Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill Friday, Oct. 8, that would have given the Oneonta Town Faculty District the $400,000 in transportation funding it did not receive in 2019-20 simply because of a clerical error.
In a joint media launch Monday, Sen. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, and Assemblyman John Salka, R-Brookfield, criticized the governor for vetoing the laws that passed both equally the point out Senate and Assembly unanimously.
“It is unfortunate that this governor would instead engage in politics than deal with authentic issues going through our schooling communities in upstate New York,” Salka explained.
In accordance to the media release, the bill would correct a clerical mistake and guide the Oneonta Town University District by preserving $400,000 in condition transportation assist owing to the college district. The laws would suitable an oversight in the application approach for the district’s transportation aid for the 2019-20 school calendar year, when the district did not file its application for transportation support to the point out training department in a timely trend.
“The Oneonta Metropolis College District has a solid observe document when it comes to contractual submissions and expected paperwork,” Oberracker said in the release. “This inadvertent oversight involving 1 merchandise should really not guide to an frustrating penalty that would drastically hurt college student programming and services, apparently our governor disagrees.”
According to Oneonta Town Faculty District Superintendent Thomas Brindley, the district isn’t really by itself in missing out on remaining reimbursed by the point out. He stated other colleges across the point out have misplaced out on either transportation or setting up funding simply because both the paperwork wasn’t submitted effectively or it was not submitted on time. He said when 3rd-get together contractors fill out paperwork, they in some cases use the incorrect color ink on the variety or do not file the paperwork on time, leaving school districts holding the bill.
Brindley reported the college district made use of dollars out of its fund balance to include the transportation charges. He thanked Sen. James Seward, who begun the course of action in 2020, Oberacker and Salka for their assistance.
Brindley mentioned the point out Education and learning Department is hunting at its insurance policies and he is hopeful it will deal with the problem of third-party contractors who enter paperwork incorrectly. He claimed the New York State School Boards Affiliation and the New York Point out United Academics the two advocated on behalf of Oneonta and numerous districts in similar situation at the state level.
A simply call to the governor’s business office Monday was unanswered, and a information was not able to be still left.
Vicky Klukkert, workers author, can be reached at [email protected] or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.