State Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk had a long record of community service before deciding to run for the State Senate. As a member of the Duanesburg Central School District Board of Education, she was known as a strong and vocal advocate for our public schools, and was elected by her colleagues to serve as President of the Board.
Senator Tkaczyk is the Ranking Member on both the Elections Committee and the Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. She also serves as a member of the following committees: Agriculture, Environmental Conservation, Education, Children and Families and Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs.
Her top priorities in the Senate include strengthening the State’s economy and fostering job growth. She believes this can only be done by supporting and improving New York’s public school system in order to prepare our children for the new technology-based job market.
Senator Tkaczyk was born and raised on a dairy farm. She is extremely proud of her farming roots, and is currently the only farmer serving in the State Senate. She owns and lives on a small sheep farm in the town of Duanesburg, NY, with her husband, Eric and their son, Peter.
Editorial boards around her district, and even outside her district, have praised her work ethic, knowledge of the issues and her commitment to bring real change to State Government.
In their endorsement of Senator Tkaczyk, the Albany Times Union said: “No one running for the Legislature this year has a better command of the challenges facing the state’s rural population than Ms. Tkaczyk. “ The Poughkeepsie Journal agreed, saying “Tkaczyk spoke elegantly about ending the disparity among school districts in terms of funding, saying New York must do more to help its high-needs districts, whether they are in urban or rural areas.”
Dr. Alan Chartock, President and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and Executive Publisher of the Legislative Gazette wrote after an interview with Cece: “She made great sense. She was quietly articulate and she did not engage in political double talk."
But the Utica Observer-Dispatch summed it up best when they began an editorial on government reform with the sentence: "Cecilia Tkaczyk is the kind of person we need in government."