Regional advocacy forum rescheduled for March 12

UPDATE: The forum is canceled by the winter storm. The regional advocacy forum originally scheduled for Feb. 5 in North Syracuse — and canceled because of a winter storm — has been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. March 12 at West Genesee High School in Camillus.

The “Our Kids, Our Schools…Our Future!’’ forum is being coordinated by the Central New York School Boards Association and Onondaga-Cortland-Madison and Oswego County BOCES on behalf of the students, families and community members in the 33 school districts, including Marcellus, that make up the two BOCES regions.

Confused by the GEA? Watch this video.

Those Marcellus residents who did not attend a similar event held in Auburn on Feb. 4 are welcome and encouraged to participate in the forum on March 12.

The intention of the event is to bring community members of all backgrounds together – parents, students, teachers, business leaders, elected officials and taxpayers – for an informative and inspiring evening that will let them know what is at stake if state leaders do not eradicate the Gap Elimination Adjustment, or GEA, and provide adequate, equitable and sustainable funding for schools.
The state is using the GEA to take money it would have allocated to school districts across the state and instead fill its own budget gap. In the past five school budgets, the state has used the GEA to take back from the Marcellus Central School District more than $7.8 million in state aid.

The goal of March 12 event is to inform public school stakeholders about the state of the crisis and how it equates to lost opportunities for students, and to catalyze grassroots advocacy as the 2014-15 state budget is hammered out in Albany. The forum’s featured speaker is Dr. Rick Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium.

"The Board of Education and I are hopeful these events will allow more parents and community members to express their support for equitable funding for our public schools," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Craig Tice said. "While the annual Legislative Breakfasts of the past permitted Board of Education members to have small group conversations with their legislators, the organizers of these forums are trying to encourage as many community members as possible to attend in an effort to show their visible support for their local school district."