Legislator Timothy M. Kennedy (D-South Buffalo) will travel to Albany on Monday to seek emergency funding to put school nurses back to work protecting and ensuring the safety of our children. Fellow legislators, who represent the city, will join Kennedy as they lobby for additional funding to reinstate probation officers and counter the recently found deficit.

“Having no nurses in schools is a serious issue,” Kennedy stated, “The dangerous possibilities are endless when it comes to a situation pertaining to a child’s safety. It is our responsibility as lawmakers to provide the protection of that safety. There are many children in our schools that require medicines administered throughout the day or upon a reaction to an allergy.”

Legislator Kennedy stated that some the children experience situations that “can be very harmful, even fatal” if not treated by qualified individuals that we must provide. Kennedy stated he would do all he can to generate as much funding as possible to return the nurses to our children’s schools.

While in Albany Kennedy intends to follow up on his recent petition to State Legislators to ensure New York State upholds its obligation to provide 50 percent of the funding to support the Probation Department. The state has currently only been providing 21-47 percent of the funding mandated by state law. Kennedy said our probation officers are already experiencing overwhelming caseloads and the recent cuts have put our neighborhoods in greater danger.

“We must provide these officers and their department with the proper funding,” Kennedy said, “We have to make certain they can provide the protection of our neighborhoods from the criminals that reside in them. They are currently experiencing excessive caseloads that will decrease the efficiency of their performance. In order to keep the streets safe, I am going to do my best to provide them with assistance to reinstate officers to ensure that the citizens of the Second Legislative District are not the victims resulting from these cuts.”

Due to the recent discovery of a new deficit, which number continues to fluctuate due to inadequate information being received from the Budget Director’s office and the office of the County Comptroller’s, Legislator Kennedy intends to request assistance. This additional assistance will protect already ailing departments and services due to recent cuts.

“We cannot and must not cut anymore vital services, these departments are already cut to the bone,” Kennedy said, “Cutting these services anymore would result in the shutdown or inadequacy of these departments.”

Legislator Tim Kennedy represents the 2nd District of South Buffalo, The Old 1st Ward, The Valley, Sloan, Kaisertown, Seneca-Babcock, Clinton-Bailey, South Cheektowaga and East Lovejoy.

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