If NYSUT lobbyists have their way, 2007 will be the year of the SRP, thanks to a legislative push to make School-Related Professionals Recognition Day a permanent event.

Each year since 2003, NYSUT's Legislative Department has encouraged the Legislature to pass and the governor to sign an annual resolution acknowledging SRP Recognition Day in mid-November. But a bill to make the day a permanent part of the state calendar lacked a Senate sponsor.

That has changed this year, with a decision by Sen. James DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, to take up the cause and join Assemblywoman Barbara Clark, D-Queens, in her long support of the bill.

The bill (A274-A/S911-A) would establish SRP Recognition Day as the third Tuesday in November, falling during American Education Week. Neither house has yet voted on the measure.

The bill memo lauds SRPs for providing "valuable and necessary services and assistance to our children on a daily basis."

These services, it reads, "include providing safe transportation for children to and from school, providing healthy meals for children to eat during the day and ensuring a safe and secure environment for children to learn."

Each year, NYSUT celebrates SRP Recognition Day by issuing celebration kits, including fliers, stickers and tips for honoring SRPs. The United Federation of Teachers, NYSUT's affiliate in New York City, hosts a large celebratory dinner.

" New York's education system functions in large part due to the hard work of thousands of dedicated SRPs," said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. "Too often, that hard work goes unrecognized. We're pleased to see NYSUT's friends in the Legislature stepping forward to make sure SRPs get the recognition they deserve."

— Kevin Hart