Warren Jones is a local political icon. He was term limited from the city council, twice and he spoke truth to power at the city council meeting Tuesday.
From the Times Union,
From the Times Union,
Jones said during public comments in the Rules Committee meeting that as someone who previously served 28 years on the City Council, he has seen council members engage in maneuvers to disguise the real reason for opposition.
“All that is smokescreen,” he said. “We know what the reality is. You know what the reality is.”
He said charter school advocates want a dedicated funding source for charter schools from the sales tax.
“Over 100,000 students are by choice attending traditional public schools, but yet we are being held hostage because we won’t share $250 million off the top to charter schools for the 16,000 [charter] students when many of our students are in schools that desperately are in need of safety [improvements] and repair,” Jones said.
“I pray as a City Council member you break those chains that are holding you hostage and prevent you from doing what is right and fair for all of our students, and most of all for those who by choice have chosen traditional public schools,” Jones said.
250 million dollars, much of would go to for profit charter schools, and a big chunk to a school that owes Chartrand and Baker millions.
Some of you might be think well that's just Jones's opinion, well nope, this is an excerpt from a secret memo the Civic Council sent the city council, several of their members used it's talking points when fighting against the referendum.
The civic council is demanding a proportionate cut of the tax referendum not a cut based on needs.
That's not how things are done, but I guess if you own a city council and a mayor you can get away with extortion.
allelujah the school board has seen the light!
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