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The Importance of Advocacy at the Legislative Level

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Presentation on theme: "The Importance of Advocacy at the Legislative Level"— Presentation transcript:

1 The Importance of Advocacy at the Legislative Level
New York state disability services council fall 2018 meeting

2 A watershed moment for nys college students with disabilities
Greater numbers of students with disabilities are ready for and aspire to postsecondary education thanks to the IDEA Students with disabilities have enrolled in NYS postsecondary institutions in record numbers Yet, investments in postsecondary disability services and reasonable accommodations in NYS have been modest, at best

3 Growing enrollments, growing costs: one sector’s experience
CUNY Student Disability Enrollment at a Glance More than 10,000 students with disabilities (29 percent increase over 25 years) More than one-third are students with hidden disabilities Large populations of accommodation-intensive students, i.e. Blind/Low- Vision & Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Exponential growth in neurodiverse students (200% increase over 7 years)

4 Growing enrollments, growing costs: one sector’s experience
The Problem Investment in critical support services has not kept pace with enrollment growth of students with disabilities In fact, because of inflation, investment in reasonable accommodations has actually declined $2.5 million – no change since Adjusting for inflation, it takes $4.27 million in 2018 to purchase the same accommodations & services that $2.5 million purchased in 1994 (an accumulated inflation rate of 70 percent) The bottom line – CUNY is must serve a third more students with funds that, adjusted for inflation, buy 40 percent less THE ABSENCE OF INVESTMENT HAS IMPACTED STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN ALL SECTORS!

5 Enhancing Supports & Services for Postsecondary Success of Students with Disabilities
May 2017, SED’s Advisory Council on Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities recommended a statewide funding program that would provide much needed enhanced supports and services to our over 61,000 identified students with disabilities in NYS degree granting institutions Funding would supplement, not supplant, any other federal, state or local funding $15 million program

6 Investment by Higher Education Sector
Enhancing Supports & Services for Postsecondary Success of Students with Disabilities Investment by Higher Education Sector SUNY with 38% of postsecondary students with disabilities would receive $5.7 million; CUNY with 16% of postsecondary students with disabilities would receive $2.4 million; NYS Independent Colleges with 44% of postsecondary students with disabilities would receive $6.6 million; and NYS Proprietary Colleges with 2% of postsecondary students with disabilities would receive $300,000.

7 Oh, the things we could do!!! – Sector examples
SUNY System-wide Training SUNY Transition Programming SUNY Executive Functions Programming Creation of a SUNY Accessibility Center CUNY LEADS Expansion Creation of a CUNY LD Assessment Project Expansion of CUNY Media Accessibility Project

8 How are decisions made in Albany?
Three "men" in a room… no more! Influence leadership (i.e. the decision-makers), directly and through the members of their respective "conferences“ What is “conference,” and why it's important?

9 Legislative leadership
Today’s “minority” is tomorrow’s “majority!” Key committees: -Higher Ed (both Senate and Assembly) -Finance and Ways & Means (Senate and Assembly, respectively) -Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities

10 Timing is everything! State Budget Timetable
-NYS Board of Regents Adopts its Executive Budget Request in December -Assembly Higher Education Hearing – December 5th -Governor releases the Executive Budget Request in mid-January -Late January through end of February is a critical period for legislative advocacy! -30 Day Amendment period -Decisions in each house made early March -NYS Budget adopted by April 1st

11 Best practices is legislative advocacy
Meetings with legislators/staff Importance of constituents Politics is about relationships Persuade, don't argue Never lie or embellish Be a sponge not a faucet

12 Best practices in legislative advocacy
Stay focused on the issue (politely bring conversation back to topic, if necessary) Make clear requests. Try to secure some specific commitment(s) Follow up & thank yous Legislative Office Visit roles (e.g. team leader, information coordinator, testimony-providers)

13 Galvanizing moment – Rally on February 11th !
Monday, February 11th “The Well” of the Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY Sponsored by Assembly Member Harvey Epstein Key Members of the Legislature to Speak Student Leaders with Disabilities from All Four Sectors “Happy Coincidences!” – SED-Hosted Workshops on Higher Ed & Disability and NYS Regents Meeting… ON THE SAME DAY! We need your help to organize and mobilize!


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