Senator Robert Ortt on Education Portion of 2015-2016 New York State Budget

Please see the following statement from Senator Ortt regarding the education portion of the state budget passed this evening.

“This budget increases state education aid by over $1.4 billion across the state to bring total state education spending in my district to over $457 million – well beyond the levels that the Governor proposed,” Ortt said. “It eliminates most of the disastrous Gap Elimination Adjustment, which will save our local schools nearly $18 million. We’re helping our students by reducing over-testing and protecting our kids by removing convicted, violent offenders from the classroom.”

“I also think it was important to take a stand against some of the Governor’s more extreme proposals like basing teacher performance evaluations 50 percent on testing, or refusing necessary funding increases without dramatic overhauls of the system. Ultimately, evaluations will be left to the professionals at the State Education Department and the Board of Regents, who will then implement evaluations on a district by district basis. It was also critical to fight back against a New York City agenda that wanted to provide tax-payer tuition assistance to illegal immigrants, while so many hard-working New York families struggle to put themselves or their children through college.”

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