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 collective bargaining agreement runs from July 1st, 2021 until June 30th, 2025.

School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said there were good conversations and compromises, “So we recognized longevity in that contract. We recognized that the cost of living is going up so we made some concessions there and we were able to move forward with adjusting the bus driver starting salary so that it would be competitive in today’s environment.”

Whitaker said bus drivers will be guaranteed hours per week under the contract as well. He said while they are grateful for the drivers they have, the district is always looking for bus drivers, “Our head mechanic and our head transportation director drive a run. They pick up runs because we don’t quite have the drivers that we need in order for them to do their full time jobs full time. So the more folks that we can get involved, the more secure we are in our transportation of students throughout the day and throughout the year.”

Whitaker said at least 40 individuals have expressed interest with the increase in the hourly rate.

The school board also approved paying $7,000 in litigation fees related to the Small Cities Law Suit. Dr. Whitaker said the fee is for the proposal negotiated by the attorneys hired by the 8 school districts that has now been presented to New York State, “And that proposal is, they estimated how much extra we should have gotten per student in order to provide them with the appropriate, sound, basic education. So what they said was a certain dollar amount times the number of students in each of these districts is how much they should get each year over the course of the next six years.”

Whitaker said phase two of that proposal is the determination of how much extra funding the small cities school districts would receive each year on top of the annual foundation aid they are scheduled to receive. He added the timeline is unknown for when districts expect to hear the state’s response to this proposal.

The collective bargaining agreement is for a contract that runs from July 1st, 2021 until June 30th, 2025.
Under new business, the board also will vote to pay $7,000 in litigation fees related to the Small Cities Lawsuit.

The school board meeting will start at 5:50pm and is being held at Lincoln Elementary School.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the state reached an agreement to settle and discontinue the New Yorkers for Students’ Educational Rights v. New York State case, following through on the State’s commitment to fully fund the current Foundation Aid formula to New York’s school districts over three years and ending the State’s prior opposition to providing that funding.

The litigation, which has been ongoing since 2014, sought to require New York State to fully fund the Foundation Aid formula that was put into place following the historic Campaign for Fiscal Equity cases, and had been previously opposed by the State. Foundation Aid was created in 2007, and takes school district wealth and student need into account to create an equitable distribution of state funding to schools. However, New York State has never fully funded Foundation Aid.

The new settlement requires New York State to phase-in full funding of Foundation Aid by the 2024 budget.

In fiscal year 2022, $19.8 billion, covering 30% of the existing shortfall will be enacted into the state budget. In 2023, 50% of the anticipated shortfall or approximately $21.3 billion will be distributed. And by 2024, $23.2 billion will be budgeted which should eliminate the anticipated shortfall, and fund the full amount of Foundation Aid for all school districts.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley spoke with Jamestown Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker about the upcoming new year, having students back in-person, and how the Small Cities Funding lawsuit ruling potentially affects Jamestown.

Kevin Whitaker

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.

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.