Schumer: New Senate Amendment To Be Introduced This Week Would Slash Funding For New York Elementary & Secondary Schools At Over 680 Districts, At A Time When They Can Least Afford It; Schumer Vows To Fight For NY's Education Funding & Urges Colleagues To Maintain Funds Necessary For School Programs

Press Release

On a conference call with reporters, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today launched a major push to block any Senate amendment that significantly cuts funding in the Every Child Achieves Act, which the Senate considers on the floor this week. Schumer said this Senate amendment set to be introduced this week would radically change the current formula used to allocate Title I education funds to K-12 schools. These funds are the largest source of federal funding for elementary and secondary education and are key to every state's ability to improve educational opportunities, particularly for children in New York State. Without these funds, Schumer said New York school districts would be financially overwhelmed and unable to provide critical services to students who most need them.

"As a proud product of the New York public school system, I know how great our state's schools can be when given the tools, resources and funding to succeed, so I am dead set against any proposed amendment to abruptly slash funding from New York's public schools. This amendment would take a hatchet to crucial federal funding, which means New York schools could lose out on more than $300 million. This would be a devastating cut that would punish millions of students and teachers across the state, so I will urge my colleagues not to support it and will do all I can to beat it back," said Schumer. "We can't afford to pull the rug out from under our school districts over summer vacation. So I will fight this, and any amendment, tooth and nail to make sure there are no federal education cuts made on the backs of hard-working New York State students, teachers and families."

Schumer explained that the Senate is currently set to consider the Every Child Achieves Act on the floor this week, which would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, the ESEA was considered at the time the most far-reaching federal overhaul of the national education system. Its purpose was to provide quality education to students of all income levels by providing grants and federal resources to schools across the nation, particularly to districts serving low-income students. Since its enactment, the ESEA has been reauthorized every several years, with substantial changes being made as federal education policy has changed. The most recent, notable change was made in 2001 when the law was reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In April 2015, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan rewrite of the ESEA called the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. This legislation was meant to address many of the shortcomings of NCLB. This bill is set to be considered on the floor of the Senate this week.

As the bill heads to the Senate floor this week, however, Schumer said one of the amendments set to be considered could have a devastating effect on the New York public education system and leave millions of students and teachers without the critical resources they need to succeed. Schumer said this particular amendment, sponsored by Senator Richard Burr [R-NC], would change the formula currently used to determine funding allocations for state and local education agencies.

Specifically, this amendment would radically change the formula that is used by the federal Department of Education to allocate Title I funding to K-12 schools. Schumer explained that, incorporated into the ESEA are several key provisions that cover a wide spectrum of federal education policy, including a critical provision called Title I. The Title I program allows the federal Department of Education to distribute federal funds to school districts and local education agencies (LEA) that serve a high number or percentage of low-income students. Schumer said that the Title I program provides this vital funding to school districts throughout upstate New York, including urban districts where poverty is typically concentrated as well as middle-class rural and suburban districts that also serve low-income students.

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