Welcome and thank you for visiting the Legislative Advocacy Focus Group website. The Legislative Advocacy Focus Group is a group of individuals- School Board Members, School Administrators, Business Owners, Parents, Students and Community Members- who all care deeply about the educational opportunities of our students. There have been tremendous changes to the education arena over the past several years- from Common Core to State Assessments to Teacher Evaluation and of course, the financial landscape of the State and local school districts. Our mission is to help to inform people, to educate them and most importantly- to empower individuals, to provide a unified vision and voice to bring about positive change for the future of public education here in New York State and across the United States.
Our current interest and focus is the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA). Adopted in the 2009-2010 budget year, the GEA (known originally as the Deficit Reduction Assessment) was made a permanent part of state aid allocations in 2011-2012. The GEA refers to that between budgeted state expenditures and the revenue available to support those expenditures. Because of the GEA, state aid has been reduced which has resulted in many programs and staff to be cut in districts throughout New York State. Reduced state aid has shifted the cost to local property tax payers and has made a significant impact on the ability of school districts to remain educationally viable.
The GEA negatively effects every School District and every tax payer in New York State. We are calling upon the New York State Legislature to stop the GEA for New York State's 2015-2016 Annual Budget. The group was formed from a grassroots perspective seeking to inform community members how legislative decisions affect their local school districts and ultimately their students and children. Interest and support continues to grow out of this local effort- some of our organizational partners are listed below. Please take a moment to visit their websites by clicking on the images below.
Click on the "Change.org" icon below to digitally sign your name to our growing petition~ asking our NYS House and Assembly members to "End the GEA Now."
You can also download, print and sign your name to the petition below and then send it to your elected officials. Thank you for joining us in the fight for fair and equitable funding for our schools.
Our current interest and focus is the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA). Adopted in the 2009-2010 budget year, the GEA (known originally as the Deficit Reduction Assessment) was made a permanent part of state aid allocations in 2011-2012. The GEA refers to that between budgeted state expenditures and the revenue available to support those expenditures. Because of the GEA, state aid has been reduced which has resulted in many programs and staff to be cut in districts throughout New York State. Reduced state aid has shifted the cost to local property tax payers and has made a significant impact on the ability of school districts to remain educationally viable.
The GEA negatively effects every School District and every tax payer in New York State. We are calling upon the New York State Legislature to stop the GEA for New York State's 2015-2016 Annual Budget. The group was formed from a grassroots perspective seeking to inform community members how legislative decisions affect their local school districts and ultimately their students and children. Interest and support continues to grow out of this local effort- some of our organizational partners are listed below. Please take a moment to visit their websites by clicking on the images below.
Click on the "Change.org" icon below to digitally sign your name to our growing petition~ asking our NYS House and Assembly members to "End the GEA Now."
You can also download, print and sign your name to the petition below and then send it to your elected officials. Thank you for joining us in the fight for fair and equitable funding for our schools.
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