure to ask your state legislators to support a guaranteed minimum of 4%. This would bring an additional $29 million in state aid to Long Island.
Speaking of our state legislators, we just concluded the 4th Legislative Roundtable meeting with them on January 30th. The discussion focused on the Governor's budget, charter school funding and accountability, zero emission busing mandates, the Governor's distraction free classroom mandate, and other items. These meetings have been extremely beneficial as evidenced by the legislators continued attendance and requests for follow-up meetings. Remember advocacy is a year round effort.
We had over 200 people attend the annual joint conference that N-SSBA hosted along with the Nassau and Suffolk County Superintendents' Associations. We want to thank our sponsors SCOPE our strategic partner sponsor, BBS Architects, A+ plus technology & security, NYSIR, who were our Gold level sponsors, and our Bronze level sponsor Belfor. We thank them for their continued support of our organization. We also want to thank our keynote speaker sponsor COUNSLR. Special thanks to William Floyd's NJROTC unit, and Copiague's Madrigal Singers from the Walter G. O'Connell High School for opening our conference with an amazing performance.
Our keynote speaker was Gian Paul Gonzalez, a 9th grade Social Studies teacher from Union City, NJ, and is the motivational speaker for the New York Giants and who coined the phrase "All In" that the team adopted during their last Super Bowl winning season. His remarks about his work with at risk youth were aspiring and inspirational. The attendees listened intently and some were literally on the edge of their seats while he spoke. He gave us all a reminder as to our reason "why" we do what we do for kids. He continues to work with at risk youth in Union City. To find out more about his foundation visit his website Hope + Future Foundation.
February will another busy month with multiple advocacy events in Washington, D.C. and Albany, and as always we are here as a resource for you and your team.
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