ALBANY, N.Y. March 8, 2021 — NYSUT President Andy Pallotta issued the following statement today after the U.S. Senate passed the American Rescue Plan over the weekend:
“Sen. Charles Schumer achieved a major victory for struggling families, cash-strapped state and local governments and local schools. The critical funding in this bill is essential to helping safely reopen schools and colleges and providing additional supports for students who need them. We’re thankful for his leadership and look forward to the House passing this legislation so the president can sign it into law.
“Now it’s up to Albany to deliver a state budget that uses federal funding to supplement, not supplant, state support for education and helps us fund our future. Even with significant American Rescue Plan funds flowing this year, it’s still imperative that the state ask the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share in taxes to provide stability in the years to come. Walking off a fiscal cliff in the coming years would only undo the strides we can make with this federal stimulus package.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.