Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Education, Farm Economy, Disadvantaged Head the List of Concerns in CNY over Federal Budget Proposal

syrgov.net

Concerns here in Upstate New York over the Trump Administration Budget range from education to the disadvantaged to farmers.  Cuts proposed to a wide range of federal programs would have impacts locally.  Alliance for Quality Education Billy Easton envisions a number of ways school children would suffer.

“We’re going to see cuts in after school programs, art in schools; we’re going to see class sizes go up.  We’re going to see cuts in special education, career and technical education, programs for English language learners, grants for homeless youth.  These are among the things that Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos have put on the chopping block.”        

Easton calls such programs a lifeline for students, to create opportunity and keep them on track to graduate.  He urges people to raise concerns about schools to Congress Members Katko and Tenney. 

Credit aqeny.org
Education impacts projected from budget plan

In the City of Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner sees lasting effects of policies that she believes will increase the gap between rich and poor. 

“To take away food stamps from people that are hungry, to take away Meals on Wheels, to shred housing programs, and the more these programs undercut the safety net, the more that you’re going to start seeing a huge divide.  And into that divide you end up having political turmoil.”

Miner says she’s heard from Congress that the Trump budget is dead on arrival...though people can’t be complacent in their opposition.  Meanwhile local farmers are concerned.  State Farm Bureau Spokesperson Steve Ammerman says incomes could be threatened a third year in a row.

“Farm income was down about a billion dollars in 2015, because of lower milk prices, lower commodity prices; that’s a trend that continued in 2016.  So when you see times are tough, and then you have the President proposing drastic cuts to safety-net programs, this the absolute wrong time to start making those changes.”

Claudia Tenney praised the budget for fiscal reform, but said she’d fight cuts to families for heat assistance and for community development.  John Katko has also said he would push back on some of the proposed cuts.  

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.