Senator William Stachowski and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt Introduce Legislation to Move Buffalo Board Of Education Elections to November

Senator William Stachowski and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt Introduce Legislation to Move Buffalo Board Of Education Elections to November

May 7, 2009
 
Senator William T. Stachowski (D 58th) and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt,(D-Buffalo, Grand Island) have introduced legislation in the New York Senate and Assembly respectively to move the City of Buffalo Board of Education elections from May to November.

“Historically, the Board of Education elections in May draw as low as 5 percent of the eligible voters at a cost of nearly $150,000 to the City of Buffalo,” said Senator Stachowski. “Moving the elections to the traditional Election Day in November would mean a significant increase in voter turnout as well as a savings to the city of Buffalo.”

“This bill is designed to address the serious problem of voter apathy in the City of Buffalo, “said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt. “ When you consider that we spend nearly three quarters of a billion dollars on our public education system and have a high school dropout rate of 55% one would expect that every voter in the city would be turning out to have a say in the oversight of our schools, and yet only a dismal 5% of registered voters voted on Tuesday. By tying school board elections to the regular election cycle we will see a greater interest in and participation in the school board elections which will benefit our children and the quality of public education in the city.”

“I have introduced legislation in the Senate since 1995 to have the Board of Education elections changed to November,” added Senator Stachowski. “Assemblyman Hoyt has also introduced legislation since 1995 and it has previously passed in the Assembly. Now with a democratic majority in the Senate the republicans will no longer be able to defeat such common sense legislation. With the support of Sam Hoyt, Dennis Gabryszak, Crystal Peoples and Mark Schroeder in the Assembly I am confident we will be able to pass these Bills in both houses.”

Assembly members Dennis Gabryszak, Crystal Peoples and Mark Schroeder have signed on to the Bill in the New York Assembly.

Rochester and Syracuse are two upstate cities that currently hold their Board of Education elections in November.

Senate Bill #S1943