Support East Ramapo Public Schools Before it’s Too Late

State lawmakers ended this year’s regular legislative session without addressing the dire crisis in the Hudson Valley’s East Ramapo Central School District.

The district is on the brink of a financial disaster of its own making and faces the very real possibility of not being able to pay its bills — making it impossible to address lead, asbestos, and the educational needs of East Ramapo’s students.

I’m counting on you to call for a special legislative session to address the crisis in East Ramapo.

Before the end of this year’s regular session, State Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski introduced strong legislation (A. 10407) that would allow New York state to take financial control of the East Ramapo Central School District. The bill has the support of New York’s top education authorities.

Year after year, members of the white majority in East Ramapo – who send their children to private schools – vote down school budgets that include funding increases for public schools, where 96 percent of the students are children of color. This is 21st-Century Jim Crow — segregated schools that deny the right to education to children of color — right here in New York. Assemblymember Zebrowski’s bill creates a fiscal control board with the authority it needs to protect the financial and academic well-being of the district.

The legislation would allow the state to raise local revenue to fund urgent needs in the district, including for building repairs, even if the majority votes down the school budget. It also allows the state to rein in the district’s exorbitant transportation expenses, delivering better quality busing at less cost to taxpayers. East Ramapo currently spends tens of millions of wasted dollars on busing —far more than any comparable district in the state — while cutting classroom services, extracurriculars, and custodial services to pay for it.

These are urgently needed reforms that would dramatically improve East Ramapo public schools.

The bill also provides funding to the district to help address its ongoing financial emergency.

I need you to call for a special session to pass this critical legislation that will finally help end 21st century Jim Crow education in East Ramapo.