Comsewogue Teachers Rally Against High Stakes Testing, Tax Cap

Their goal was to teach New York lawmakers a lesson.

More than 50 members of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, a union made up of Comsewogue educators, rallied in Albany on June 8 along with about 15,000 other educators, parents, administrators and students from around New York State.

According to Beth Dimino, president of the teachers' union, the organization had a few goals in mind when they traveled upstate for the "One Voice United" rally. They wanted lawmakers to understand their position that the tax cap law's supermajority stipulation is unfair and unconstitutional; they wanted lawmakers to roll back much of the high-stakes testing and get them to share their belief that the testing business is lining the pockets of a private company at great cost to the children; and they wanted the state to reconsider unfunded mandates and labor-intensive APPR (annual professional performance review) procedures.

"We went up there to protect our kids," Dimino said. 

She added: "You go to the rallies to stand in support of what you believe is honorable and decent about this country. I think that public education is one of the most wonderful things about this country. Public education is the leveler, and everyone gets a fair shot. ... I think what they are trying to do is privatize public education. I think they’re trying to take money away from decent, honorable school districts."

The Comsewogue school district has faced some of these issues head-on, after the 2012-13 school budget failed by a relative handful of votes when the district tried to pierce the tax cap. An at-the-cap budget later passed, though it carried with it plenty of changes such as the re-organization of the district's elementary schools.

"One thing about Comsewogue, we come together as a community," Dimino said. "Parents, teachers, administrators, students. And we make it work."