Ted O'brien's posts related to Education

ALBANY, N.Y. – With Sen. O’Brien’s yes vote, the State Senate passed legislation yesterday closing a loophole that allowed those convicted of crimes against children and sexual and drug-related crimes to serve as bus monitors.

“With this simple, common-sense legislation, we’ve made concrete gains in protecting our children from potential predators,” O’Brien said. “It was an unfortunate loophole, since existing restrictions on people convicted of those types of crimes only applied to bus drivers. I was proud to stand with my colleagues and update our laws to keep children on school buses safe.”

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Senator Ted O’Brien and the superintendents of four schools districts gathered at his office to speak out on significant increases in school aid in this year’s state budget and the expected positive impact on local students.

“I fought hard to increase school aid because a quality education is the key to giving our young people the tools they need to succeed in the workplace and become the job creators in the future,” Sen. O’Brien said.   “More state funding for schools also relieves the cost burden on local governments and reduces the need to raise property taxes, which are the biggest impediment to growing our middle class.