As with most of his pronouncements facts are lacking, and
spin is obvious.
Funding for the Excelsior Scholarship passed in 2018. This scholarship is available to all NY State
students with less than $125,000 income annually, and covers tuition at any
CUNY or SUNY school, with an agreement that the student will remain in NY after
graduation for the same number of years funded.
This new legislation allows DREAMers, who have spent at
least two years in New York and graduated from a New York high school, to
qualify for the Excelsior Scholarship if they meet the other requirements. DREAMers, as you may recall, were brought to
this country as children. They have
grown up here and know no other home.
In his diatribe, Reed indicated that “struggling taxpayers”
were forced to pay their own children’s tuition and now will have to pay for
illegal aliens as well.
If Mr. Reed considers a struggling taxpayer someone who
makes over $125,000 per year, perhaps HE is the out of touch elite in a
district with median income of $45,518.
Nearly 80% of NY23rd families qualify for the Excelsior
Scholarship.
I’m not sure why he doesn’t want his constituents to be more
educated and successful; could it be they might then understand HIS hypocrisy
of bemoaning high taxes in NYS while voting to remove SALT deductions on
Federal taxes?
Karen Patterson
Alfred, NY
