EdVANTAGE Blog

The Associated Press reports:

A new coalition of upstate and suburban Democratic senators say they will refuse to vote for any midyear school aid cuts sought by Gov. David Paterson and still being negotiated by the Senate’s New York City-based leaders.

If it holds, the coalition of seven Democrats would kill the chance of disruptive midyear school aid cuts in any deficit reduction package.

A news release from the seven Senators begins,

In light of their shared concern on Upstate and Suburban property taxes, healthcare and education, the Senate Majority Upstate Caucus (Senators Aubertine, Chair; Breslin; Stachowski; Thompson; Valesky) has partnered with the Senators from Long Island, Senators Brian X. Foley and Craig Johnson to steer DRP negotiations sensitive to the anticipated impact of the Governor’s proposed cuts throughout Upstate and Long Island.

The release concludes with a series of quotes from the individual Senators making their opposition to the School Aid cuts clear.  For example, Senator David Valesky from the Syracuse area says,

“While we are ready to agree to most of the proposed cuts, as difficult as these may be, we must be careful not to adopt deficit reduction solutions that simply shift costs down to local property tax-payers. That is why I, along with my colleagues from across Upstate and Long Island, are holding strong to the position that mid-year school cuts will not have our support.”

Senate Republicans had previously announced opposition to mid-year School Aid cuts.  This suggests that at least 37 of the 62 Senators would not vote for such cuts.