State of Education in 2019: Westchester County [LoHud]

The educational interests of the Lower Hudson Valley, in particular, are well known to the new Senate leadership, as both Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Education Committee Chairperson Shelley Mayer are from Yonkers.

2018 was a big year for the new state senator, who was named chair of the state Senate Education Committee in December. Mayer spent six years in the state Assembly before being elected in April to the Senate seat vacated by now-Westchester County Executive George Latimer. She was elected to a full term in November. The Yonkers native has fought for more equitable state funding for school districts, particularly those, like Yonkers, considered by many to be shortchanged by aid formulas.

Schools are owed, specifically under the Foundation Aid formula and the CFE lawsuit, significantly more and that we have to find a way to get them back to what they’re owed," Mayer said on WCNY's Capitol Pressroom in December.