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Area parents, students and supporters heading to Albany Wednesday to school aid rally; public urged to call governor's office

Posted 2/28/12

CANTON – As parents, students and others from St. Lawrence County prepare to head to Albany tomorrow for a rally in support of equitable school aid, parents are urging people to call Governor …

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Area parents, students and supporters heading to Albany Wednesday to school aid rally; public urged to call governor's office

Posted

CANTON – As parents, students and others from St. Lawrence County prepare to head to Albany tomorrow for a rally in support of equitable school aid, parents are urging people to call Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office to get the issue rolling.

They are even asking people to call state senators from outside the two districts that represent St. Lawrence County, to get them to back Sen. Patty Ritchie of Heuvelton in her effort to get the section of the state budget on school aid revisited.

Tedra Cobb, former St. Lawrence County legislator and a parent of two children in Canton schools, has sent a message to parents urging them to conduct a “pre-advocacy phone blast” by calling the governor’s Albany office to make the case for a fairer slice of aid to less-prosperous school districts in the state.

The formula proposed in the governor’s budget apparently restores less of the aid cuts of the last few years to poorer districts than to wealthier ones, and parents and students are leading an “Advocacy Day” rally in Albany tomorrow.

To get the rally rolling, calls are being urged to the governor, as well as to legislators who have yet to sign on to Sen. Ritchie’s plea for reconsideration of the formula.

Advocates are asking people to call the governor’s office at (518) 474-8390 to make their ideas known to him, and to call a number of state senators as well. They are James Alesi, from near Rochester, alesi@nysenate.gov, (518) 455-2015; Gregory Ball, from the Hudson Valley, gball@nysenate.gov, (518) 455-3111; John DeFrancisco, from near Syracuse, jdefranc@nysenate.gov, (518) 455-3511; Mark Grisanti, from near Buffalo, grisanti@nysenate.gov, (518) 455-3240; and William Larkin, from the Hudson Valley, larkin@nysenate.gov, (518) 455-2770.