PEEKSKILL — City school district faculty, students, parents and supporters gathered Thursday morning at the high school to rail against the state’s proposed education funding cuts, which Superintendent of Schools Judith Johnson said could cost the district as many as 70 jobs.

The event, one of 16 across the state, is being held to demonstrate opposition to Gov. David Paterson’s proposed $1.4 billion funding cut to schools for the 2010-11 school year.

Johnson, who left for Albany immediately after the event to lobby for state aid, said the proposed cuts would translate into a loss of $1.8 million in the district, which she said would be a disastrous reduction for a district that laid-off 25 employees last year and depends on state aid for almost 45 percent of its proposed $75 million budget.

“In the worst case scenario, we might have to send out 70 (layoff) letters to staff members across the district; that’s unconscionable,” Johnson said.

The $1.8 million in state aid reduction, coupled with rollover budget increases (such as health insurance and retirement costs) of 3.7 million, leave the district starting out with a $5.5 million budget gap.

School board member Tuesday McDonald said those cuts would be felt hard in Peekskill.
“People estimate that the per-classroom cuts included in the executive budget totals over $10,000.,” she said. “Imagine what that does to a child’s school experience.”

Mary Alice Boyle, president of the Peekskill Faculty Association and a district reading teacher, said the cuts would have a detrimental impact on literacy rates, which have improved over the last several years through the help of funding for literacy coaches and reading and special education teachers.

Jeff Stern, head of the nonprofit Peekskill Education Foundation, said the cuts could wipe out a lot of the educational progress the district has made in the past few years.

“The proposed cuts to education threaten this progress and threaten to set the district back to a point in time when people were reluctant to send their children to our school district,” Stern said.

Also on hand was Peekskill High School senior Alex Velez-Green, a National Merit finalist who said he not only got a great education in Peekskill, but he was able to participate in sports and musical activities, as well.

“If these cuts go through they would significantly detract from the educational experience of all students here.,” Velez-Green said.

A budget discussion forum will be held on Saturday, March 20 at 8:30 a.m. at Peekskill Middle School, 212 Ringgold St. For more information, call the school district at (914) 737-3300.

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