Now that the New York State Assembly and Senate have voted to adopt a state budget, I want to share with you my statement to the press. This is a budget that manages, despite dire economic conditions, to protect our children and our schools. I especially want to take this opportunity to thank every UFT member who helped make this budget agreement happen. Thousands of you lobbied in Albany, thousands more sent letters to legislators; hundreds of you called you Assembly member and senator. And tens of thousands of you came out for the March 5 rally. We know the fight is not over, but you have already made a big difference for our students and our city – thank you!
We’ve now come through two of the phases of the work we need to do to ensure that these hard economic times don’t put our kids in harm’s way. We fought incredibly hard for the federal stimulus, and then for a fair state budget. Now we must turn our attention to securing a New York City budget that also avoids cuts to core services.
You’ll hear much more about that effort soon. For now, though, I just want to tell you how incredibly proud I am to be the head of this great union and all the work that you all do.
Sincerely,
Randi Weingarten
Randi Weingarten’s statement on the New York State budget:
Given the severe economic conditions facing our state, this budget in many ways has been a story of survival. Protecting children’s educational services is and always has been our top priority. That is why we fought so hard for the federal stimulus funding and the progressive income tax, both of which helped the Governor and the State Legislature deliver a budget that protects schools, health care and the most vulnerable in the wake of a $16 billion deficit.
The kids in New York City could have suffered terribly, but thanks to the efforts of many, we have averted the most serious anticipated damage. We will see cuts to programs, but core services should be salvaged and layoffs should be averted.
The new budget also reaffirms Albany’s commitment to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which was deferred but not denied, and it rejects a Tier V, which would have been a step in the wrong direction for working families all across the state. In addition, it restores funding for Teacher Centers, which are integral to the training and retaining of quality classroom teachers, and adds much stronger class size accountability language.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Governor Paterson, Speaker Silver and Majority Leader Smith for standing tall for our teachers and public schools. They recognize, just as President Obama does, the importance of keeping people working and keeping the economy moving.
I also want to thank Mayor Bloomberg for his advocacy on behalf of public schools, as well as the State Legislature, the City Council and, most of all, the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who attended our rallies and helped fight for their neighborhood schools.
If this were a marathon, however, we still have the hardest part of the race ahead of us. The city is still facing a deficit and schools still face cutbacks. We must work with our allies in New York City, and hopefully the Mayor and the City Council will continue the momentum and protect against direct service cuts to kids.
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