Assemblyman Christopher Friend (R,C,I – Big Flats) is calling on Gov. Cuomo to release his school aid runs to the public. The governor has refused to release the school aid runs ahead of the budget, using them instead as political leverage for his controversial education reforms. This political gamesmanship by the governor has forced local school districts to craft their budgets in the dark at a time when school boards will soon be reporting whether or not they have exceeded the two percent property tax cap.

“During my time in Albany, I’ve seen a lot of things used as political footballs, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Friend said. “I’m calling on Gov. Cuomo to release the school aid runs to the public so that our schools know what they can expect in terms of funding for next year. Without this information, how will they know whether or not they will exceed the cap? By holding this information hostage, the governor has thrown the whole system into disarray. Playing games with education funding isn’t acceptable, and we shouldn’t be in the business of politicizing the future of our education system for controversial education reforms.”

Assemblyman Friend is the Ranking Minority Member of the Local Governments Committee.