Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, the Hon. Nita Lowey, Chairwoman Appropriations Committee, the Hon. Kay Granger, Ranking Member Appropriations Committee, the Hon. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Chairman Education and Labor Committee, and the Hon. Virigina Foxx, Ranking Member Education and Labor Committee - Engel leads Bipartisan New York Members Calling for Increased Education Funding for New York

Letter

New York State remains the epicenter of our nation's COVID-19 crisis, with the most positive cases, and sadly, the most loss of life in the country. The situation in New York is critical, and we are on the forefront of this crisis and need additional assistance.

We want to commend you on your work to ensure the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economy Security Act (CARES) Act would provide relief to our health care system, put money directly into the hands of Americans, offer significant support to our small businesses, and importantly, deliver helpful education assistance to New York State. The assistance in the CARES Act helps fill in a portion of New York's education budget gap. However, there is still significant help our state, and constituents, need to prevent widespread education funding cuts. That is why we ask you to include strong levels of funding directly to school districts through the Education Stabilization Fund to ensure our public education system cannot only weather, but also bounce back from, this public health crisis.

New York State schools have been closed as of March 16th statewide, but some schools have been closed as early as March 9th due to the COVID outbreak. This has left our state's more than 200,000 teachers having to remote teach millions of students. The $2 billion allocated for New York State of the overall $30.75 billion through the CARES Act is a helpful starting point to assist our education system. These funds will be used to help New York purchase education technology and broadband to assist students learn at home. But with an unknown timeline for this public health crisis, more financial resources will be required for our educators.
That is why we are asking for robust education funds to be allocated in the fourth coronavirus package. Additional funding will prevent education layoffs, cuts in education services, such as AP classes, guidance counselors and social workers. We would also ask that these funds can be used for remote learning, school meals, summer school sessions, childcare reimbursement for schools that have had to pay for these costs, professional development for teachers and procuring personal protective equipment (PPEs). Ensuring additional education funding is crucial to maintaining New York State's education system, and to avoid a slower education recovery. As we have been hardest hit by COVID-19, we ask that New York receive significant support in the next funding package to not only be made whole, but also to avoid layoffs, maintain our education programs and help close the glaring education gap.

We again want to thank you for the tremendous work in passing three critical funding packages to combat this public health emergency. We look forward to working with you on the fourth coronavirus funding package to stop this virus and set our nation on a strong recovery.