Jamestown School Board meeting (December 6, 2022)

Jamestown Public Schools’ Superintendent is accusing New York State of dragging its feet in resolving a lawsuit over the state under funding poor school districts.

Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the state is trying to “smoke out” the remaining eight districts involved in the Small Cities lawsuit even though they know the funding formula is unjust to poor districts, “They believe that extending through legal means the timeline for which this process will take will cause districts, especially the poorer ones, to run out of money and drop out of the lawsuit. I think it’s despicable and I think they should own up to their fiscal mismanagement over the course of decades and take care of the kids who need it the most.”

The Jamestown School Board voted 5 to 2 on Tuesday to continue paying litigation fees in the amount of $20,000 in the Small Cities lawsuit, also known as Maisto v. New York. Shelly Leathers and Pat Slagle were the two no votes, citing concerns over spending more tax money on a case that doesn’t seem to have a defined end.

The case is currently in the remedy stage after the New York State Appellate Court rejected an appeal by then Governor Andrew Cuomo in August 2021 of the court’s decision. The unanimous decision by the Third Appellate Division in May 2021 overturned Cuomo’s position that education aid to the eight small city school districts, including Jamestown, was constitutionally sufficient.

Whitaker said the districts’ goals are to change state foundation aid formulas so it’s fair for all districts in the state and for the eight small city school districts to be reimbursed for the funds lost over several decades. He said the district should receive $30 to $40 million from the lawsuit that would go specifically toward academic intervention, “It would go to tutoring. It’s essentially money that we need to help catch kids catch up to their grade level peers. [Reporter “These are teachers? Different kind of programs?] Additional teachers, additional supports – It’s all of that. It’s the entire process of assisting kids throughout their learning to close the gaps that exist with poorer communities.”

Whitaker added the state is in arrears for over $100 million for the Jamestown Public Schools District, but he doubts the district will ever see that money. However, a change in formula would provide ongoing support to the district.

The Maisto plaintiffs started the case in 2008 because they believed their districts were not getting enough educational funding/resources to give their students, mainly poor and disadvantaged, what they needed to succeed and that this violated the state constitution.

On the mascot and nickname guidance that the State Education Department is supposed to provide to school districts, Whitaker said he heard the topic is on the agenda for the Regents’ December meeting next week. He said he wasn’t aware if it was just going to be discussed or if there would be any formal action taken on on the guidance.

Jamestown School Board budget workshop

Jamestown Public Schools‘ proposed 2022-23 budget includes hiring 40 additional staff members and no tax levy increase.

District Director of Budgets and Finance Brittnay Spry presented the budget to the board of education at a workshop Tuesday. Total projected revenues come in at $94,030,000; with state aid making up the bulk of that at an anticipated amount of $75,680,000. That state aid amount is $4.8 million more than in the 2021-22 budget.

Jamestown Public Schools Proposed Hiring in 2022-23 Budget

The 40 proposed positions include hiring 15 additional paraprofessionals, 3 social workers, 5 school counselors, 2 Community Navigators, 5 Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSA) or Dean of Students, 5 elementary reading teachers, and 5 academic intervention specialist (AIS) teachers. Spry said the total cost of the positions is $2,495,000. While $519,000 of that cost would come from American Rescue Plan or other federal funds, the rest would be funded under the regular budget.

School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said he applied asterisks to 38 of the 40 proposed new budget vote positions, saying they are necessary due to what has happened in schools with the pandemic, “Meaning, that we have a crisis in literacy and reading. We have a crisis in mathematics. And we have extreme social emotional needs that is coming out kind of sideways in behavior related issues.”

Whitaker said adding these positions are a “drop in the bucket” with what the district actually needs, “What I’m hoping down the line, in the future, is that the result of the Maisto case, the Small Cities case, that was won against the state will provide us far greater resources in order to add far more AIS, reading, and support personnel.”

Finance Committee School Board Members Shelly Leathers and Pat Slagle echoed their agreement that more positions are needed in the district with Board member  saying this is part of developing a five to ten year budget plan, “And along with that plan is hiring people to fill the gaps where they’re needed the most. And as Dr. Whitaker has pointed out, there’s some big needs out there right now. And as we fill those needs, as we fill those gaps, hopefully we can taper down over the next five to ten years. But we’re not rushing out to spend all this money in a short time frame. Right now, what we’re trying to do is put together a long-term plan so we can hire these people and keep them on board as long as we need them.”

The school board will vote on budget resolutions at its March 22 meeting with the budget vote coming before the public on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

The New York State Appellate Court has rejected Cuomo’s request to appeal a May 27th decision in the small city school case – Maisto versus State of New York. The unanimous decision by the Third Appellate Division in May overturned the Governor’s position that education aid in 8 small city school districts, including Jamestown, was constitutionally sufficient.

Cuomo argued that there were important constitutional issues yet to be determined in the appeal received on July 12th. The court denied the motion without comment.

The decision leaves New York State with no option but to take steps necessary to provide significant additional school aid to these districts. Any further appeal would only allow the Governor to delay the case further which has been his primary tactic since 2008 when the Maisto case was commenced.

The case will have enormous impact on education funding, in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually just for the eight districts of Jamestown, Kingston, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie and Utica. If the principles established by the Third Department decision are applied statewide, the fiscal impact could be even greater.

The Maisto plaintiffs started the case in 2008 because they believed their districts were not getting enough educational funding/resources to give their students, mainly poor and disadvantaged, what they needed to succeed and that this violated the state constitution.

This was substantiated by the districts’ very low graduation rates, teacher pupil ratios and support staff ratios. During the period covered by the trial of the case, which looked at the districts’ performances from 2006-7 to 2013-14, these districts lost over $1 billion in promised funding which resulted in over 1500 teacher and staff layoffs.

Jamestown School Superintendent Bret Apthorpe discusses Small Cities School funding lawsuit with the Jamestown School Board during its Feb. 26 board meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Public Schools district will continue participating in a lawsuit against that state that focuses on more state aid for students.

On Tuesday night the board voted 5 to 2 in favor of spending $35,000 on the Small Cities Schools Lawsuit (Maisto v. New York) for the rest of this calendar year, with board vice president Patrick Slagle along with board member Shelly Leathers voting against it.

The vote comes just a month after a state supreme court judge in Albany – Kimberly A. O’Connor – ruled against the eight small city districts involved in the lawsuit, claiming the state is providing a constitutionally mandated “fair and equitable education” for all students, despite arguments to the contrary by the eight plaintiffs.

Jamestown is one of those eight districts. The seven other small cities districts joining Jamestown are Utica, Poughkeepsie, Mount Vernon, Kingston, Newburgh, Port Jervis and Niagara Falls. Because districts can not directly sue the state, the eight districts are individual members of a group that is paying the legal fees to help the case move forward and each district pays a membership fee to that group.

The January’s State Supreme Court decision will likely be appealed and Tuesday night’s action was required if Jamestown were to continue on with the appeal process, ensuring it would benefit from any final positive outcome in the case.

The issue of providing proper funding to ensure a fair and equitable education for all students has already dragged on for the better half of two decades and Jamestown property tax players have already invested over $300,000 in the legal battle associated with the case.

That was part of the reason Slagle voted against continuing the effort.

“I just think the district has been involved for too long now. We’ve spent too much of the taxpayers’ money chasing after an uncertainty. I think the better approach would be to contact our legislators and look for legislative action, since ultimately any success in the lawsuit and what’s going to spur more money is legislative action. So I think that $35,000 for this year and possible more money for future years could be better spent within the district,” Slagle told WRFA following the meeting.

Prior to the vote Jamestown School Superintendent Bret Apthorpe gave a presentation on the history of lawsuit and the implications for continuing the case, admitting that while attorneys involved in the lawsuit are optimistic an appeal would be favorable for the district, it would only mean the case would continue to drag on because the state would then likely appeal that decision, forcing the matter to go before New York’s highest court – the Court of Appeals.

Following the meeting, Apthorpe said he didn’t envy the school board for having to make the decision.

“I don’t think its fair to put boards of education in this situation,” Apthorpe said. “This is about taking taxpayer moneys to advocate for constitutional rights of the poor against a government, again funded by taxpayers, opposed to that. So they’re being asked to take a stand using money from a poor school to continue a court case. It’s a true double-edged sword.”

According to Apthorpe, if the state legislature were to provide proper funding totals with the constitutional mandate in mind and by following the enacted foundation aid formula created ten years ago, Jamestown would be getting an additional $8 million in aid for the 2019-20 school year. As it stands, the governor is proposing $49.8 million in general purpose aid for Jamestown next year – up just $711,000 from the current year’s school budget. Apthorpe notes that increase doesn’t even keep up with the current rate of inflation based on the state consumer price index.

On Tuesday the school board received an update on the ongoing lawsuit – now 10 years in the making – including what will likely happen now that a State Supreme Court judge in Albany last month ruled against the eight small city districts that are part of a lawsuit against the state, claiming they are not receiving equitable funding and the state needs to comply with the State Constitution, which requires the provision of a “sound basic education” for all children.

Jamestown is one of those eight districts. The seven other small cities districts joining Jamestown are Utica, Poughkeepsie, Mount Vernon, Kingston, Newburgh, Port Jervis and Niagara Falls. Because districts can not directly sue the state, the eight districts are members of a group that is paying the legal fees to help the case move forward and each district pays a membership fee to that group.

In 2009, at the outset of the case, then known as Hussein v. State of New York, the Supreme Court trial court denied the State’s motion to dismiss. In 2011, the intermediate appellate division court affirmed, and in 2012, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, also affirmed, allowing the case to proceed. In 2015 the Maisto trial was conducted in State Supreme Court in Albany, in front of the Honorable Kimberly A. O’Connor. In 2016 O’Connor issued a ruling dismissing the plaintiff’s claims. That ruling was appealed and in 2017 the appellate division reinstated the lawsuit, sending it back to O’Connor to be reviewed again. O’Connor’s decision in January 2019 was the latest outcome in the ongoing legal saga.

Jamestown School Board President Paul Abbott tells WRFA it’s frustrating because the case has dragged on for several years, with the previous ruling having already been appealed only to have it punted back to the same Supreme Court judge in Albany.

“When it’s gone back to certain judges it seems that it’s gets batted back at us and we are again in front of appeals court judges that tell us, ‘No, small cities schools, you are correct. These other judges were wrong.’ And then it just becomes that cycle. That’s when you have decide when it is time to step out of the ring and turn your focus to other things,” Abbott explained.

Abbott adds that if the district were to stay financially invested in the case, the cost wouldn’t be a lot, but at some point the board has to determine when is the district throwing good money after bad.

“The district is spending a little bit of money to support our legal representation in this battle. The board’s role in this is to decide if we continue to support it or to make the decision that it’s time to – whether we know we’re right or not – perhaps its time to give up the fight if it’s becoming not responsible to stay in a fight which we don’t feel that we can win,” Abbott said.

Abbott adds the board will take the advice of legal council before making the decision on how to proceed, as well as consider input from its liaison in the case – former school board president Joe DiMaio – who continues to speak with the attorneys and officials from the other districts involved with the case. Joining DiMaio in that effort is current school board member Nina Karbacka.

Both DiMaio and Karbacka gave the school board an update on the lawsuit during Tuesday’s board meeting- weighing both the pros and cons of being involved in the lawsuit.

Both agreed it would be worthwhile for the district to remain involved in the case rather than sitting on the sidelines, mostly because as active participants who are helping to fund the case, they have a direct line with the attorneys involved and can offer direct input on a monthly basis.

Abbott said he was unsure of when the board would make a decision on making additional payments, saying it would likely depend on when the attorneys involved request a new round of funding to keep things moving forward.

MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Recorded Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019.
Initially broadcast Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019.

Jamestown Public Schools Superintendent Bret Apthorpe talks about several issues involving the school district, including the Small Cities Lawsuit (Maisto v. New York), the State Budget, the upcoming 2019-20 school budget process, student performance, and an update on several initiatives the district will be rolling out in the coming months.

Dr. Bret Apthorpe, Jamestown Public Schools superintendent

According to the Post-Journal, the trial judge in the Small Cities school funding case – Kimberly O’Connor – has ruled against the eight small city school districts – Jamestown included – which were suing the state for additional state funding.

The judge’s decision on Friday came after her first decision was unanimously reversed by the state Appellate Division.

• READ FULL DECISION [PDF]

In response to the ruling, Jamestown School superintendent Bret Apthorpe called it another blow to the disenfranchised children of New York state.

Apthorpe said the judge based her decision upon the testimony of state “experts” who had no experiences with schools in poverty – adding that Fairly funding our schools will be the only way for our students to have the opportunities our state constitution calls for.

Jamestown – along with the other parties involved with the lawsuit – will have the opportunity to appeal the latest ruling.

A state appeals court unanimously reversed a trial judge’s 2016 ruling that had dismissed the Maisto v. New York case, which is also known as the small cities lawsuit that accused the state of under-funding eight school districts in small cities, including Jamestown.

At issue is state funding, which the small schools argue falls short of what they need to provide the sound, basic education guaranteed by the state constitution.

Last fall, Albany County State Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O’Connor had ruled against the schools without considering the evidence they supplied that the state had failed to provide adequate financial aid.

The appeals course on Thursday sends the case back to trial court for review of evidence presented, but not considered, during the trial, including resource deficiencies, student performance, and outcomes.

The plaintiffs in the Maisto case are parents and students from Jamestown, Utica, Kingston, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, Port Jervis and Poughkeepsie.

On Tuesday, an Albany County state Supreme Court justice ruled against Jamestown and seven other plaintiffs from “small city school districts” who contended that the state has failed to adequately fund them, in light of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit that almost a decade ago found that New York City schools had been systemically shortchanged when it came to state aid.

That decision led to changes in the way per-student costs in the city system are calculated. And it led to the use of a Foundation Aid approach, which essentially laid out a per-student formula for funding all of the state’s schools.

But Jamestown and the seven other small city schools said their schools, which served a lot of underprivileged students, were still being shortchanged.

Acting Justice Kimberly O’Connor disagreed and part of her ruling focused on the court’s reluctance to impinge on legislative budget decisions.

O’Connor found that the legislature can adjust school funding as needed and the Foundation Aid levels, that were created at the end of the Pataki Administration, don’t need to represent a minimum amount.

She also concluded that reforms designed to address educational inequities don’t have to be strictly financial.

In addition to Jamestown, the seven other districts involved in the lawsuit are Utica, Niagara Falls, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Port Jervis, and Mt. Vernon.

Lawyers for the districts that sued are planning an appeal.