SHERBURNE – Parents, teachers, and administrators called on Albany to reconsider Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent education reform policies and restore funding to upstate schools during a community forum held at the Sherburne-Earlville Central School on Monday.

Monday’s forum hinged on a number of issues impacting public education, including the significance of local control over schools and the crippling effects that state-mandated testing has had on teachers and students in recent years. Speakers rallied against high stakes testing, teacher evaluations, and new threats of funding cuts if schools don’t adhere to the proposed teacher evaluation standards that are coming down the pike.

Opponents of newly proposed education reform say the policies put forth by the governor during his state of the state address in January would take money away from public schools in order to fund more charter schools in urban settings. Furthermore, the governor’s proposed policies would limit the power of school boards, allow a takeover of the NY Board of Regents to give full control over public education to the governor, increase testing, and withhold preliminary funding amounts necessary to formulate a school budget if schools don’t agree with the state’s terms.

All this on top of the already damaging effects caused by the hastily implemented Common Core, funding cuts of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), and increasingly rigorous teacher evaluations, some argued.

Sherburne-Earlville Superintendent Eric Schnabl said the governor’s latest budget proposal creates an even greater risk for schools that are already fighting an uphill battle.

“After Governor Cuomo announced his budget proposal, it became clear that the example to be set is one of speaking out against his agenda which we as professional educators see as an attack on public education,” said Schnabel.

Schnabel explained the financial risks of not agreeing to the governor’s proposals and the consequences it would have on S-E’s budget. The district has already lost more than $5.1 million in revenue since the GEA was enacted in 2009.

“As the state now boasts a $5 billion surplus, we ask that the state phase out the (GEA) and increase foundation aid in a balanced manner to support our local rural schools,” Schnabel added.

Monday’s forum further attacked add-ons of the Common Core which typically provide scripted lesson plans for teachers, – a move that some educators say take away their flexibility and zest for teaching. Dr. Elizabeth Bloom, an associate professor of education at Hartwick College, called the standards a form of “mind numbing drill and kill.”