Central New York educators are continuing their fight to get rid of the gap elimination adjustment. The program has been around for five years, initially meant to take funds earmarked for public schools and use them to close a state budget deficit. Schools say it’s forced them to lay off staff and cut programs.
"For two years in a row now, we’ve had a budget surplus. Why do we need a gap elimination adjustment?" said Charles Borgognoni, executive director of the Central New York School Boards Association.
The gap elimination adjustment basically reduces the amount of foundation aid the state is supposed to pay school districts. Borgognoni says advocates have been able to whittle the amount of money taken away from schools to about $1 billion.
“Over the five years it’s been in existence, $9.5 billion that was legally entitled to go to schools, didn’t go to schools," said Borgognoni. "We got that down to this year to about a billion dollars left in the gap elimination adjustment. So our hope is that we’ve gotten to a point where we can totally wipe it off the boards.”
Borgongnoni is urging schools, as well as parents and teachers to lobby their state lawmakers, to work towards getting rid of the budget gimmick.
