NORWOOD -- Norwood-Norfolk community members are being asked to advocate for the school by contacting Governor Cuomo and six other North County politicians asking them to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA).

On the school's website, http://www.nncsk12.org/, there are prepared letters with a space for a signature to support the school. Community members can print, sign and mail letters to local and state officials in an effort to push for what the letters describe as more equitable funding for rural schools.

The school has information on their site explaining school aid, Gap Elimination Adjustment and the property tax cap.

The GEA was established as part of the 2010 budget to help close New York’s then-$10 billion budget deficit. Under the legislation, a portion of the state’s funding shortfall is split among all school districts throughout the state and subtracted from school district aid. The GEA has been heavily criticized by local school districts which have struggled to make ends meet in recent years.

Prepared advocacy letters are written for Gov. Cuomo, Senators Ritchie, Griffo and Flangan; as well as Assembly reps Butler, Russell and Nolan. Flanagan is chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Nolan is the chair of the Committee on Education.

Letters detail staff cuts, shared services, reduction in expenditures and other cost-saving measure that the school has done for the last five years to maintain budget.

A portion of the letter reads:

“To explain, the GEA was instituted as a short-term solution to the state’s budgetary crisis. We understood the problem and were willing to assume the burden. No more! The GEA for 2014-15 at Norwood-Norfolk Central School District is $165,633; totaling $3,531,555 since its inception. As a comparison, a 1% increase in the tax levy equates to only $61,175. The effects of the GEA are magnified when combined with the property tax cap. For this 2014-15 school year, our cap on the levy was 0.489%.”

Sen. Ritchie (R-Heuvelton) and Assemblywoman Russell (D-Theresa) recently called on increased school aid to the region. Russell and Ritchie, 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 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.”