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Petition closing on February 10, 2021

Dear Senator Kaplan, Assemblywoman Sillitti, and Regent Tilles:
We are the officials entrusted with overseeing the education of over 5,300 students in the Port Washington Union Free School District (Port) in Nassau County.  We are writing to share with you who we are, the population we serve, and the immense financial expense we have undertaken to enable our students to return safely to in-person learning for the 2020-21 school year.  Most important, because of that immense expense, we respectfully urge you to 1) ensure Port gets its fair share of new federal aid, which is intended to supplant, not replace, our fair share of state aid, 2) support legislation that provides federal COVID relief funding directly to our public schools, so that all education-based funding is given directly to school districts, or through BOCES; and 3) ensure Port receives adequate and fair funding of state aid.
We are a diverse and proud bunch: more than 40 languages are spoken by students in our district; over 18.6% of Port’s student population is enrolled in English Language Learner (ELL) classes, some having arrived here as teenagers with interrupted formal education or none at all; almost 16% of our student population receives Free and Reduced lunch; and 16% of our students receive Special Education services.  Port outperforms New York State in almost every metric, and we do it at a lower cost per student than most of our neighbor districts here in Nassau County.  In “The Age of COVID,” funding is more important than ever, as our district faces mounting emotional, physical, educational, and operational demands.  Our district’s “pandemic spending” has been unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes, and it has come with little to no relief from the federal government.  We need your help.
This past summer, our administrators and your undersigned had the unenviable task of deciding whether we could safely reopen our schools, with as much in-person learning as possible, and pay the hefty price tag to do so, or go the cheaper route of keeping our schools closed and staying fully remote.  For the educational and emotional well-being of the children we serve, we chose the former, and that required spending to the tune of over $3.7 million – a staggering amount for us.  As a result, Port’s pre-K-5 students attend school in-person, full-time, every day; we provide a fully virtual pre-K-5 “school” for vulnerable families who need to keep their children home; and our secondary students attend school in-person on a hybrid basis (due to building space constraints).  To accomplish this, we provided devices to all of our students and teachers, increased broadband, and made sure that those who did not have internet access were given access.  We added staff to help our in-person elementary learners navigate social distancing during arrival and dismissal times and during the school day.  We purchased lunch carts so we could transport meals efficiently from the cafeterias to our classrooms that had become alternate cafeterias.  We ensured much needed professional development for teachers and staff, and tried to augment our substitute teacher capacity.  We ensure no child is hungry; we distribute meals to needy students in our school district despite an anticipated revenue shortfall this year from our cafeteria food sales.  We purchased items necessary to meet reopening mandates for our seven school buildings, including special disinfectants, PPE, additional deep cleaning sessions, increased amounts of soap, thermometers, floor tape, portable sinks, additional custodial/cleaning staff, a health screening app, socially distanced bus transportation, portable HEPA air filters, desk shields, etc.  If COVID testing of students and staff becomes necessary to keep our schools open due to rising positivity rates in Nassau County, we will face an estimated additional expenditure of $40,000 to cover the mandated testing each time 20% of our staff and students must be tested.  The list goes on.  The immense expenditure has been worth it.  Our student body suffered when they were fully remote; now they are very happy to be back in school – it shows not only in their academic performance but, more important, in their mental health as well.  However, the $3.7+ million cost is staggering; the costs continue to mount, our reserves are being depleted, and we’re only in January.  “Pandemic spending” has been unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes, and it has come with very little to no relief from the federal government.
As leaders of our school community responsible for the fiscal oversight and health of our school district, we implore you to understand the immense financial burden that has been, and continues to be, placed on the Port school district.  The burden is most evident this year; however, it is not sustainable, and it is sure to have financial and, therefore, education ramifications for years to come.  Proper funding from the federal and state government is essential.  For this reason, we urge your help in ensuring Port gets its fair share of federal COVID relief aid; in supporting legislation that directs this federal COVID relief aid directly to our public schools, or through BOCES; and ensuring Port receives adequate and fair funding of state aid.  All of this is essential in order for our district to continue our strong programs, properly support our students, teachers, and staff during this pandemic and its aftermath, and ensure all of our students stay on their path toward graduation during what is a very emotionally, physically, and educationally challenging 2020-21 school year.
 
The Board of Education of the Port Washington Union Free School District