Assemblymembers Angelo Santabarbara and Phil Steck joined Schenectady school officials Monday to call for increased funding for small city school districts to give students in those schools a fair shot at a quality education.

Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, and Steck, D-Colonie, called for the passage of the Small Cities Successful Schools Act, which would increase aid to small city schools by more than $96 million. The funding would allow districts like the Schenectady City School District to fund new programs for struggling students through extended learning time, drop-out prevention, reducing class sizes and getting parents more involved.

Santabarbara and Steck join nearly 20 state legislators as co-sponsors of the bill who represent small city school districts across the state.

“These districts rely heavily on state aid, and they offer much more than education — they provide services vital to the health and safety of our students. When these services aren’t supported by state funding, the burden falls on the districts, and ultimately, the students are the ones affected,” said Santabarbara, whose district includes the city of Schenectady. “Our small school districts deserve their fair share, and our future leaders should have equal opportunities to better themselves through education. This legislation would make this possible by changing the funding formula.”

Assemblyman Steck, who also represents the city, said, “Since entering the Assembly, I have been a strong advocate for fully funding Foundation Aid which was an agreement of the Judiciary, governor and Legislature to assure that there is adequate funding to enable school districts in areas of poverty to fulfill the guarantee of a free public education found in the New York State Constitution. As a representative of the city of Schenectady, I am pleased to support this legislation to assure that such promise is kept with respect to Small City Schools.”

More than 200 school board members and superintendents from small city school districts across the state have sent letters to the governor and legislative leaders in support of the bill.

Schenectady schools Superintendent Laurence Spring said, "We are extremely grateful to Assemblymembers Santabarbara and Steck for their continued efforts to address funding inequities and support of the Schenectady City School District. The students and taxpayers of Schenectady have been shortchanged for many years. This bill is a huge step toward acknowledging the inequities in school funding and addressing the struggles of high need, low wealth and heavily taxed districts like Schenectady."

Schenectady Board of Education President Cathy Lewis said, “Higher funding and more certainty about funding levels in advance would make a significant difference in our ability to make short- and long-term budget decisions that will benefit our students and those who teach them. We applaud efforts to reduce the underfunding and lack of clarity about what state aid will be available for future budgets that could come from the passage of this bill.”

According to the New York State Association of Small City School Districts:

—There are 57 small city school districts across the state.

—Small city school districts are twice the average size of other suburban and rural schools districts and are located in urban areas with 1.5 million total residents.

—Small city schools serve a large portion of the state’s students with 240,000 students represented. That’s approximately twice the number served by the “Big Four” schools districts of Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Yonkers combined at 120,000.

—Small city schools teach many of the state’s most vulnerable children, serving high percentages of poor students. On average, 55 percent of the district’s children qualify for free and reduced lunch based on family income.