Gov. Andrew Cuomo blocked a measure to restore a year of funding from a transportation contract for the Schenectady City School District.

The district and local state legislators fought for three years to restore funding for a transportation contract, worth about $3.8 million, which the district erred in awarding and when the state Education Department, which had funded the contract, caught the mistake they penalized the district by clawing back the funding. This year, in large part due to the continuous efforts of Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, the state agreed to give back the money over a three-year period.

But there was again a mistake.

The restoration didn't include the first year of the contract, so the district wasn't going to get back the entire amount of funding that was taken back by the state.

Legislation, which was sponsored by Farley in the Senate and co-sponsored in the Assembly by members Phil Steck, D-Colonie, and Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, was introduced this year to restore funding for the excluded year too. The legislation passed both house of the state Legislature.

On Friday, Cuomo vetoed the legislation, which means the district won't get a full restoration of the contract.

Come on, they can walk to school, they need the exercise or they will end up looking like someone.

Or, how about consolidation and then the costs will be DRASTICALLY INCREASED, busing them all over the county.   People who don't pay taxes do not understand that.    

Yup the school district made a big mistake by busing kids all over the place, they should have just left it as it was, kids walking to their neighborhood
schools, hell we all had to, even went home for lunch.

Who's driving the bus in the district folks???

The school district made a mistake in awarding a $3.8 million dollar contract ...THEN several lawmakers come to the schools aid and then the district makes ANOTHER mistake by failing to include the first year of the contract.

AMAZING! This Superintendent has been whining and complaining how funds are being cut, yet no one is held accountable for a 3.8 million dollar mistake? Wonder how many other mistakes are being made in the accounting at the district. Sounds like a little state intervention is in order....

must be racist

Mistakes were made.
That doesn't sound like my definition of mistake. Who was doing the paperwork, one of the students? The free buses were going to save us money. I argued against these wonderful changes to our school system at the time. I was right, those who built this Utopia have not been heard from in a while.