ALBANY, N.Y. April 3, 2020 — New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta released the following statement today regarding the state budget:
The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic makes public services like education, higher education and health care more important now than ever before. Flat funding for K-12 schools and higher education will be tough.
We traveled the state earlier this year to hear directly from the educators, students and parents who rely on public schools about the critical funding needs they are facing. If anything, the needs that we saw then have only increased during this pandemic.
Our schools and the public hospitals on the front lines of this pandemic need every support they can get to fight this virus. There may be uncertainty regarding state revenues moving forward, but we will fight for every resource that public schools, colleges and hospitals need.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.