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Superintendent of School Bernard Pierorazio has spent the past three days in Albany, meeting with various state Assembly and Senate members, education committees and members of the governor’s budget staff.
The goal, the superintendent said, was to ensure that various elected officials are committed to helping Yonkers receive the funding it needs.
“It was my responsibility to travel to Albany, meet with our representatives and ensure that needs of our 26,000 students resonate with them,” Pierorazio said in a statement following the Albany trip.
According to Yonkers administrators, the district faces a very real possibility of coming up at least $28 million short in the 2013-2014 budget, a more than half billion dollar spending plan. Late last month, the superintendent told Albany lawmakers the budget shortfall was projected, in part, due to various rising expenses, including salaries, transportation and health insurance costs.
Earlier this month, a grassroots campaign spearheaded by the Yonkers Council of PTAs and Yonkers Parents United began circulating the web, urging families to contact their elected officials on behalf of the district.
On Monday, the superintendent began an in-person campaign of his own. During the three-day trip Pierorazio attended several meetings with legislators, staff, committees and the state's Education Commissioner, all in an effort to discuss the impact the district’s projected shortfall would have on its already crippled resources.
Pierorazio has pointed to the district’s educational personnel and programs that must be restored, including full day prekindergarten for 1,600 children; guidance counselors, psychologists and social workers.
In addition, he said, interscholastic sports need to be reinstated as well as junior varsity and modified programs; arts, music and instrumental music for every grade level; extra-curricular activities, class size reduction and library media specialists.
“Our community’s greatest resource is our children, and there can be no compromise to providing our students the very best education possible,” he said.
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