The power of knowledge

Daily Point

Education leaders talk safety, learning, money and lawsuits

Wednesday morning, New York State United Teachers filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming that its recent withholding of state school aid appropriated by the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for the current fiscal year is "an unconstitutional delegation of the legislature’s constitutional oversight and policy making powers."

At noon Wednesday, NYSUT President Andy Pallotta and state Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa were guests on the NewsdayLive webinar "School and COVID-19: Inevitable Changes to Education." They discussed the lawsuit, as well as broader school-funding issues, safety, teacher and parent concerns, and what the response to COVID-19 is teaching us about where education may head once the health crisis has passed.

Facing what Cuomo says is a $13.5 billion budget shortfall due mostly to the reduced tax revenues from COVID-19, the governor used his emergency powers in June to begin withholding 20% of monthly payments to school districts. Cuomo had warned that unless the federal government comes through with help for states, payments would suffer. The stalemate in Washington on a new round of relief is bearing that out.

Pallotta said the cuts have come as school districts struggle with hybrid and remote-learning programs.

"So right before school starts, we have districts throughout the state that have cut their budgets and this lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the executive budgeting powers to make these cuts, because this has now devastated some districts around the state," he said. "We want to make sure everybody has a mask, PPE they need, transportation is set, social distancing is set and now we have budget cuts to compound all of these problems."

Pallotta argues that the state has $7 billion in reserves it could tap to stop the cuts short-term, and rich people it can tap with increased taxes to confront the long-term issue of funding schools.

Rosa, in response, stood up for Cuomo and the state, saying, "At no point, in all fairness to DOB [Department of Budget] and the governor’s office, did they make these cuts permanent. But they did signal to districts to certainly begin some planning, knowing they were depending on the federal dollars during this process."

But asked whether Long Island districts should cut budgets and staff right now, Rosa was noncommittal, laying out budgeting as a complex process unique to each district that should involve them "taking stock of delivery systems" and looking at every aspect of a budget critically at all times."

In response to the NYSUT lawsuit, state budget officials said later Wednesday that any layoffs would be "premature" and any payments withheld have been minimal.

To hear more from two of the state’s biggest players in education, on topics like school safety and openings and closings, teacher comfort, testing, student and teacher evaluations, the future of snow days, and more, check out the webinar here.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

BNL’s trickle-down effect

In January, the Department of Energy announced that the world’s next-generation electron-ion collider would be awarded to the Brookhaven National Laboratory. It was huge news in the science world and in the furtherance of fundamental research to explore what matter is exactly made of, and how it is held together. But now the benefits of BNL winning the competition will generate down-to-earth news for Long Island.

—Rita Ciolli @RitaCiolli

Pencil Point

Fashion and function

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/cartoons

Final Point

A glitch in the system

In a bid to cut through the confusion of pandemic voting, an August executive order from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo required county election boards to send voters a mailing containing a host of voting information by Sept. 8.

Nassau County’s Board of Elections sent its informational mailer to active and inactive voters, according to Democratic elections commissioner Jim Scheuerman, but there was one problem: one of the early voting sites included in the mailer was wrong.

The incorrect site was St. Markella Greek Orthodox Church in Wantagh. It had been used by the BOE in June but this time, "the site couldn’t accommodate us," said deputy clerk Joe Ra.

There is a new site in Wantagh — the American Legion on Park Avenue — and the Nassau BOE website has the correct, updated location. And the board will send out an additional mailer in the coming weeks that will include the right early voting sites.

But that new mailer will be sent to active registered voters only, said Scheuerman, while the original went to active and inactive.

For those confused: the updated list of 15 early voting sites is available on the board’s website and county voters can cast their ballots early at any one of them.

Many voters appear eager to do their civic duty, despite the chaotic newness of voting in 2020. Out of just more than a million total registered voters in Nassau, 94,000 already had requested absentee ballots as of Wednesday afternoon.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano