Are you going to your local Fair Share Tax Reform rally?

Click here to sign up for the rally near you!

New York City
4 pm
City Hall

Albany
4:30 pm
Capitol - East Steps

Syrcause
4:30 pm
Second Olivet Church
412 W Onondaga Street

Binghamton
5:30 pm
State Office Building
44 Hawley Street

Rochester
5 pm
Liberty Pole
East Avenue at East Main Street

Buffalo
4 pm
True Bethel Church
907 East Ferry Street

Tomorrow, March 6th
Long Island
Friday, March 6th - 4:30 pm
Huntington Hilton
598 Broadhollow Road
Melville, NY 11747

Use the player below to hear Karen Scharff's radio interview with the Public News Service, which can be heard on radio stations around the state today.

New Citizen Action Study Says State Budget Pushes People of Color Further Behind

Click here to download the full report (PDF).

Albany – Citizen Action, joined by organizations representing people of color, released a new report today finding that racial and ethnic disparities will be continued or compounded by the Executive Budget in education, higher education, health care, human services, and criminal and juvenile justice. The report calls for “Fair Share Tax Reform” to make state spending more equitable for communities of color in New York State.

“The Executive Budget gets mixed scores in our report: we found some proposals that reduce racial and ethnic disparities and others that increase disparities,” said Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York. “But on balance the proposed cuts would have a disproportionate negative impact on communities of color. The proposed budget would increase the racial and ethnic disparities in our state by key economic and social measures.”

Today, Siena Research Institute released a poll showing that when given a choice between raising income taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and cutting education and health care, an overwhelming majority oppose cutting New York's education and health care budgets and, instead, prefer raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers.

In the same poll, the Governor's favorability rating is at 40%, while he is viewed unfavorably by 47%.

Earlier today, Karen Scharff reacted to the poll:

“Today’s Siena poll gives us one more indication that the people of New York will not accept budget cuts that will hurt middle class and low income families. The overwhelming majority of New Yorkers are continuing their call for fairness to be restored to this state’s tax code.

“Cutting education, health care and other critical services from the budget will result in more jobs lost. That’s no way to fix the economic mess we’re in. By asking the wealthiest New Yorkers to contribute just a little more, we could protect our kids’ education, keep hospitals open, and save programs that working families depend on.”

Click here to download a PDF of the Siena release.

Asia Milton is 10 years old. She's a student at P.S. 288 in Brooklyn. And she'd be among the people hardest hit if Gov. Paterson's budget proposal passes.

Asia's classroom would lose thousands of dollars in funding under the governor's plan. At the same time, New York taxpayers making more than a quarter million dollars a year wouldn't see their state income taxes go up at all.

Please take a moment now to hear the rest of Asia's story. Then tell the State Senate to balance the budget fairly. Click here to watch Asia's story.

The State Senate has asked for suggestions on how to balance the budget, and we need to send a strong message that Fair Share Tax Reform is the right path to follow.

Gov. Paterson's plan would slash funding for schools, hospitals, and services our neediest fellow citizens rely on.

Fair Share Tax Reform would raise taxes on the wealthiest 5 percent of New Yorkers – and help us prevent cuts to schools like Asia's and other crucial services.

We'll all need to sacrifice to help balance the budget.

But people like Asia and her classmates shouldn't bear more than their fair share of the pain.

Thanks!

Statement of Karen Scharff, Executive Director, on the Federal Stimulus Package

"We are proud that Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and the New York House delegation, along with the rest of Congress, have enacted a federal stimulus package that will create jobs and put our economy back on track by providing education funding and sorely needed aid to states. However, here in New York, we are still facing a massive budget deficit that is growing every day. The stimulus package is a great first step toward fixing our economic problems, but we still have a long way to go. Governor Paterson's proposed $2.5 billion in cuts to school aid will not only irreversibly damage our children's education, but will also take a massive blow to our state's already battered economy. The stimulus money will prevent some of those proposed cuts, but without other revenues we will still face serious cuts to education and other critical services. Before making cuts, we must ask those New Yorkers who earn more than $250,000 a year to pay their fair share. It's time that we fix the regressive tax policies of past decades and make New York a place where our government works for all of us."

Major education organizations release analysis showing 64% of school districts face cuts in excess of $15,000 per classroom; 60 districts face cuts over $30,000 per classroom due to Governor Paterson’s $2.5 billion in school aid cuts

Education Committee Chairwomen Assemblywoman Nolan and senator Oppenheimer join education advocates in calling for school aid restorations

Organizations call for Fair Share Tax Reform

Click here to download a PDF of this release.

Click here to download a PDF of cuts per classroom for every school district in New York State.

Albany--Major education advocacy groups were joined by Education Committee Chairwomen Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan and Senator Suzi Oppenheimer in releasing data showing that 64% of school districts face cuts in excess of $15,000 per classroom with 60 districts facing cuts over $30,000 per classroom. The education organizations called on the state legislature to reject Governor Paterson's $2.5 billion cut to schools and instead to support Fair Share Tax Reform that would raise taxes on New Yorkers earning over $250,000 a year.

“From the Southern Tier to the North Country and from Suffolk County to Rochester school children will have their futures robbed if these education cuts are enacted. It is simply incomprehensible that Governor Paterson is proposing to take $15,000 to $40,000 out of children’s classrooms in ever corner of the state rather than asking New Yorkers who earn over $250,000 a year to pay a little more in taxes,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education. “Unless the legislature rejects these cuts and takes decisive action on fair share tax reform, this budget will set back the education for a generation of school children. It is not too late to chart a different course and protect our schoolchildren by asking New York’s highest income earners to pay their fair share.”

"This past year, the budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, kept the promise to fund a sound based education from Pre-K through high school graduation. The crisis that today plagues our economy will have an impact on New York State’s revenues and expenditures but it will not weaken the Assembly’s resolve to champion education. That is our future. It will, however, take all of us together to see our schools through difficult times," said Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan.

The Governor’s 2009-10 Executive Budget Briefing Book identifies that his budget uses cuts of $2.5 billion in school aid to reduce the state budget deficit—these cuts include the funding due by law under the settlement of the historic Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. The analysis performed by the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Alliance for Quality Education calculates what these cuts translate into per pupil and per elementary school classroom for every district in the state. A full listing of the cuts per pupil and district is available at www.aqeny.org. A sampling of how the cuts impact several districts in the state is included below.

"The Campaign for Fiscal Equity spent 15 years in the courts and the legislature working to ensure that our classrooms are adequately funded to provide teachers, programs and services so that every public school student in New York receives their constitutional right to a sound basic education. This report clearly shows that Governor Paterson's proposed $2.5 billion cut to education drives a hole in the bottom of the education funding glass emptying resources ranging from $15,000 to $40,000 from every classroom across the state. There is an alternative. The Fair Share Tax Reform Act asks New Yorkers who make over $250,000 to dig a little deeper so that the we can continue to fill the education glass, and invest in the economic future of our students and, thereby, the long term economic growth of our state," said Geri Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity.

Advocates expressed support of the personal income tax legislation introduced in the Senate yesterday that would raise personal income taxes for wealthy New Yorkers earning over $250,000 annually and would generate up to $6 billion in new revenue. Currently the highest tax rate in New York State is 6.85% for those earning at least $40,000 annually. The new legislation would increase percentage rates for $250,000 annual income earners to 8.25%, $500,000 to 8.79% and for those earning over $1,000,000 annually the rate would increase to 10.35%.

"The Governor’s proposal takes much-needed resources from our schools, classrooms and children. If we as a state are going to recover from the failures of Wall Street, we must reignite the engines of economic prosperity by putting forward a budget that reflects our multi-year commitment to provide every child with a quality education in an excellent school. To have a stable and thriving economy in the future, we must start in the classrooms, "said Glynda Carr, Executive Director of Education Voters of New York.

"As a parent of a New Scotland Elementary School student I am frightened that these cuts will have a drastic and negative impact on our children. Many school improvements have been fought for and have just begun to be implemented here in Albany such as; reduced class sizes, additional after-school programs, as well as increased extracurricular classes like foreign language, music and art. All of these great opportunities are now being placed on the chopping block due to these substantial state cuts to education. For the sake of our children and their success in the future, these cuts must be restored," said Leah Golby, Citizen Action member.

Sixty-four percent of the 673 school districts in the state face cuts greater than $15,000 per classroom, with 60 districts facing cuts in excess of $30,000 per classroom. The districts with the most dramatic cuts are spread throughout the state. Rural districts in different regions such as Bradford Central School District in Steuben County, Whitesville in Allegeny County, and Lyons in Wayne County, join Brentwood, Hempstead and Wyandanch on Long Island, large cities like Syracuse and Rochester and small cities like Newburgh, Norwich and Schenectady as examples of districts facing cuts exceeding $30,000 per classroom.

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