Statement from Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan

With the end of the Legislative session quickly approaching, there are just 15 session days remaining to do the people’s business and conclude our work for the year.  That’s not a lot of time, but it’s enough to make a difference in the lives of hardworking New Yorkers and their families. 

First and foremost, we should make the property tax cap permanent in New York.  Doing so will bring certainty to taxpayers, help create good jobs and grow our economy for the future.  To that end, the Senate will act as early as this week to make the current property tax cap permanent in New York State.

When it comes to education, we must ensure that every child has the same opportunity to receive a first-class education.  That’s why we cannot end this session without enacting the Education Investment Tax Credit, which has already been approved in the Senate, and increasing the charter school cap.

I firmly believe the state must continue to reform our education system to address the concerns raised by parents about Common Core.  To make parents more comfortable with what is happening in their children’s classrooms and by extension their kids as well, Senate Republicans will pass legislation to improve the provisions that were enacted in the state budget to ensure that tests are age appropriate for children and curriculum is consistent with higher learning standards, among other things.  We should act swiftly and smartly before we adjourn so parent-centric reforms can be in place before a new school year begins in September.

Reforms need to be made to the statute authorizing mayoral control of New York City schools to guarantee transparency and accountability, and to require that New York City provides enough local funding to underperforming schools.

Senate Republicans are ready to work with the Governor and our partners in the Assembly to combat and root out campus sexual assault so students can feel safe in knowing that we have done everything possible to protect them from harm.

In addition, my Senate Republican colleagues and I believe it is time to make common-sense reforms to the SAFE Act.

We must also ensure that New York City police and firefighters injured in the line of duty receive appropriate financial protection.

With less than five weeks of session to go, it’s time to get together and resolve our differences so we can build on the progress we made earlier this year and truly help the residents of this state.