New York students set up class in school parking for protest budget cuts

---

High school seniors in Lansingburgh, N.Y., set up class in a school parking lot Thursday to protest state budget cuts and school reopening modifications, according to WRGB. The protest comes after New York cut 20% of school funding across the state, which led some school districts including the Lansingburgh Central School District, to change reopening plans. Students in grades 3-12 who opted to attend class in person before the start of the 2020-2021 school year under the district's hybrid learning model are now required to partake in remote learning.

The school's website says, Lansingburgh is more reliant on state aid than wealthier, suburban school districts, and the decision to cut state aid means a loss of $6.5 million from our annual operating budget. This funding cut made it very financially difficult to reopen using the district's original plan.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo withheld about $300 million in aid for districts across the state due to a $14.5 billion deficit resulting from the pandemic, as the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The budget cuts and subsequent changes to learning models have frustrated working parents and students alike, according to the Journal.