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Community Corner

Briarcliff Board of Ed Calls for an End to the GEA

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The Briarcliff Manor Board of Education has unanimously passed a resolution calling on lawmakers to end the annual Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) and restore the much needed school aid that has been taken away from the Briarcliff Manor school district and other New York State school districts since the law’s inception four years ago.

 

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Briarcliff joins the campaign spearheaded by the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association (WPSBA) to restore a loss of more than half a billion dollars in state aid to school districts in the region due to the GEA. WPSBA has made the elimination of the GEA one of its highest priorities for the 2013-2014 school year. It is working to convince legislators that the GEA should be eliminated, thereby helping school districts in a time of great financial constriction and ever increasing mandated services.

 

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The reduction in school districts’ allocation of state aid, now known as the GEA, is a formula in the state budget that reduces the amount of state aid each school district is entitled to receive. It was introduced in the 2009-2010 school year to partially offset the state’s own $10 billion budget deficit. Over the past four years, the GEA has negatively impacted school districts statewide, reducing state aid by approximately $8.9  billion.  Briarcliff Manor alone has lost over $2.3 million in school aid since the GEA began, and is expected to lose over a half million dollars for the next school year.

The GEA, along with state aid reductions, insufficient mandate relief and the enactment of the property tax levy cap, has created irreversible financial consequences for schools within Westchester and Putnam counties, along with sister regions in Dutchess and Rockland. “By passing our GEA resolution, our Board is joining WPSBA and other school districts that have passed similar resolutions to advocate for proper school funding. Local taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of the state government’s attempt to fix its own deficit by backing out of its financial obligation to its schoolchildren,” said Briarcliff Board of Education President Jennifer Rosen.

 

The Briarcliff Board of Education is encouraging district residents to join the campaign to eliminate the GEA by participating in a letter writing initiative to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative representatives in Albany. Residents can obtain a sample letter to send electronically by visiting the Briarcliff  PTA website at briarcliffpta.org, the district website at www.briarcliffschools.org (by accessing the PTA page under the Community section) or at wpsba.org, and learn more about the negative financial impact of the GEA has on the Briarcliff Manor School District and other New York State schools.


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