Got a minute?

You mind need it, and a few more, to read this post, which begins with Henry Stern from New York Civic, who wrote recently:

It was sad to read yesterday of the closing of 11 parochial schools in NYC, which are generally regarded as educationally successful institutions. The state cannot and should not subsidize religious education, but we wonder what educational benefits will accrue from spending billions on new schools while small existing schools close for lack of resources.

Many non-Catholic parents send their children to Catholic schools, paying tuition, because they believe their children will learn more. It is unfortunate that the legislature, in thrall to the United Federation of Teachers and its upstate appendages, resists charter schools, vouchers for parents, or other efforts to modify their educational monopoly, while demanding greater public expenditures without demonstrating superior results.

You can read more here. Then you can read more budget news here:

So, you feeling generous?

Well, you are, whether you feel it or not.

That's the upshot of the newly posted data at the Web site of Empire Center for New York State Policy, a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Visit it, at empirecenter.org, and see just how often you say "yes" to state spending for church groups, synagogues, baseball teams, soccer teams, roller hockey, cheese museums . . .
. . .
How else would something called the Cuba Cheese Museum get $5,000 in taxpayer dollars, or the Flushing Meadow Soap Box Derby score $5,000, or the Back to Basics Outreach Ministries Inc. another $5,000, without any public explanation? The Empire Center secured the data under the state's Freedom of Information Law, but FOIL only does so much; the lists don't tell who secured the grants or what purpose they serve.

And here:

In the latest attack on the finances of the state's public authorities, a Manhattan-based watchdog group yesterday urged that their ability to borrow money be reined in.

The group, the Citizens Budget Commission, put the total borrowed by state and local governments and authorities in New York at $227 billion. Authorities borrowed $166 billion, or almost three-quarters of the total.

The state government alone is $45 billion in debt — about $10 billion more than it can safely afford, according to the report.

And here:

The trouble with the state budget, on which the legislature agreed as the clock ticked toward midnight, is that it does little or nothing to correct what's wrong with New York state's fiscal miseries, instead aiming to get the architects re-elected.

And that brings us here, where someone thinks all our legislators should be voted out of office:

New York Coalition.org needs to focus on the Leadership but are looking for people to challenge every senator and assemblyman across the Great State of New York.

New York Coalition.Org announces three Press Conferences across New York State.
At 12 Noon, Thursday April 6th 2006
250 Broadway, New York City in front of the office of Sheldon Silver
330 Capitol Bldg, Albany, NY in front of the office of Joe Bruno