Alexandra Metcalfe

Script
Schenectady School District Getting the Aid it Needs
Slide One:
Good morning, Im Alexandra Metcalfe, and I am going to be talking about an issue going
on in my home town of Schenectady NY, which is the public school district, is not getting
the state financial aid it needs to give each students attending Schenectady CSD a sound
basic education.
Slide Two:
I will talk about Where Schenectady Is, What the problem is with State Funding,
Background on Schenectady, Schenectadys State Aid Now, What Schenectadys Aid
should be, Schenectadys aid vs Other schools, Why is Schenectady not being financed,
Current Purposed Funding for 2013-2014 school year, Benefits for the school and
Community, Negatives of Funding, My Position, Summary and then a Conclusion.
Slide 3
This map indicates the capital region. The whole red area is what is considered the capital
region. The small darker triangle is Schenectady Country where Schenectady city school
district is located.

Slide 4:
The Problem with NYS funding is that the distribution of all available state aid is unfair.
The problem with SCSD is it is not receiving the funding necessary to educate the students
of the community. On June 2, 2004, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in his educational

proposal that will ensure that every school district in the state receives the resources
needed to provide a quality education, stated "As lawmakers we have a constitutional and
moral obligation to provide all of New York's children with a sound, basic education,"

Slide 5:
Schenectady is one of the poorest school districts in New York State, and has the
13th highest concentration of childhood poverty in the nation. Many might think that the
district would be a high priority when it comes to distribution of state aid. In fact
Schenectady only received $72,900,701 for the 2012-2013 school year, only 54% of the aid
the district should be receiving by law. Schenectady also has a 0.386 combined wealth ratio.
The Combined Wealth Ratio is a calculation by NY State that uses district specific
information and compares it to the rest of the state. The two main components of this
calculation are the property values per pupil and the income per pupil within that
district. The average Combined Wealth Ratio for school districts is 1.0. Schenectady with a
ratio of 0.386 shows that it is much poorer than the average district and thus will need
more aid to help students get the sound education promised by NYS constitution.

Slide 6:
As shown in the chart, Schenectady is being shorted a lot of money, about $62 million
annually. The Promised aid shown is not even the 100% of the aid SCSD should be
receiving but the average state aid all school districts receive which is about 82%.
According to Superintendent for SCSD Larry Spring, the overall budget picture in
Schenectady would change significantly if the district received just the median percentage

of full funding. At $135 million, Schenectady would receive $38 million more dollars which
is still not the total aid due, but its a significant increase. Legislators have made a plan to
phase in the additional aid to all districts so they eventually receive 100%. For Schenectady
this would take 58 years to receive the full funding according to this plan. To put that into
aspect, I would be almost 77 years old by the time Schenectady CSD got all the funding.

Slide 7:
This next two slides are only charts and will be used as visual aids to show Schenectady's
financial ranking among all districts in the NY getting state aid, and Schenectady's
financial aid compared to other schools around in the in the Capital region.

Slide 8:
This chart shows how many districts are being funded at certain percentage of aid. This
chart clearly illustrates that over 20% of school districts are being funded at 100% or more
and that there is over 120 million dollars being over funded to school which could be used
to make up the funds that other schools are not receiving. It is also concerning that with the
combined wealth ration, the schools that make up the 20 % has an average of 3.15 while
the schools being funded at below 54% is only at an average of 1.44 and 1.23 which is only
.44 or .23 over the average wealth ration of 1.0.

Slide 9:
As you can see from this chart, In the capital region the public city school districts are
being funded at rates of 62%-110%, but Schenectady is being funded at 54%. Schenectady

is the poorest district as stated by the combined wealth ration, we have the lowest
percentage of full amount received in finical aid and we have the highest amount of
financial aid needed out of all the districts, and are currently being funded the most aid out
of all districts. By just looking at the wealth ratio, the next lowest is the Sharon Springs
with a wealth ration of 0.488, but as shown, they are being funded at over the median
percentage at 85% of their needed aid. This brings up the dispute that, if this district can
be funded at over the median, why cant Schenectady also be funded at the median.

Slide 10:
Now that you know what Schenectadys State Aid should be and how Schenectady ranks
compared to other schools and districts in NY, lets now look at why Schenectady is not
being funded, what its current solution is without the needed financial aid, what the aid
would do for the school and community, Negatives of Funding, and then I will wrap it up
with my position and a summary and conclusion.

Slide 11:
The reason Schenectady is not being funded at the promised amount is because legislators
believe that in time, with their plan to phase in money a little at a time to districts will
correct the problem. Currently, the school district is relying on tax payers and the school
board to make corrections to the budget to ensure money is allocated properly and a way to
produce a sound education to all students. These budget plans will produce more money,
but through cuts of programs, afterschool clubs and activities, and also cuts to teachers and
other staff in the district.

Slide 12: To increase money flow in the district the school board plans on eliminating 105
positions, Reducing middle school schedule from 8 to 7 periods, increase class sizes, cut
non-mandated programs, and close a school.

Slide 13:
This is a chart that just shows all the cuts the school plans on making in the 2013-2014
school year. These cuts will increase our money usage in the district by 6,591,512 dollars.

Slide 14:
Superintendent Spring figured that if the district received the additional $38 million in
state aid, not only would the students benefit, but so would Schenectadys
taxpayers. Spring said the district would give about $18 million back to the taxpayers and
still have funding for school programs, Mental Health services for young kids, a job
increase, and the previous cut of arts, music and physical education in elementary schools
will be restored.

Slide 15: There really are no negatives of getting the state aid. The only negative that could
be seen is that the people of Schenectady only want to funds to decrease their taxes and not
to help the students.

Slide 16:

In my opinion, Schenectady being one of the poorest schools in the state, should be getting
more aid then some of the schools that is being funded at over 100%. I honestly dont
understand why there are some districts being funded at over 100% when there are still
some schools who cant even be funded at the median of 82%. These schools need the
funding to help the students and the faculty. It is not fair if one school district being funded
at 100% or more has the funds to put on programs and clubs while Schenectady cant even
fund simple programs like music and art for little kids. Basically we need a change in
Schenectady and NYS needs to wake up and see that their distribution of money is not fair.
At a current meeting, School Board President Cathy Lewis stated we are no longer cutting
the fat, we are down to just meat and bones, and soon we will not be able to afford a basic
education in Schenectady

Slide 17:
In Summary you have learned that, Schenectady is being underfunded by $62,322,404. It is
one of the poorest districts in New York State. 138 School Districts are receiving more that
100% of aid

Slide 18:
$126,042,686 are being overspent on those 138 districts, And by distributing the money
fairly among districts, NY could save tax payers 18,000,00 dollars

Slide 19:

In conclusion if state aid was distributed more equally and Schenectady was funded at the
median level of 82%, the budget conversations would change dramatically. We would be
talking about how we can help students rather than what we will take away. We would
also refund money back to the taxpayers.