December 2, 2004

Education money questions

The announcement earlier this week that a court-appointed panel would require the state spend $23 billion more on New York City schools has created all kinds of questions, including where the money will come from and whether poor rural districts will get the same kind of assistance. The Journal covered the state story yesterday, and today it talks to local superintendents about it, including Dryden's Mark Crawford:

"Lots of us have been talking about the need for equity throughout New York State," said Mark Crawford, Dryden Central School District superintendent. "From our point of view here in Dryden, we're concerned about equity for rural schools as well."

The Journal's editorial points to long-term problems in Albany as a key cause of the sudden bill:

After years of budget rigging and neglect by Democrats and Republicans in both the Legislature and the governor's office, the house of cards of school aid has fallen... It is a sad moment to realize that for many years, our past and present political leaders shortchanged school children who may never recover from their educational inadequacies...

When we pick up the tab for Albany's colossal fiscal mess, we will finally have the answer to the rhetorical question our state's politicians have used for 20 years to explain why the state budget is late.

That question has been: "Would you rather have a bad budget on time or a good budget late?"

We got neither.

The Journal also lists many of the 21 people arrested in yesterday's cocaine busts in Tompkins and Cortland counties. A Freeville resident was arrested in Georgia and a Dryden resident arrested in Pennsylvania, and another Dryden resident is in Cortland County jail.

The Varna Volunteer Fire Company was among companies responding to a fatal fire near Slaterville.

It doesn't mention Dryden specifically, but there's an article on a proposed open burning ban for the county.

Finally, a Mineah Road resident was arrested on charges of selling crack cocaine in the Tops parking lot in Lansing.

Posted by simon at December 2, 2004 7:42 AM in , , , , ,
Note on photos