Senator Martins Meets With AP Government Students at Mineola High School

Senator Jack M. Martins came home from a busy week in Albany during which the Senate passed a budget for New York State and met with students in Mark Bomser’s Advanced Placement Government class.

Senator Martins spoke about the budget that was just passed in Albany. He told the students that it was a difficult process because the Legislature had to work with the Governor to close a $10 billion deficit. Since people are in need of tax relief, the Senate and the Governor decided that the way to close the budget deficit without increasing the burden on taxpayers was to cut spending.

Senator Martins explained that it was difficult to make cuts to programs and to education but it was needed to get the state back on the road to financial recovery. Senator Martins did fight to minimize the impact to local school districts.

According to the Governor’s proposed budget, the Mineola School District was slated to receive $712,476 less in state aid than in received in 2010-2011. However, Senator Martins was able to restore $389,352 of those cuts.

“It is important to speak to our young people about the budget process. The state had to reign in its spending and stop the cycle of spending beyond its means. We did that this year. I was, however, able to restore significant amounts of state aid to schools in the 7th Senate District that were cut in the Governor’s original budget proposal,” Senator Martins said.

Senator Martins congratulated two of the members of the class – Sean Cha and Luke Escobar. Both were just accepted to Harvard University. The students of Mineola High School are being recognized for their tremendous academic accomplishments. Also recently, senior Bethanne Bartscherer was named an Intel Semi-Finalist.

“There are great things happening at Mineola High School. It’s always a pleasure to visit the school. I congratulate Principal Ed Escobar, the staff and all of the students and parents for establishing an excellent educational program,” said Senator Martins. “Mineola is home and while I enjoy my time in Albany, It’s great to come back and meet with our students.”