Chenango County, we’ve got a problem. And the scary part is ... if each and every person reading this (spread the word if you please) doesn’t get involved, no amount of griping, whining or carrying-on is going to fix it.
And no, I’m not going to dive into another political rant – a tendency I do have from time to time, I’ll admit – yet this problem does involve politics, particularly on the state level. In other words, get out your pen, grab a fresh sheet of college-ruled paper and start writing.
It’s time (and more than time) to flood our state representatives with letters. Not dozens of letters, nor hundreds or even thousands. We need to do better than that. In fact, each and every one of us – if you happen to give a damn about the children and students of our community – has a responsibility to put a stop to this madness and – no matter what it takes – it’s time to make a stand.
Unfortunately, this is just one more matter in which it’s the rich versus the poor, but this time, it’s not a Democratic versus Republican issue. This involves our children and their education. In my opinion, both are worth fighting for. And it’s a fight that they – our state legislators – better be ready for, because if this is done right, we can finally affect some change in a system that is no longer on the point of breaking.
It’s broken.
I’m speaking, of course, of the enormous gap in financial equity between school districts statewide. Personally, I had no idea things were this bad two weeks ago, yet a two-hour presentation by Dr. Rick Timbs on the issue, in addition to Norwich Deputy Superintendent Rob Wightman’s extremely informative discussion on the matter Monday night, were more than enough to open my eyes. And it’s not like this information is all that hard to come by; I simply never realized the scope of the issue.
In all honesty, it’s absolutely insane, this inequity between school districts. In fact, it’s more than that. It’s disgusting. And the numbers don’t lie.
Take Norwich, for instance. Last year, the district lost an estimated $2.5 million in state aid. Budgeted spending for 2010-2011? Approximately $37 million. Travel 200 miles southeast to another school district, one that also saw slightly more than $2.5 million in aid, with $188 million in budgeted spending for 2010-2011, and the discrepancies are ... outrageous, to say the least. If district A (Norwich) were to rely on its tax levy to make up the difference, you’re looking at an increase of 24 percent. For district B? 1.33 percent.
Does anybody else see something wrong with this picture?
