It’s Easter time. And like the Bunny, colored eggs and crisp church clothes for children, the budget for the Syracuse city school district is due. And just as in years before there’s the argument that our schools need more money.
Additional funds to avoid massive layoffs as school district employees not unlike British hostages held by Iran and paraded before the media. Employees are hostages in this school drama while students and citizens suffer through the process.
Every year, Syracuse city school district administrators and board members hold the head of some poor teaching assistant or bus monitor shouting to anyone who’ll listen, “We’ll cut it off!”
Simply put, each year we hire new people to service this diverse group of students and then tell them, “We may not be able to keep you. Sorry.”
Is this a district that would be anyone’s first choice of employment? I don’t think so.
This is not happening in the land of the ‘burbs, where recent New York State education aid formula heaped funds on school districts that are wealthy. Our local Albany delegation has remained coy with state Senator Dave Valesky asking people to be patient with the governor’s new budget.
In the City of Syracuse, there are children that don’t receive schoolbooks to take home. Some children have lesson reading materials photocopied. A parent recently asked his daughters teacher to call him regarding the text book situation and he never heard from her. He has yet to get an explanation as to why his daughter doesn’t have books.
Quoting a famous lyric, “Don’t know much about history, don’t know much biology” but I do know that something’s wrong when you can’t find a text book in a Syracuse city school.
Remember the church group that outfitted Blodgett School with a library?
This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg as Syracuse city school district children and parents have to fight against affluent suburban school districts and local politicians who’d rather act like bobble-head dolls instead of challenging an education funding formula that penalizes Syracuse residents for simply being poor.
Ken Jackson is the editor of Urban CNY.
