Two Assembly members who represents parts of St. Lawrence County, one Democrat and one Republican, agree that rescinding a provision that cut school aid for several years is a good thing.

Addie Russell, D-Theresa, whose district includes all the townships in St. Lawrence County along the St. Lawrence River plus Canton, Potsdam, Rossie, Macomb and DePeyster, said, “This budget includes a significant investment in our schools, including a record high amount of Foundation Aid,” Assemblywoman Russell said. “That Foundation Aid is a critical funding component for our high needs districts in the North Country.”

The budget increases school aid by nearly $1.5 billion, providing a total of $24.7 billion in school aid. Foundation Aid is increased by $627 million and the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) is fully restored.

“The funding to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment will benefit our schools this year and into the future. It will allow us to focus our attention in future years on ensuring our districts continue to receive the Foundation Aid necessary for North Country schools to provide a quality education to our students.”

"I am pleased to see that the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) funds have been fully restored and more than $24 billion will be invested in education aid," said Marc Butler, R-Newport, who represents much of central St. Lawrence County.

The GEA, passed during the 2010-11 session of the Legislature, imposed cuts in aid to school districts, shifting some of a multi-billion dollar state budget gap to local schools every year since then, forcing significant cuts to programs and staff. It had been schedued to last one more year.

Superintendents and educators in the North Country have been vocal about the need to increase Foundation Aid, which directs funding to schools with the highest need, including rural school districts, the Assemblywoman noted.

Butler expressed his disappointment that the resolution of differences in budget policy were resolved in the often criticized "three-men-in-a-room" method which he said did not leave time for representatives to examine the plans and debate them.

"This budget was negotiated behind closed doors in secret between the governor and the two legislative leaders and rushed onto our desks without the three-day aging period meant to allow the public, legislators and the press time to properly vet the bills. This is by far one of the worst budgets I've seen in years in terms of process and content," he said.

Butler said the budget does contain more transportation aid for upstate.

"Additionally, this budget contains more than $1.2 billion in relief for middle-class taxpayers. These achievements, however, are overshadowed by the troubling minimum wage increase -- even the lower

rate set for upstate threatens jobs and our small businesses, family farms, and direct caregivers to our seniors and those with developmental disabilities. This was not the budget that upstate New Yorkers deserved," Butler said.

Russell reported that the budget includes funding for her Farm to School pilot program in the North Country, designed to provide fresh, local food for local school districts.

“I am convinced this will be a successful program that opens more markets to our farmers and provides our school cafeteria programs with the funding to purchase and serve healthy, locally grown products,” Russell said.

The budget also includes increased funding for SUNY, while at the same time freezing tuition for the coming academic year, Russell said.

“We pushed back against continual tuition hikes at SUNY schools, and we won,” Assemblywoman Russell said. “We cannot keep pushing more and more of the financial burden on students and expect them to have economic security in the future. This measure helps to ensure that every student in the state has the opportunity to receive an affordable, quality higher education.”

The budget also provides capital funding for campus-wide maintenance projects at SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Canton and other colleges and universities in the SUNY system, Russell said.