“The governor finally realized that we must invest in schools, to assist our children to be better prepared for tomorrow’s challenges. He agreed with the Legislature’s bipartisan state budget and did not veto the funding to help Syracuse City School District reconstruct up to several buildings, over a ten year time period.

Although I am pleased the governor is approving this funding, it is unfortunate that Syracuse students had to wait a year to get this money. Last fall, the governor vetoed legislation I authored that would assist in the reconstruction. Despite that setback, I worked with Superintendent Lowengard, Senator DeFrancisco and colleagues in both houses to have this legislation incorporated into our Legislative budget. Working together we crafted this legislation to help the Syracuse City School District take on the biggest reconstruction project in school history.

Schools in Syracuse are in serious disrepair, jeopardizing the education of the city’s students. This funding will now allow the school district to seek fiscally sound options to help reconstruct and rehabilitate our schools. The school district will be able to build modern classrooms and bring pride back to our Syracuse students. This will allow our educators to focus on teaching, not on the conditions they have to teach in, and will bring much-needed high-paying jobs to the local area for many years to come.

Along with this reconstruction aid, I was able to secure an additional $17 million in capital aid for the Syracuse City School District. This aid will assist in repairing and modernizing other aspects of Syracuse schools not included in the reconstruction project.

Once again, I am pleased with the governor’s decision, and humble to have been able to assist in getting this funding passed within the State Budget. I will continue to make sure our schools and our children’s future are not shortchanged. I will do whatever is needed to provide quality education to our children and bring much-needed jobs to Central New York families."