When the Governor released her budget proposal in January, she sent shocks across state schools by modifying the Foundation Aid Formula and ending the ‘Save Harmless’ policy. We opposed these changes from the beginning, which would have cut 3.4 million dollars from West Islip Schools’ budget for next year. These cuts would have devastated services and staff across the district. On March 20th, WITA organized a Community Signing Event as part of a second letter-writing drive to lobby the Governor to fully restore these funds to her proposed budget and provide an increase that aligns with the current inflation rate. As a result, we mailed eight hundred and fifteen individual letters to the Governor by partnering with the West Islip School District, involving all bargaining units, the West Islip PTSA, and the community. In addition, many community members took letters home from the Community Signing Event for family members to send, and several of the building PTAs distributed letters at their monthly meetings. While we cannot know how many community members mailed additional letters on their own, we believe this overall effort had an impact on the final amount of NYS State Aid approved over the April break. West Islip went from a loss of $3.4 million to an increase of over $900,000. This increase benefits all future students, staff, and community members as it creates a larger base on which future programs and services will be built.
Thank you all for contributing your time and effort to make this a success!
