posted: Friday,
May 16, 2003. With a steely determination, the Legislature overwhelmingly
overrode the governor's vetoes of health care and education funding - just in
time for school districts to update their plans for the June 3 statewide school
budget vote. In all, lawmakers on May 15 overrode all 119 of the governor's
vetoes of nearly $2 billion in restorations to K-12, higher education and health
care. A veto override requires a two-thirds majority in both the Assembly and
Senate. The March for Public Education sponsors thank the legislators who
stood up for education funding, especially a dozen Assembly Republicans who went
against the wishes of their leader and voted yes. The Senate's unanimous
action was unprecedented. In the Assembly, where Democrats hold a 103-47 majority,
12 Republicans crossed over to join in the school aid override. The governor,
whose campaign committee purchased two minutes of primetime television to tell
New Yorkers why he was vetoing the bills, called the Legislature "irresponsible"
and said there could be legal challenges. However, he pledged he won't challenge
the extra school aid so that districts can move forward on preparing their budgets. Senate
and Assembly leaders said their $93 billion budget, which is $2 billion more than
the governor's, should prevent double-digit property tax hikes, school staff layoffs
and program eliminations. Aside from school aid, restorations included funding
for teacher centers, BOCES aid, pre-kindergarten, and early-grade class size reduction. Pro-education
activists from around the state sent thousands of faxes, made visits and phone
calls to their lawmakers. Legislators were also buoyed by the massive May 3 march,
which drew thousands of New Yorkers urging lawmakers to override the governor. "We
risk losing summer school programs, academic intervention programs - all the programs
that enrich the kids," said Ken Conrad, a fourth-grade teacher in Poughkeepsie.
"There are other ways to get money." "I have 22 kids in my second-grade
class but my classes would go to 28 to 32 kids," said Tony Mauriello, a Troy teacher
who came to the march with his 4-year-old daughter, Amelia. "I'm here for Amelia
and my students." | 
