Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush (R,C,I-Black River) is launching Children Before Politics, a website that would enable state residents to speak up about education in New York. Blankenbush and his colleagues hope the petition on the website will allow the voices of their constituents to be heard loud and clear in Albany.

“My constituents and I have been voicing our concerns about education in New York, and we’re calling for reforms to ensure that Common Core testing doesn’t negatively impact our kids, that schools are given back the funding taken from them in the 2011-12 budget, and that members of the Board of Regents are elected in a fair and open process,” said Blankenbush. “We want parents, teachers and residents to sign the petition at the website, so Albany can’t ignore these problems any longer.”

Blankenbush, who hosted an education forum in Lowville last year, joined other Assembly Minority legislators in crafting the Achieving Pupil Preparedness and Launching Excellence (APPLE) Plan, which addresses many areas of concern with New York’s educational system. The plan can be found at bit.ly/educationalcrossroads.

Blankenbush is urging his legislative colleagues to develop a plan to quickly return the funding that was taken from schools in the 2011-12 budget. Local schools already are struggling with limited resources and depleted school aid. The Assembly Majority wants to return the funds slowly, at a three percent rate, whereas Blankenbush’s plan would return the funds in three years. “They’re pushing for Universal Pre-K, but they haven’t fully returned funding for K-12,” added Blankenbush.

Blankenbush also noted that the Assembly Majority passed a so-called education reform bill that does little to halt the stressful and excessive Common Core testing faced by New York’s students while rubber stamping a secretive Board of Regents election process. He is advocating for passage of the APPLE Plan to address these critical issues.