By Danielle Sanzone
The Record

ALBANY — One sign at a rally Tuesday made it pretty clear how many SUNY, CUNY, and community college students felt about Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It depicted the new governor in the shape of a worm eating an apple meant to represent the state’s education system and its funding.

The executive budget proposed last month would cut funding to the State University of New York by $100 million, City University of New York by $95.1 million, and community colleges by $61.8 million, but students showed that they would not be giving up without a fight.



The governor’s budget would reduce community college base per student operating aid by 10 percent, from $2,260 to $2,034, which means students would pay $226 more. This equates to a loss of about $2.3 million for Hudson Valley Community College for 2011-12. Last year, $2.9 million was cut from the college.

“I have noticed my bill increasing over the years,” said Severin Kameni, Jr. of Hudson. He is a criminal justice major who has attended the college since 2009, will graduate in May, and was just accepted to the University at Albany for a political science major. “It is upsetting as a student. Not just higher education is suffering. The state has a fiscal problem.”

Over the past two years, the college has seen a 16 percent decrease in state aid, said HVCC President Drew Matonak. He said the last time the college saw an increase in state aid was several years ago.

“This is a very difficult fiscal situation. Every one of us recognizes that. We have to be part of a solution, but at the same time understand we contribute to the economic revitalization of the state,” he said.

On Tuesday, the state Senate and Assembly were wrapping up their own budget resolutions. In the Assembly, the resolution included restoring $200 million in educational operational aid. There were still deep cuts to SUNY and CUNY schools, but community colleges saw more funding from the Assembly.

“There was just not enough money for SUNY and CUNY. Our priority was to help the community college population. I believe they are more at risk since there is an ever-increasing community college population,” said state Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes. “Education is my number one priority. To increase the size of classrooms, layoff teachers, cutback on teachers’ aides would set us up for failure. We have to be competitive in the world with a more education workforce.”

Assemblyman Bob Reilly added, “My first priority was to help people with disabilities but my second was for education. If there is no quality education for our kids, quite frankly, we can just hang it up now and give up.” Continued...

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The Assembly created the revenue to restore the education funds through keeping the millionaires tax, which would apply to residents who make more than $1 million instead of the prior amount of $200,000. This tax would create about $736 million in revenue.

The executive budget proposed a $1.5 billion decrease for state school districts.

Kameni, the director of special events for the SUNY student assembly and the student Senate vice president at HVCC, helped organize the recent rally called SUNYpalooza which brought together youths from across the state.

“Aside from graduation, this is the most important day in your academic career,” said Cory Provost with the University Student Senate of CUNY.

Danielle Sanzone may be reached at 270-1292, @DanielleSanzone on Twitter, or by email at dsanzone@troyrecord.com.

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By Danielle Sanzone
The Record

ALBANY — One sign at a rally Tuesday made it pretty clear how many SUNY, CUNY, and community college students felt about Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It depicted the new governor in the shape of a worm eating an apple meant to represent the state’s education system and its funding.

The executive budget proposed last month would cut funding to the State University of New York by $100 million, City University of New York by $95.1 million, and community colleges by $61.8 million, but students showed that they would not be giving up without a fight.



The governor’s budget would reduce community college base per student operating aid by 10 percent, from $2,260 to $2,034, which means students would pay $226 more. This equates to a loss of about $2.3 million for Hudson Valley Community College for 2011-12. Last year, $2.9 million was cut from the college.

“I have noticed my bill increasing over the years,” said Severin Kameni, Jr. of Hudson. He is a criminal justice major who has attended the college since 2009, will graduate in May, and was just accepted to the University at Albany for a political science major. “It is upsetting as a student. Not just higher education is suffering. The state has a fiscal problem.”

Over the past two years, the college has seen a 16 percent decrease in state aid, said HVCC President Drew Matonak. He said the last time the college saw an increase in state aid was several years ago.

“This is a very difficult fiscal situation. Every one of us recognizes that. We have to be part of a solution, but at the same time understand we contribute to the economic revitalization of the state,” he said.

On Tuesday, the state Senate and Assembly were wrapping up their own budget resolutions. In the Assembly, the resolution included restoring $200 million in educational operational aid. There were still deep cuts to SUNY and CUNY schools, but community colleges saw more funding from the Assembly.

“There was just not enough money for SUNY and CUNY. Our priority was to help the community college population. I believe they are more at risk since there is an ever-increasing community college population,” said state Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes. “Education is my number one priority. To increase the size of classrooms, layoff teachers, cutback on teachers’ aides would set us up for failure. We have to be competitive in the world with a more education workforce.”

Assemblyman Bob Reilly added, “My first priority was to help people with disabilities but my second was for education. If there is no quality education for our kids, quite frankly, we can just hang it up now and give up.”

The Assembly created the revenue to restore the education funds through keeping the millionaires tax, which would apply to residents who make more than $1 million instead of the prior amount of $200,000. This tax would create about $736 million in revenue.

The executive budget proposed a $1.5 billion decrease for state school districts.

Kameni, the director of special events for the SUNY student assembly and the student Senate vice president at HVCC, helped organize the recent rally called SUNYpalooza which brought together youths from across the state.

“Aside from graduation, this is the most important day in your academic career,” said Cory Provost with the University Student Senate of CUNY.

Danielle Sanzone may be reached at 270-1292, @DanielleSanzone on Twitter, or by email at dsanzone@troyrecord.com.

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