In response to a video released Monday in which the eight members of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) attempt to defend their coalition with the Senate Republicans, the Alliance for Quality Education released the following statement:

“The IDC is right, we should call the roll, and when it comes to our public schools, the roll shows that the IDC has already failed,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director for the Alliance for Quality Education. “Any mention of K-12 education was noticeably absent in the IDC’s video, clearly because every member of the IDC voted against fully funding our public schools during state budget negotiations. The IDC chose to join their Republican coalition partners and failed to fully fund the billions in Foundation Aid owed to our public schools as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. While underfunding our public schools, they voted for a large funding increase for privately run charter schools. Enough with the videos and the press releases already, the students of New York State need to IDC to rejoin the Democrats in the Senate and to stop blocking full and fair funding for our public schools.”