District to Hold Round Table with NYS Education Commish

The Garden City school district will welcome New York's commissioner of education, John King, Jr., to a round table discussion Oct. 15 at Garden City High School, superintendent of schools Dr. Robert Feirsen announced.

The meeting, being held in conjunction with Nassau PTA, will begin at 7 p.m. and is open to all Nassau County residents.

Board of Education president Barbara Trapasso was one of 25 school board members from across the state selected to participate in a special commissioner's round table earlier this month in Albany. She said the experience made her realize that many of the concerns of school board members from upstate and elsewhere are not the same concerns districts have here on Long Island.

"It's very, very important that we come forward and have an audience before the commissioner and let him realize what's happening to state aid in connection to Long Island school districts in that the amount of money we pay is by no means the amount of money we receive back," Trapasso said.

Trapasso was one of only four Long Island school board members in attendance.

"I felt very compelled from Long Island that I had to get my point across and ask directly, 'why is it that we don't get the money that we put in and why is Long Island shortchanged?'" she said.

Trapasso said she really didn't get an explanation.

"I was not really answered but I felt it was really important to get that message across," she said. "We don't have the same issues as a lot of districts in the state and the commissioner needs to hear what's going on here on Long Island."

Over the six-year span that includes the 2012-13 school year, the total decrease in state aid since 2007-08 is more than 21 percent, a reduction of $1,249,453, school district officials said.

King, who assumed office in 2011, is the fourteenth commissioner of education for New York State. He is the youngest person to ever hold the position.