As the pace of budget negotiations in Albany heightens,two local state representatives are calling for the elimination of cuts to school aid that were designed to shift the burden of deficits from the state to local school districts.

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell ( D-Theresa) and Sen. Patty Ritchie, (R-Heuvelton) are asking the governor and other members of the state Legislature to remove the “gap elimination adjustment” that has reduced state aid to schools.

Russell, whose district includes all St. Lawrence County towns along the St. Lawrence River along with Canton and Potsdam, is calling for an additional $2 billion in aid to schools beyond the $377 million proposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in the pending state budget.

Ritchie, who represents the western half of St. Lawrence County including Ogdensburg in the Senate, calls for an end to the GEA, what a press release from her office calls “a budget gimmick that has continued to hurt schools and students since its implementation in 2010.”

The statement from Ritchie said she has fought to reduce the GEA—which was designed in 2010 to help close New York’s $10 billion budget deficit—for school districts she represents by more than 78 percent, a higher ratio of GEA reduction than other areas of the state. Currently, she sponsors legislation to fully repeal the GEA.

Ritchie launched a petition calling for an end to the GEA. It can be found at www.ritchie.nysenate.gov. Individuals without access to a computer can call her Watertown office at 782-3418.

Russell says the GEA has stripped away education funding since 2010 in order to close a gap in the state’s operating budget, and has shortchanged local schools of millions of dollars in aid.

“North Country schools have been underfunded for years,” Russell said, “and it’s getting to the point where there is very little left to cut before our children are robbed of a basic education.”

“The GEA has taken so much money out of our educational system that once stable school districts are on the verge of fiscal and educational insolvency,” Russell said. “I’m calling for an end to the five-year old GEA.”

In addition to eliminating the GEA, another focus for this year’s budget is driving funds into the state’s foundation aid formula, which has seen minimal increases in recent years, Russell said. There was a commitment to increased funding when the formula was created, but failure to follow through “has put our most valuable schools further behind,” according to Russell.

“We must either increase funding that is distributed under the formula, or come up with a new way of funding our schools to ensure our children receive the education they need to become successful adults,” she said.