Education Fact Finding Tour Stops In Herkimer

The Alliance for Quality Education and Campaign for Fiscal Equity were in Herkimer on a fact finding tour of high need school districts to gather evidence of what they call the State's neglect of of its constitutional obligation to provide a sound basic education.

The goal of the tour according to Chad Radock of the AQE is to gather enough information to bring a lawsuit against the state that would guarantee all New York state schools get equal and sufficient funding.

The lawsuit that the AQE and CFE are pursuing would hold the state accountable for what they say is a constitutional obligation to provide a sound education for New York students.

Radock says the fact that many teachers have to provide learning materials out of pocket is proof that schools are underfunded.

A previous lawsuit that New York State lost in 2006 guaranteed more than $5 billion would go to schools, but the financial crash of 2009 combined with the Gap Elimination Adjustment put an end to that funding.

The tour will visit 15 other schools over the next week and will culminate in a meeting with state legislators in Albany and a conference where the findings from the tour will be released to the public.