By Dan Murphy
State Senator Shelley Mayer was appointed last month as Chair of the State Senate Education Committee. Sen. Mayer received the appointment from her senate colleague, also from Yonkers, and the new State Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
“I am grateful to State Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins for placing her confidence in me, and I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Governor’s office to ensure all public schools have the policies and resources they need to provide a quality education regardless of their zip code.
“Throughout my time in the state legislature, delivering for our public schools has been one of my top priorities. Public education is the backbone of democracy, and I am eager to work with my colleagues, the Governor’s office, superintendents, education advocates, members of boards of education, teachers, parents, and students, to ensure that all public schools throughout the state have the resources and policies they need to provide the quality education every child deserves.
“The 37th Senate District encompasses school districts emblematic of the diverse needs school districts throughout the state face. The Senate District encompasses several larger districts with special needs, including Yonkers, New Rochelle, Port Chester and White Plains, as well smaller school districts with their own unique challenges. In this new role, I will travel throughout the state to meet with members of the Board of Regents, superintendents, teachers, parents, and advocates, to determine ways the state legislature can assist school districts in addressing the challenges they face.
“Thank you to State Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins for placing her confidence in me by appointing me to this position,” said Mayer, who represents the Westchester communities of New Rochelle, White Plains, Port Chester, Rye, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, Eastchester, and North Castle from the 37th Senate District.
The decision by Sen. Stewart-Cousins to select Mayer to Chair the Education Committee is clearly a sign to many in Yonkers that both Senators plan on rectifying, once and for all, the inequities, or underfunding that Yonkers has received in prior years in State Education Aid.
Much of the inability to help Yonkers came from the Republican State Senate Majority, which wanted nothing to do with aiding Stewart-Cousins in her efforts to try and restore programs that are commonplace in most NY school districts, like music, art, JV and Varsity Sports and an adequate number of librarians and social workers. Many of those programs were cut in 2010 as State Aid was cut and have never been restored.
Stewart-Cousins will take her oath of office next week, and Yonkers Rising will celebrate her climb to the top of the NY political ladder and her decades of public service to Yonkers.
