East Aurora Community Members: Support East Aurora schools and oppose cuts

Support East Aurora schools and oppose cuts

Greetings,

I just signed the following petition addressed to: East Aurora Community Members.

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Support East Aurora schools and oppose cuts

Dear East Aurora Community Members,

As you may be aware, the East Aurora Union Free School District School Board is contemplating devastating cuts to the District, eliminating over 15 teachers, eliminating student access to a full range of programming. Students would be packed into larger classes with less direct access to the teachers, limiting their enrichment and remediation of instruction, lowering their chances for academic success. Students would have larger classes at Parkdale Elementary, packing 25 students or more into 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. At the high school, 22% of the classes would be eliminated, and the school day would shift to seven periods, down from eight, dramatically limiting their time in school. Students would have less class choices, eliminating art, music, business, English, social studies, math, science, physical education for a whole school of children, and reducing access to school counselors, who service our most vulnerable students.

The quality of education in East Aurora is one of the greatest selling points of living in this exceptional community. The proposed reductions and impacts of those cuts under consideration will impact the quality, consistency, and breadth of education in East Aurora, a district renowned across the state for its outstanding education. When we let the educational opportunities for our children and students deteriorate, the very future of our community is in jeopardy. As people leave to find a better education system elsewhere in Western New York, home values decrease, tax revenues drop, and services for all citizens deteriorate.

East Aurora is currently a district distinguished throughout the state for the quality of education in relation to cost. Business First currently ranks East Aurora 3rd out of the 97 school districts in Western New York for performance. The Washington Post ranks EA High School within the top 4% of schools nationwide. The great academic performance of our students occurs in an environment of fiscal responsibility. According to statistics from the Empire Center for New York State Policy, there are only 7 districts in WNY that spend less per pupil on education. Also, the effective property tax rate is 77th lowest out of 82 districts, and the EA employees rank 81 out of 82 districts in employee’s benefits per pupil. More statistics can be found at: http://seethroughny.net/benchmarking-ny/#/

The only way these cuts can be avoided is to contact your school board members and tell them to override the tax cap with a moderate tax increase. Please join us signing this petition to preserve the high quality of education in East Aurora, and tell the East Aurora School Board to Save Our Schools!

Thank you,

Todd Hathaway
President

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Sincerely,

[Your name]