PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- The city school district is hoping to get financial relief from unfunded and underfunded state mandates, but must choose its battles wisely.
New York State school districts must now work within the 2 percent tax increase cap passed in Albany last year, but are also stuck with paying to meet over 150 state educational mandates. Mandates include making sure buildings are handicap accessible and providing busing to private schools, which districts have to pay for themselves.
"It seems almost unconstitutional," said Board President Joe Urbanowicz at Tuesday's school board work session. "For the state to say we have to do this and not provide the funding."
Peekskill Superintendent of Schools James Willis said that a number of lawsuits have been filed in state courts arguing that schools are not being provided adequate funding, including one, Hussein v. State of New York, that Peekskill is a part of.
"As they provide more and more mandates without providing funding it exasperates the problem," Willis said.
Dealing with the lengthy list of mandates was among the topics addressed at a school forum by State Sen. Greg Ball (R, C Patterson) last month. Peekskill and other local districts were encouraged by speakers at the event to submit three mandates from a list of over 150 mandates that they would like aid for to be reviewed by the state.
One of biggest groups of unfunded and underfunded mandates in New York is special education, said trustee Doug Glickert. He said that area should be one of the areas the district should address with the state.
"There are 204 underfunded mandates that New York State imposes on the school districts," Glickert said. "That's above and beyond what the federal government is showing us we need to do. It costs up to $10 billion a year in New York State. That seems like one of the biggest programs we need to fight for. Let's follow the rules that the federal government is giving to us and that's it, let's minimize it."
While addressing just three mandates seemed like a small step to some board members, Urbanowicz said he hoped the move would open the door for more substantial mandate relief.
"There hasn't been relief before, but once you start the ball rolling hopefully there will be greater opportunities in the future," Urbanowicz said.
Board members asked Willis to put together a list of the mandates that are the most costly for the district to comply with, which will be presented to the board at its next meeting for their consideration.
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