The Granville Board of Education is hoping a little advocacy will help get its voice heard in Albany.
On Monday, the board authorized the district to join the Stand Up for Upstate School Advocacy Campaign, a consortium of schools in the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES that seeks to raise awareness of issues facing schools in the local BOCES district. As part of its involvement in the campaign, Granville agreed to pay $1,500 to hire a lobbyist service.
“By having a lobbyist, our story gets in front of them (elected state officials). It will help get our message out early and often about what our districts are facing,” Superintendent Mark Bessen said.
The district already belongs to several advocacy groups, including the New York State School Boards Association and the Statewide School Finance Consortium run by Dr. Rick Timbs. And while Bessen said those organizations do an excellent job, their size dictates their message.
“What may be in the best interest of Granville may not be in the best interest of schools on Long Island. By forming our own organization we ensure that our message gets out to the proper legislators,” Bessen said. “This gives us more flexibility to get our story and message out there.”
Of the 31 schools that are part of the local BOCES district, Bessen said 26 or 27 have committed to being a part of the advocacy campaign.
The BOCES district has already begun the search for a lobbyist and the districts that have committed to being a part of the campaign are expected to compile a list of issues to prioritize. A forum featuring all the schools will be held later this year and the lobbyist is expected to be in place and on the ground prior to this year’s state budget process.
Bessen said it’s key that legislators hear the local message before the budget process. He said districts in New York City and charter schools around the state have been very successful in making sure their message is heard early in that process.
“We’re left playing catch up with the crumbs. We want to get our message out there sooner than later,” he said.
In other matters the board recommended the district approve a number of resolutions at the New York State School Boards Association Convention next month.
The board agreed to support cultural diversity, full-day kindergarten, increased funding for pre-kindergarten, cap relief for distressed districts, and Common Core certification while opposing bonuses for educators.
The board opposed supporting RIC’s for data storage because the resolution didn’t include a confidentiality statement and as well as a resolution that would have allowed some districts to change the annual school budget election to November and allow districts to approve budgets that didn’t exceed the 2 percent tax cap with a simple majority vote instead of a super majority.
The board will hold a public forum on school-related issues on Monday, Sept. 29. Look for more information in next week’s Sentinel.