As we continue budget negotiations and discussions, I plan on focusing my support on our local public schools. In a time where Albany and Gov. Cuomo are particularly hostile toward our public education system, the fight for fair funding, restoring the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) and stopping Common Core has never been more important.

Earlier this year, I met with East Aurora Superintendent Brian Ross and received numerous letters from the people of our community calling for the GEA to be ended, and I will fight this year, as I have the past two, to completely restore the education funds Albany so callously cut in 2010. Having met with local education officials, and being a parent myself, I know how devastating these cuts have been to the core of our local education system. I will insure that the full restoration of these funds is heard early and often throughout any budget discussions.

Also during these budget negotiations, we have seen an unprecedented move by Gov. Cuomo, who has so far refused to release the school aid numbers as a political ploy to force controversial education reforms through the Legislature. This move has forced our schools to craft budgets in the dark, without knowing how much money they’ll have to operate under next year. The school boards had to file with the Comptroller on March 1 on whether or not they’d exceed the two percent property tax cap - something they can’t possibly know without knowing their funding. By playing a political game with our education system, the governor has thrown the entire education system into disarray. In late February, I joined the New York State School Boards Association and several superintendents to call on the governor to release the school aid runs.

This year’s budget isn’t just about funding. It is also about finally putting an end to the Common Core curriculum, a social experiment that has drastically affected the education and learning habits of our children and has adversely impacted our schools and teachers. I have joined my colleagues in the Assembly Minority Conference in sponsoring the APPLE Plan. This legislation halts the Common Core curriculum and allows us time to reevaluate the effectiveness of the program in an effort to bring about real education reforms. Our children’s futures are too important to take a chance on a risky program that states have been fleeing early and often.

As we move forward, I am calling on all members of the budgeting process to make this discussion open to the public. Our schools deserve the money they were promised, and our teachers deserve the opportunity to teach for the sake of education and not standardized tests. I’ll be bringing these core philosophies to the debate, and I hope that you will continue to support my fight and our public schools.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding education, Common Core, the budget, or any other local or state issue, please contact my hometown office at 716-655-0951, or stop by 411 Main Street, right here in East Aurora. You can reach me through my official Assembly email: dipietrod@assembly.state.ny.us. My staff and I look forward to speaking with you.