As your local representatives in Town of Oyster Bay government, we have great concerns over New York State’s plans to regionalize the public school system throughout New York State. While the State has attempted to quell our concerns, their recent changes are deceptive. 

In the Town of Oyster Bay, we strongly support maintaining local control, and that includes school districts. These regionalization plans were written as ’emergency regulations, seemingly without any emergency occurring, circumventing the State Legislature, local School Boards of Education, and most importantly the input of parents.

More concerning, there is no opportunity for school districts to opt out of this regionalization program if these plans come to fruition. They may only opt out of the planning process, not the plan it self. 

The Town of Oyster Bay is home to some of the best school districts in the nation. Local control has undeniably played a key role in driving the remarkable academic achievements of our students. We attribute this success to local control along with the leadership and vision that each individual School Board and Superintendent offers our students. Their ill-advised plan could:

• Implement County-Wide Schools: Requires ALL school districts to submit ALL data and meet to develop ONE Regionalization Plan.
• Send Students to Other Schools: Requires a sharing of services which include staff, programs, etc. for all component districts.
• Remove Board of Education Responsibilities: Requires a superseding “regional” superintendent to implement the regionalization plan and would have authority over your local district.
• Transfer Control of our Local Schools to Albany: An “emergency order” by Albany Bureaucrats would immediately give supervisory authority and enforcement of our local schools with no “opt-out.”

A regionalized approach in Nassau County, which totals 56 school districts, would have the potential to deteriorate our children’s quality of education, as resources and educators are redistributed and stretched thin, all while putting even further strain on resident’s wallets at a time with historically high inflation.

We urge you to contact the Governor and State lawmakers and demand they end all plans to regionalize the public school system; the future of our children is at stake!

Sign the petition below! Your email will automatically be forwarded to Governor Kathy Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, NYS Regent Roger Tilles, NYSED Commissioner Betty Rosa, NYSED Assistant Commissioner David Frank, and NYSED Office of Counsel Kirti Goswami.