CANTON -- The Canton High School Parents Group is urging members and anyone interested in equitable distribution of state aid to schools to send an email to the governor and all state legislators as the state Legislature prepares to discuss and vote this week on the state budget and its provisions for school aid.

With the suggested email subject line, "Restore Education Funding to Needy Districts," the suggested message is:

"As you discuss and vote on the education budget, I urge you to restore the $200 million set aside for competitive grants into state foundation aid for schools. But this is not enough. PLEASE work to find more funding beyond the $200 million! Most importantly, the restorations MUST be targeted towards deprived average and high needs school districts. We ask that you do not use this money to add to wealthy districts’ state aid allocations, but to help provide an equitable education for ALL students in New York State!"

The Canton High School Parents Group has led a campaign to persuade legislators to take hundreds of millions of dollars that had been set aside for grants to be awarded to school districts on a competitive basis and instead disburse it to schools that face significant cuts in staff and programs to balance their budgets.