State Sen. Jack Martins (R–Old Westbury) speaks out against the state Education Department’s Regionalization plan at a rally Thursday (Photo courtesy of the Office of Sen. Jack Martins)
The New York State Education Department’s Regionalization initiative, which would create and foster multi-district collaboration for varied programs and services, has faced great scrutiny on Long Island as officials see it as another state attempt to weaken local control.
Long Island elected officials, school representatives and residents gathered at a rally Thursday to denounce the state program.
“This is just another attack on the suburbs by state government, which is completely controlled by left-wing progressive politicians,” County Executive Bruce Blakeman said. “We will not stand by and let the Department of Education gun our school districts.”
Regionalization is a state education initiative to bolster educational equity and operational efficiency across school districts. The purpose is to address disparities among districts and financial challenges.
“The state Education Department has gone rogue,” state Sen. Steve Rhoads (R-Wantagh) said. “They are more concerned about social justice than they are concerned for the education of our children, and we will fight for local control until we win.”
The program was proposed as an emergency regulation in September and is slated to be adopted in January.
Roslyn Board of Education President Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy questioned what the emergency was that warranted the emergency action by the state.
“Roslyn wasn’t experiencing an emergency before one conjured one,” Waxman Ben-Levy said. “You can’t just conjure an emergency so that it fits squarely into an emergency regulatory process that you wish to invoke to expedite something from on high and then backfill it with support from the ground.”
Locust Valley Central School District Board of Education Trustee Margaret Marchand called the emergency initiative a “complete violation of every single school board member’s elected capacity.”
“Every single school board member should be absolutely appalled,” Marchand said. “And they should be standing alongside the other school districts who have bravely and courageously decided to file an Article 78 and an injunction to stop this regulation in its tracks.”
The Locust Valley Central School District, Cold Spring Harbor Central School District, Massapequa Public Schools and Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District penned a letter on Oct. 31 that claimed the regulation is illegal.
“We are very clear in our stance and our stance is: we do not want your emergency regulation for regionalization over our schools in the entire state,” Marchand said. “We are very clear that we do not want a second regulation that is right behind it that codifies and changes the powership for BOCES superintendents to be in charge of our districts.”
The state education website says schools can “choose” whether to engage in these regional, collaborative programs.
Waxman Ben-Levy said that while the state Education Department website states the initiative is optional, that is nowhere stated in the regulation verbage.
Thursday’s press conference was described as nonpartisan, yet Waxman Ben-Levy drew attention to those in attendance, who were predominantly Republican officials.
“There are those who are carrying water in a partisan way,” Waxman Ben-Levy said. “Look who’s here and look who’s absent who was also invited and did not come and did not speak but did communicate and they know who they are.”
Blakeman said that both Nassau and Suffolk County are treated as cash cows by the state, saying that they give more money to the state than they receive.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Long Island press secretary, Gordon Tepper, said that the governor has increased school funding on Long Island by 26%, or $1.4 billion, since taking office.
“Gov. Hochul will continue doing whatever it takes to support New York’s kids, even when career politicians try to stand in her way,” Tepper wrote.
He added that the Hochul has not been involved in the creation nor oversight of Regionalization.
“The truth is that this plan is coming directly from the Board of Regents whose appointments are all made by the state Legislature — not the governor,” Tepper wrote. “Rather than hosting bogus press conferences or spreading false rumors, these politicians should consider actually doing their job by conducting oversight over the state Education Department. Furthermore, it is the governor’s firm position that this proposal should be OPTIONAL for each school district and that any opt-in should be decided by the voters in that district.”
Blakeman said he expects Hochul to fight back against the proposal and use her veto power to ensure it is “dead on arrival.”
A state bill named “Our schools, our rules” was introduced by state Sen. Jack Martins (R–Old Westbury) and Rhoads that proposes school district regionalization efforts to only be permissible with the permission of the school districts involved who would then opt in or out on their own accord.
“Until they make it clear that it is not going to be imposed on our school district, we will continue to fight for our local school districts,” Martins said.