SPRING VALLEY - About 300 people joined a solidarity march through this village Saturday to demand improvements in the East Ramapo school district and foster unity in the diverse community.
The marchers started off at Memorial Park in Spring Valley, then headed south on Main Street, west on Route 59 and down South Madison to the district's headquarters.
"Many of you may be new to this country; many of you may not speak the same language," Spring Valley NAACP executive committee member Calvin Demetrius said to the crowd. "But when you came to East Ramapo, we became family and in East Ramapo we fight for family!"
Recent state action called 'not enough'
The march took place weeks after New York Education Commissioner Betty Rosa issued an interim order to East Ramapo's school board to increase the tax levy for the 2024-25 school year that began July 1. Rosa took the unusual step in response to a parent appeal that asserted the board had failed to adequately provide public-school funding.
State orders East Ramapo: Hike tax levy by 4.38% and use money on public school kids
Even with Rosa's ordered 5.38% tax levy hike — the highest it could go under the district's tax cap for this year — a multi-million-dollar deficit looms in the district.
"The commissioner had to step in," public school advocate and East Ramapo parent Terry Rodriguez told the crowd. "That doesn't mean it's enough."
The group's demands include a better education for children, improved facilities and a fair contract for district teachers.
Many speakers advocated for the state Legislature, which is out of session until January 2025, to take action. Near the end of the 2024 session, a bill introduced to install a financial control board in East Ramapo , and provide a $20 million advance in future aid for the cash-strapped district. It failed to reach a vote.
" A-1-0-4-0-7 !" the crowd chanted, citing the bill number. They called out the number in English and in Spanish.
'We have to do better. I have to do better'
Assemblyman John McGowan was among a small group of elected officials to attend. East Ramapo school board trustee Sabrina Charles-Pierre and Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson were also in attendance. Groups represented include Spring Valley NAACP, Proyecto Faro, Organización de padres empoderados (empowered parents organization), Las Mejores Huellas Haverstraw, Padres Unidos, Rockland County Coalition to End the New Jim Crow, and NYCLU.
McGowan represents Assembly District 97, which includes the eastern section of Ramapo and Orangetown. The first-term Republican is on the ballot in November.
His Democratic opponent is Rockland County Legislator Aron Wieder. The Spring Valley resident served on the East Ramapo school board from 2008 to 2011, a period of deep staff and program cuts, and the sale of two district school buildings.
"We have to do better. I have to do better," McGowan told the crowd. " All your elected officials have to do better."
McGowan said he had not signed onto A10407 , the fiscal control board bill, saying he was generally wary of state control. But, the Pearl River resident said, he wanted to give the bill another look. "My job is to continue to evaluate and consider any proposal."
The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, a Democrat who has since left the Legislature.
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"Something has got to get done as we figure out a path," McGowan said. He also responded that he did not support legislation, introduced after the session's end by state Sen. Bill Weber, R-Montebello, that would provide the $20 million "spin-up" loan to the district. Any extra funding, McGowan said, should come with restrictions and oversight.
While several elected officials have called Rosa's interim directive to change the tax levy an overstep, McGowan said he would "defer to the state Education Department" on the move.
Public school struggles
East Ramapo serves an unusual demographic mix: The overwhelming majority of the 10,000-plus kids who attend the public system are children of color and most are English language learners; the district has among the lowest test scores in the state and among the highest rate of homeless students.
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More than 30,000 children who reside within the boundaries of East Ramapo go to private schools, mostly yeshivas that serve a growing Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish population.
Jewish group: State's East Ramapo tax order 'inflames already dangerous racial tensions'
A majority of school board members are seen by the public school community as favoring the private-school community’s needs.
The district has been under the watch of a state-appointed monitor team. The monitors have repeatedly warned the board that budgets are out of whack and and revenue from local taxes have lagged as the board for years sought zero or minimal property tax increases.
Even with extra state aid and federal stimulus aid, East Ramapo schools face serious challenges.
The district is wrapping up a $90 million systemwide building overhaul funded by federal COVID funds.
East Ramapo: Fixes slated for lead in water; bond rating outlook 'negative'
But district leaders, monitors and auditors have said at least $200 million more in repairs are needed. A building conditions survey last year seemed to support that.
An example of need outstripping the help the district has received: Water fountains had been turned off in schools for eight years after testing showed lead in the water. The federal COVID funding helped get some fountains in each school replaced for this academic year, but not all could be fixed.
Meanwhile, the district's bond rating by Moody's Investor's Service remains one step above junk. Short-term borrowing has been all but cut off to the district, officials have said.
"Thirty years ago, when I moved here, it was the No. 1 district," said Jean Fields, a former East Ramapo principal and co-chair of the Spring Valley NAACP education committee. "My kids got a great education. I'd like other kids to be afforded the same thing."
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: East Ramapo families march through Spring Valley calling for better schools
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