28 February 2020

• FUND OUR FUTURE: In Albany, students and educators face ‘a brave new world, every day’

  The historic State Capitol is close enough to Sheridan Preparatory School to cast a cold, gray shadow, and that is exactly what it does by shortchanging the Albany city district’s annual budget and failing to pay the Foundation Aid owed.

  The school’s students have enough challenges without yanking needed services from them.

  They walk to school past uninhabitable houses, marked for demolition. There are three makeshift memorials to people who’ve been shot. Families struggle to make ends meet and many kids wake up with gnawing bellies and cold toes. Many students live in shelters.

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• NYSUT brings ‘Fund Our Future’ bus tour to Ellenville and Kingston Friday

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  ELLENVILLE, N.Y. Feb. 27, 2020 — New York State United Teachers is bringing its Fund Our Future statewide bus tour to Ellenville and Kingston on Friday to draw attention to the severe impact a lack of state funding has had on schools across the region and across the state. Union activists will also highlight the need for new revenues that will enable the state to tackle educational inequality and other pressing needs.

  NYSUT officials will first join local union leaders, Superintendent Lisa Wiles, fellow educators and elected officials for a roundtable discussion at the Ellenville Central School District offices (28 Maple Ave., Ellenville) beginning at 9 a.m. to hear firsthand about the issues caused by underfunding

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• NYSUT ‘Fund Our Future’ bus tour draws attention to underfunding of Albany schools

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  ALBANY, N.Y. Feb. 27, 2020 — New York State United Teachers visited the City School District of Albany earlier today to draw attention to the severe impact a lack of state funding has had on schools in Albany, the Capital Region and across the state. Union activists are also highlighting the need for new revenues that will enable the state to tackle educational inequality, and other pressing needs.

  Meeting with local union leaders and school administrators Thursday as part of the Fund Our Future bus tour, NYSUT President Andy Pallotta called on state officials to make full funding of Foundation Aid, the underpinning of how New York funds

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• BOCES programs open doors for students

  As usual, the kids were the stars of the show — as BOCES Lobby Day students, educators, administrators and parents told state lawmakers how important it is to fully fund BOCES programs.

  Boards of Cooperative Educational Services open all kinds of doors for students, whether it’s offering popular career and technical education, a foundation for college and the military, or a lifeline for students who aren’t thriving in traditional school settings.

  In meeting after meeting with lawmakers today, the students’ enthusiasm and passion were obvious. There was a future helicopter mechanic, an aspiring veterinarian and an FBI hopeful. Students in

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• BOCES needs must be taken care of in state budget

  ALBANY, N.Y. Feb. 26, 2020 — New York State United Teachers members and students from BOCES programs across New York will converge on Albany today to push back on changes to how BOCES programs are funded. The union warns the changes could limit students’ access to career and technical education programs and other course offerings statewide.

  As NYSUT pushes for a $2.1 billion increase in education aid for schools statewide, the union is calling on lawmakers to reject a proposal that would merge expense-based aids, such as BOCES aid, into the Foundation Aid

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