Suffolk Region

Gerry Bringmann

Legislative Advocacy Chair– Advocacy Team

Report of February 12, 2018

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this evening’s meeting, as I am currently traveling back from Albany where I attended the NYS PTA Legislative Summit yesterday. Today was also spent in the State Capitol where I accompanied fellow PTA advocates in visiting State Senators & Assembly members. I will provide details from the Legislative Summit in my March Legislative Advocacy Report.

On Saturday, February 3rd, I attended the Longwood/Eastern Suffolk BOCES Legislative Forum. The event was very well attended, with Congressman Zeldin, State Senators LaValle, Flanagan & Croci, as well as few State Assembly members on the dais to answers selected questions which were posed to them. Governor Cuomo’s Suffolk County Representative was also in attendance “taking notes”. Some of the points raised and discussed:

  • State Senator Flanagan (Senate Majority Leader) stated the State Legislature will definitely expand on the School Aid package prosed by the Governor, but that the increase would be modest. Under the Governor’s proposal, Operating Aid would increase by an average of 2.3%
  • Senator Flanagan declined to offer any assistance in authorizing reserve funds to pay the rising costs of teacher pensions. The Senator’s position was that Governor Cuomo already put together a financial assistance plan that was rather generous considering the State’s budget situation. Assemblyman Fitzpatrick also addressed the subject of school pensions, stating that schools should look to reduce the cost of school expenses & pensions, suggesting that perhaps in the future that new hires go to a 401K pension plan, stating the current system is “unsustainable”. Pensions are an issue this year, as costs are expected to rise approx. 10% next year after three straight years of reductions, as analyst’s project lower growth in future pension stock earnings.
  • The legislators in attendance all seemed to be in agreement that they would not support the Governor’s proposal to cap the growth in expense based aid to programs such as BOCES, especially since we are not starting to see a shortage in skilled tradesmen, such as plumbers, carpenters, etc.
  • Two excellent presentations were made, “Successfully Serving All Students in the Midst of Unprecedented Student Needs” and “A Sustainability Agenda for New York’s Public Schools”. These presentations should be available on the Eastern Suffolk BOCES web site shortly, if not already. One very disturbing point raised was the ever increasing need for Student Support Services being needed to deal with Mental Health Issues. The statistics stated were frightening.

Some other quick bullet points of Legislative related issues over the past month:

  • The Federal Government has still not reached a budget agreement (as of Sat Feb 10th), but they are getting very close to getting this done.
  • The NYS Comptroller’s Office has announced that the “tax cap” for 2018-19 will be a full 2%, which is the first time since 2013-14 that we’ve had a “true two”. This gives school district’s considerable more opportunity to raise local taxes than last year’s 1.26%.
  • Governor Cuomo has requested legislation that would provide all female students in Grades 6-12 with free feminine hygiene products. The Governor also is proposing a five point plan called “No Student Goes Hunger” that requires schools to increase access to meals by offering breakfast after the bell. Both of these proposals are in response to the rapidly increasing numbers of students who are eligible to free or reduced lunch programs in the state. The Governor is also looking to require school districts to report spending on a building by building basis, there is debate as to if this proposal promotes greater fairness or would simply drown a school district in additional paperwork,
  • State Senator Todd Kaminsky introduced a bill last week that would help combat cyber-bullying throughout the state. The bill would create a task force of parents, students, school administrators & community leaders to address the impact of cyber-bullying. According to the Center of Disease Control & Prevention, 15% of students nationwide experience cyber-bullying.

As always, should anyone wish to get in contact me regarding any legislative issues, please know the best way to get in touch is via email. My email address is

Respectfully submitted … Gerry Bringmann