By LINDA KELLETT

C-S-E News Staff

CANAJOHARIE — For your next party or social function, Canajoharie School Superintendent Deborah Grimshaw last week offered up a few conversation starters.

Partly in jest, she suggested adding a light sprinkling of vocabulary like “gap elimination adjustment” and “combined wealth ratio” to the banter to add a little excitement to the gathering.

Although the terms might conjure up visions of a new weight loss plan or an incentive for savings on Gap store purchases, the terms are actually related to recent years’ decreases in state funding for schools.

And with local school district officials anxiously awaiting details and analysis of the 2013-2014 executive budget unveiled Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, it’s a matter of great urgency that people speak up now about the ways in which schools are funded: Because of aid formulas that favor wealthier districts, rural, high-needs districts like those in Montgomery County and other upstate areas that are more dependent on state funding are being discriminated against, she said.

That inequitable distribution of funds is not only affecting the quality of education that upstate students can receive, but it’s also threatening the very existence of upstate schools.

Mounting a grassroots-type initiative to bring the matter to the attention of elected state officials, Canajoharie School Board of Education members last Thursday asked the two dozen or so people present for a special meeting in the high school library to spread the word — to “be a voice for our students and their future.”

In their “call to action,” they encouraged area residents to write letters to the governor, legislative leaders like state Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara and new state Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, all Democrats.

They also invited district residents and other interested individuals and groups to join the district’s fledgling advocacy group, which will be working on year-round activities that could include a “road show,” where they take their message to other groups; a “rally for equity” with speakers including students, teachers, administrators and employers; a lobbying effort in Albany; and the writing of letters to the editor.

Their next meeting is Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. in the high school library. All are invited.

The group’s primary focus right now is to change the “gap elimination adjustment,” which a spreadsheet compiled and addressed by board member Mark Brody described as “the amount of projected state aid that is withheld to help close the overall state budget deficit.”

In Canajoharie, the district lost $3 million in state aid over the last three years because of the gap elimination adjustment, Grimshaw said.

In a sample letter to the governor that was made available during the meeting, it was noted that “[b]ecause of the lack of state aid funding, our school cannot offer the same educational opportunities that wealthier schools can offer even though we are paying a higher tax rate than they are.

“In addition, even though they need less, they are receiving a higher rate of state aid ... I am only asking for a level playing field so our children can compete fairly for college placement and job opportunities,” the letter notes.

Specifically, the letter requests that the governor “consider adjusting New York’s Foundation Aid formula so that is it a more fair and equitable distribution of funds. Also, please consider removing the floor from the Combined Wealth Ratio”— which takes into account an area’s property and income wealth, reflecting the ability of an area to support its school district with school taxes — “so that districts that are poorer, by the State Education Department’s own accounting, can receive appropriate funding to help keep them competitive.”

The letter also asks the governor to “consider the degree to which the Gap Elimination Adjustment affects poorer schools. Since foundation aid represents approximately 60 percent of Canajoharie’s total budget, any cuts have a much larger impact on our budget than it does on more wealthy schools that are less dependent on state aid.”

Grimshaw and the Canajoharie school board members aren’t alone in their campaign to make the funding mechanisms more equitable.

Bruce Fraser, the executive director of the Rural Schools Association of New York State, on Tuesday said that organization makes legislative advocacy its top focus, “because we view the future of rural schools as threatened.”

A decade ago, the state funded 48 percent of the shared cost of education. Now, it’s just over 39 percent, he said.

That means local taxpayers have to make up the difference. With the 2 percent tax levy cap, districts are further handicapped.

Grimshaw last week said, “The tax levy is the amount we need to ask our community to pay to support our schools. The tax rates are set by the town and villages where we live. It doesn’t mean [residents’] taxes can only be raised by 2 percent.”

She continued, “The ‘tax levy’ can only be raised by 2 percent ... [which] is really a range. In a 20-step calculation, you come up with a range. We have a low range and a high range in which we can raise taxes. If you are sitting at zero, you’re at zero because your range is zero.”

Additionally, Fraser noted that there’s a huge disparity in property wealth, so cuts in state funding have “a greater impact on low-property-wealth districts.”

Thursday night, Brody noted that in richer communities, more of their budget comes from property taxes. “We don’t have the property tax base,” he said, explaining the wealthier downstate school districts also have opportunities and jobs that rural upstate communities don’t.

“They have a lot more money to pay for their programs,” he said, noting economic development has to be a piece of any solution to the upstate school-funding problem.

Fraser said, “We feel the existing formulas are inefficient. They send too much money to richer school districts. We have a real problem with solvency here.”

He said the Rural Schools organization focuses its advocacy efforts on upstate senators. “Because of where our districts are located, we honestly believe the decision point we can most effectively influence is the Republican Caucus because a majority of upstate senators are Republicans.”

Other upstate schools and organizations are also advocating for change.  

Sandra Bliss, a retired Frankfort-Schuyler School teacher from the Cooperstown area, was among those present at the Canajoharie meeting Thursday night.

As noted by Canajoharie resident and retired educator Stan McMillan on Tuesday, Bliss is co-president of Retiree Council 12 of the New York State United Teachers union.

He said the union also has a concern about upstate schools being victimized by unfair state funding.

“Unfair funding affects the teachers as well,” said McMillan. “I invited her. I thought [the advocacy meeting] would be of interest to anyone in upstate schools. She offered a number of suggestions and left a folder full of materials to share.”

He noted the state teachers’ union is sponsoring a similar type of workshop on Feb. 11 at the State Museum.