Dr. Rick Timbs in Action. (Photo Courtesy of Finger Lakes Times)

Photo courtesy of Finger Lakes Times

First let me say a BIG Thank you to all those that helped make the EduACTION Rally happen.

Special thanks go to the amazing Love Your Schools team, The Canandaigua School District for hosting us as well as Four County School Boards Association for co-sponsoring the event. And a big thank you goes of course to our keynote speaker – Dr. Rick Timbs and our Advocacy speaker: Bob McKeveny, Superintendent in Seneca Falls.

Although we did gather about  200 people – many from neighboring school districts –  to hear Dr. Rick Timbs share some amazing facts about how our region is getting short changed when it comes to Educational Funding  – it was sad there were were only a hand full of parents and community members.  A good portion of the audience was made up of  school, superintendents, administration and school board members from over 16 school districts.

Bob McKeveny of Seneca Falls (photo courtesy of Finger Lakes Times)

Bob McKeveny of Seneca Falls (photo courtesy of Finger Lakes Times)

For the many of you not able to join us for this amazing night – I hope to post some excerpts from his presentation with some data points explained  soon — so check back for that.  In the meantime, feel free to download a PDF of his presentation in our eduACTION section of this website.

Thank you to the Finger Lakes Times and Canandaigua Messenger Post for publishing great articles on the Rally both pre- and post.   Just today  the Messenger posted a great opinion op ed on the subject:

http://www.mpnnow.com/article/20131201/OPINION/131209985/2011/OPINION

Here is other coverage:

http://www.fltimes.com/news/article_9bd075aa-52c3-11e3-bf6f-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.fltimes.com/news/article_d85b8088-55e7-11e3-8586-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.mpnnow.com/article/20131119/NEWS/131119635/1994/NEWS

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/PittsfordBlog/2013/11/20/love-your-school/3646365/

http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/urban-action-1120/Content?oid=2299220

All School Districts are WELCOME at eduACTION Tomorrow!

Help us get the word out!  Please encourage your friends no matter which local school district their kids or grand kids attend – to please join us for our eduACTION event tomorrow night.

In celebration of National Education Week, Love Your Schools, The Canandaigua City School District and Four Country School Boards Association are hosting eduACTION, a regional community Educational Advocacy rally on November, 20, 2013 from 7 – 9 pm at Canandaigua City School District’s Canandaigua Academy auditorium.  All residents of the Finger Lakes region are encouraged to attend as this event is really about issues affecting all NY state school districts.

“It’s absolutely critical that we take advocacy action now to try to create change in Albany this budget year”, says Laurie Riedman, organizer of Canandaigua Love Your Schools. “We hope to fill the auditorium with people who care about providing quality education for our kids at a reasonable cost, then get them to flood our representatives with the message that we want them to fight for our kids and our families!”

The purpose of EduACTION Night is to give attendees the knowledge and tools to advocate effectively to our New York State legislative representatives and to educate the media on the realities of how school funding is unfair for the majority of upstate taxpayers.

“In the 4 county region (of Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, Yates) the school districts currently receive over $22 million less state aid collectively than they did in 2008-09,” said keynote speaker and statewide funding expert Dr. Richard Timbs.  “Further state aid cuts have totaled collectively more than $166 million since just 2010-11 to present.  This has caused serious damage to the educational mission, local economies in the Finger Lakes region and shifted the state burden of the cost of public schools on to the backs of local taxpayers.  Any loss of state support is unacceptable and must be stopped.”

“I believe attending this rally will be two hours well spent,” said Kathy Guenther, president of Four County School Board Association.  “New York State residents – and thus their school board members — are having to deal with the impact of many diverse and complex issues.  We hope to provide facts and data that are key to understanding these complex issues and hopefully making necessary changes to educational funding legislation.”

Featured speaker for EduACTION, Dr. Richard Timbs is a dynamic personality and expert on state aid funding and other important education issues. Dr. Timbs will reveal updated data and explain how state aid formulas are skewed to favor wealthy districts to the detriment of taxpayers and students in less wealthy school districts.  He will address and explain complex issues that affect school funding including:

• Funding formulas that favor wealthy districts and disadvantage many districts in the Finger Lakes region
• What the Gap Elimination Adjustment is and why it needs to be eradicated so that funding can be restored to needy districts
• What the Tax Cap Formula is and why its unpredictability is really hurting tax payers
• What unfunded mandates are and how they increase the cost of our child’s education

View a video of Dr. Timbs for a quick overview of what he’ll be addressing and why residents should make time to attend this event.

“Unfortunately, this is a political problem,” says Mrs. Riedman. “Thus, it has a political solution – the answer is our participation! If we speak smartly and loudly –and often – our legislators will listen. And things will get better. That’s EduACTION!”

Just a week until ….

Join us for eduACTION on Nov. 20th!  Learn about the issues — Learn the facts — And help us take ACTION!

Please save the date and attend our education advocacy  rally on  Nov. 20th 7 pm at the Canandaigua Academy to learn more about educational issues facing us and what we CAN do about it! Love Your Schools is working with Canandaigua City School District and Four County School Board Association to inform NYS residents of what is happening (and not happening) in Albany; why you should care — and what we can do NOW that will impact educational funding for next school budget yet.

We feel the time to act is NOW so that our voices can be heard.  Get educated on the facts.  I hope you’ll make time for this important event.

Stay tuned for more info – but please go to our Face Book page: Loveyourschools to RSVP to the event and SHARE this with friends, neighbors, family etc. We are encouraging any NY State resident to attend!  So help us get this out to surrounding school districts – heck, maybe host a pot luck dinner at your house before and bring folks to the Rally!

e·du·ACT·IONnoun : sharing a passion to ensure the children of New York State continue to receive a quality education, learning about the complexities of public school funding issues, advocating for legislation that guarantees fairness in state aid formulas, and turning our frustration with high taxes into action –eduACTION!

Our site may have been inactive  throughout the summer months – but Love Your Schools has been cooking up some Advocacy efforts we are calling eduACTION.  And to kick them off – we are hosting an eduACTION Rally on Nov. 20th with Four County School Boards Association and the Canandaigua City School District.

Stay tuned for more details – but You can do ONE THING NOW.  Please put this date in your calendar NOW so you can join us.  Invite your neighbors, bring your parents, cousins in nearby districts!  We need to fill all the seats in the auditorium.  We feel it’s very important that we start our advocacy efforts NOW to have the most impact.

Here is info on the event. Stay tuned for more info -We will have for download  posters to share and more next week.  Help us get the word out!

eduACTION*

Dr. Rick Timbs

Executive Director

Statewide School Finance Consortium

 Wednesday, November 20, 2013

7:00 – 9:00 PM

Canandaigua Academy Auditorium

465 East Street, Canandaigua NY

Come join us to learn:

• ·      About the issues that affect our school budget, our  children’s education, and our wallets!

• ·      What YOU can do to make a difference

• ·      WHY we need to act now

*e·du·ACT·IONnoun : sharing a passion to ensure the children of New York State continue to receive a quality education, learning about the complexities of public school funding issues, advocating for legislation that guarantees fairness in state aid formulas, and turning our frustration with high taxes into action –eduACTION!

 All area school districts encouraged to come. Please help us fill the seats!

More info: http://loveyourschools.com/

        Sponsored by:  Canandaigua City School District & Love Your Schools

We hope you will get to the polls tomorrow to vote on the 2013-2014 Canandaigua School District Budget vote.  Won’t you join our text-a-thon too?  All you have to do is sent text reminders to your friends and family so they remember to vote too.

Investment in education represents a commitment to our children’s future and to the vitality of our community.  Love Your Schools feels The Board of Education has proposed a budget that continues to support the educational success and character development of all students while taking into account today’s economic climate.  We hope you will take time to vote.

Your vote counts!  Find out where you vote here.

See you at the polls!

Thanks to everyone for all your help making the Love Your Schools Rally such a success on Saturday. We had several hundred folks come out to march and support all that we love about our schools.   The Rain held off and we ended up enjoying the music, art, robotics, student group displays and more!  There were art projects for the kids and everyone had a great time.   Stay tuned for some more photos but you can catch some photos here and on or Face Book page.

We have LAWN Signs for pick up at 48 Howell Street.  They have been designed so we can use them next year as well.  We hope you’ll consider picking one up so you can remind folks driving or walking by your home to vote on May 21st.

Thanks for your support. Together we can celebrate all that we love about our schools and support our community by keeping the high quality of education in Canandaigua!