To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Funding for education is sparking a new debate in the battle for Congress in the new 24th Congressional District. That race is a rematch between Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle and the democrat she ousted from office two years ago, Dan Maffei.

Maffei is blasting his republican successor saying she has supported policies that would mean severe cuts in education funding. With his alma mater, Nottingham High School, in the background, the democrat says Buerkle supported a budget plan drawn up by republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan that would cut $115 billion from education programs.

Maffei said, “That's an awfully high price to pay and it doesn't even go toward balancing the budget, because we don't balance the budget until 2040 under their plan. It goes toward paying for tax breaks for the wealthiest, wealthiest Americans.”

“We owe our kids. Our nation owes our kids. We have a moral obligation to make sure they're competitive in the world stage. And our education system is failing them and the status quo is failing them. And so, it's incumbent upon legislators to make sure and to look for other opportunities and other avenues so that these kids can be successfully educated,” Buerkle said.

Buerkle says Maffei is distorting her record on education.