Thanks to the Observer-Dispatch, we’ve got the local candidates’ views on education - grades and analysis below.
The 47th District of the New York State Senate covers Oneida, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties. Incumbent Joseph Griffo [R] is being challenged by Michael Boncella [WF].
The O-D asked candidates in some state and federal races about their proposals for education funding. Here are their answers:
Joseph Griffo, R-Rome
Education is an essential investment in developing the citizens of the future and the work force of tomorrow. New York must continue to invest in schools.
Not all investments produce results. The millions spent in the education bureaucracy to test, assess tests, interpret tests and design tests are millions that should go into the classroom. At the local level, districts must accept that difficult times will mean an end to annual increases above inflation.
Consolidation of administrative and support functions is necessary to maximize the funding that goes into teaching students. The state aid formula must be simplified. We need to work with the School Consortium to develop the right formula.
Giving districts a set amount per student, with added revenue for districts with high needs, while eliminating categorical items, could help give schools greater freedom to manage their budgets. During this time of limited revenue, state capital project funding, which can run into hundreds of millions across the state, must be focused on critical needs only.
Grade: A-. Griffo starts strong by stating clearly that education is a priority for New York State. His honesty about the lack of return on some education “investments” is both refreshing and practical.
Though his position on the wasteful education bureaucracy is correct, Senator Griffo’s opposition to testing is slightly misguided. Tests and assessments aren’t the biggest problems; it’s the shoddy, ineffecient, ineffective implentation. I suspect that Senator Griffo would agree with that delineation.
And finally, someone has said that school districts must face the same financial realities that we face.
The consolidation of services has been touted by several candidates, and I hope that Griffo and others will pursue those solutions if elected. Simplifying the state aid formula can only help. Giving districts a “set amount per student” in base expenditure could help ground and solidifying spiraling, chaotic budgets and encourage school boards/districts to re-assess their fiscal plan.
Griffo’s fiscal sense, capped by a needs-only attitude toward costly capital projects, is sound, forward-looking and responsible.
Michael Boncella, Working Families
Boncella did not submit a response.
Grade: F. No response constitutes failure. If Boncella or his associates would like to submit a paragraph or two on education funding, I’ll post it here.
On the question of education funding, the advantage goes to Joseph Griffo.
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