Elmont Online

State Senator Jack Martins scored a big win for the Elmont and Sewanhaka School districts in the State budget battle waged in Albany last night and into this morning by restoring millions of dollars to schools in the Elmont community. In January, Governor Cuomo's budget proposed double digit cuts to both districts.  Specifically, the Elmont School District was expecting a heart stopping $2.56 million dollar or 13% cut in State Aid.  The Sewanhaka Central High School District, which encompasses Elmont Memorial and Sewanhaka High Schools in Elmont, was looking at an eye-popping $4.1 million dollar or 15% cut in state aid.  Senator Martins teamed with State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and won back critical aid to both districts.

The Martins-Skelos Team win in school aid for the Elmont community means that devastating cuts to schools in Elmont will be re-examined. The doomsday budgets that Superintendents had prepared for residents are being reexamined. “This is a big win for the Elmont community and the entire 7^th Senate district,” said State Senator Jack Martins noting, “we stood firm and did not allow these devastating cuts to hurt children and public education in Elmont.”

As the budget bills made their way to the floor of the Senate, Senator Martins was busy dialing his cell phone and calling Superintendents to inform them of the state aid packages. “We needed to get this information to the community immediately. The results mean one thing for Elmont- we were able to stop very serious school tax increases on homeowners,” said Martins.

Senator Martins discussed the aid packages with Superintendents Al Harper and Warren Meierdiercks in phone calls from the State Capitol and broke down the aid packages as the bills were being debated and passed. Martins also spoke to community leaders and shared the budget battle news. The State Aid packages to schools were a source of high drama in Albany with protesters calling for increased state aid to New York City at the expense of Long Island schools.

Locally, the school aid package for the Elmont and Sewanhaka School districts respectively was restored  by over $4 million dollars for both districts.  According to Senator Martins, the restoration of school aid will enable both districts to cut the proposed tax levy to homeowners.   “The bottom line for homeowners is this - the original planned tax increases that many people called me and wrote to me over the past few months are now gone. Do we have to cut spending, live within our means and look to save everywhere we can?  The answer is yes! Do we have more difficult decisions to make? The answer is yes! But the deep cuts to our  public school children has been stopped,” said Senator Martins adding, "our next step in helping our communities and cutting taxes is mandate relief."

“When I would do my community stops, I talked to parents, students and taxpayers and the message was clear- our schools can‘t sustain these cuts. I also listened to parents in Elmont who are very proud of our schools and want to continue to raise the standards for our community's children.  I have been in our schools, and have talked to our young people, and participated in school events.  When I walk through the halls of Elmont Memorial, and talk to teachers and students, they inspire me to fight harder, and we did.  When I went to Dutch Broadway School and visited with children in a fourth grade class, I could see what the cuts would do. It was unacceptable. When I spoke to Sewanhaka students at the Black History Month Celebration, they told me how important the programs are and what it meant to them. And, when I went to the Inter-School PTA Founder’s Day at Covert Avenue School, I stood side by side with our PTA advocates in the battle. From the beginning, we fought together as a team and we won.”