Budget Webinar: Your Questions and Answers
QUESTION
What is happening with the property tax cap and superintendent salary cap?
ANSWER
A property tax cap was not part of the enacted budget. The Governor, Senate and Assembly have indicated that a tax cap is a high priority during the remainder of the 2011 Legislative session.
The Governor proposed a 2 percent or CPI cap (whichever is less) on property tax increases that could only be exceeded by a 60 percent (super majority) community vote. The Senate passed the Governor’s bill in February but has since indicated that they would only allow it to become law if significant mandate relief is included with a cap.
The Assembly has not taken up a tax cap bill and is unlikely to do so unless and until rent control for NYC is included. All sides are now rumored to be exploring exemptions to the cap (such as pension and health care costs.)
NYSSBA continues to fight against a property tax cap and is advocating for significant mandate relief that will produce real cost savings including: repeal of the Triborough Amendment, reform of the 3020-a process, pension reform and requiring a set percentage of employee contribution for health care coverage.
A cap on superintendent salaries was not included in the recently passed budget. The Governor has noted some superintendent salaries as a counter-defensive effort to minimize the state-aid cuts on classroom instruction.
NYSSBA believes that such salaries are the purview of local school boards and are best negotiated locally. Neither the Senate nor Assembly has specifically mentioned a salary cap as a priority for the remainder of the legislative session. Similar legislation to cap the salaries of other administrators was withdrawn from consideration.
QUESTION
What does this mean for Race to the Top?
ANSWER
The current state budget situation has no direct impact on the implementation of the Race to the Top initiatives. Race to the Top is a federal program under which New York State has already accepted its share of money ($700 million.) Therefore, districts are still obligated to honor their commitment to implementing the initiatives associated with Race to the Top within their districts. Should a district require further guidance on how to accomplish these tasks we recommend that they contact their network team directly, as they are the individuals best suited for making the most appropriate local determinations.
QUESTION
Is there something in the budget bill about an $800 million increase for education in next year’s budget?
ANSWER
Yes, the legislature appropriated $800 million to be used to increase school aid next year. In their budget analysis and press releases, they refer to the increase as a “pledge” and claim that the new language provides a two year budget for school districts. Though the legislature can always pass a budget next year that supersedes the new language, the promise of $800 million in increased aid is as close as we could hope for in obtaining legislative certainty. What IS certain is that the budget includes language that caps the increase at the rate of growth in personal income. That figure is currently 4% and the $800 million increase is the largest amount that could be generated under that restriction. In other words, $800 million in increased aid is both a promise and a cap on state aid for next year.
QUESTION
Any progress with LIFO? (last in-first out seniority rules for layoffs)
ANSWER
Senator Flanagan introduced S. 3501 B, which would establish that seniority cannot be the sole factor in determining the sequence of teacher and administrator layoffs in New York City. This bill has passed the Senate (March 9th) but the Assembly Speaker has indicated that the Assembly would not consider the bill at this time. The Governor has advanced another approach based on an expedited implementation of the APPR (which is scheduled to be phased in during the 2011-12 school year covering only 15% - 20% of the teachers during the first year). NYSSBA has LIFO reform on the list of requested reforms and mandate relief along with repeal of the Triborough Amendment, 3020-a reform, pension reform and setting a minimum employee contribution to health care coverage.
QUESTION
Any relief from the mandated school bus seat for each student?
ANSWER
NYSSBA has requested a ruling from the SED Commissioner to clarify the calculation of transportation capacity and requirements. NYSSBA has advanced the position that there is a responsibility of the school district to provide a seat for every eligible student who needs one. Furthermore, NYSSBA has advocated for the ability of school districts to adjust their transportation systems to reduce vacant seats and inefficient, costly routing. NYSSBA’s request for clarification from the education commissioner is based on an interpretation of the law by both NYSSBA and SED senior staff that school districts are not currently required to provide seating for every enrolled student who might theoretically need transportation, but it must ensure that every eligible student actually needing a ride receives one. NYSSBA is also working with Senate and Assembly sponsors (S.4434 Martins / A.6821 Schimel) as another way to provide relief from this mandate.
QUESTION
What will the state do to keep excellent school districts excellent?
ANSWER
The state has done very little of late to maintain excellence in high performing school districts. The distribution of state aid restorations did in fact benefit many of these districts by allocating funding to areas that include many of these schools. Work on common core standards and student testing at the federal and state level have included a component to protect the work of high achieving districts. Beyond that, maintaining excellence has been the work of local school districts.
QUESTION
A Newsday editorial today said, “if you add together all the local school budgets on long island, the cuts coming from Albany make up less than 2 percent. It’s hard to believe that school officials can’t find a way to save 2 percent without eliminating sports, science, math, english and heat in winter.” Isn’t that the same misleading statement that Gov. Cuomo seems to be making? The reduction in aid is clearly having a more significant impact than 2 percent for school district across long island.
ANSWER
The statement is at best naïve. The cut may “only” be 2 percent of all school funds, but it is more than a 7 percent cut in aid. With salaries and benefits creating a legal contractual obligation, health care and pensions running in double digits, special education requirements demanded by the state and federal government determining staffing levels for roughly 20 percent of the student population, high increases in fuel and heating costs and no mandate relief from the state, schools have only one option available to cut 2% from their budgets: Lay off employees and lose the programs they provide. Pure and simple.
QUESTION
With the current budget situation, what position would be ideal to handle RTTT (Race To The Top) program facilitation for districts without directors of curriculum?
ANSWER
The current state budget situation has no direct impact on the implementation of the Race to the Top initiatives. Race to the Top is a federal program under which New York State has already accepted its share of money-$700M. Therefore, districts are still obligated to honor their commitment to implementing the initiatives associated with Race to the Top within their districts. Should a district require further guidance on how to accomplish these tasks it is recommended that they contact their network team directly as they are best suited for making the most appropriate local decisions. Many districts are choosing to work collaboratively with their BOCES in sharing services to implement the requirements of Race to the Top.
QUESTION
What will the budget look like next year (2012-2013)?
How does the state expect us to operate with cuts in state aid, revenue caps, and 40% increases in pension and health care costs?
ANSWER
The theory was that this was a one year problem to cope with the loss of federal stimulus funds that had replaced state aid last year. State leaders are merely forcing local taxpayers, rather than the state to take up the funding slack. Their expectation is that districts that have fund balance will exhaust it, districts that have federal jobs (EduJobs) money will exhaust it and then they expect districts to somehow obtain concessions from employees. In reality, they expect districts to lay off large numbers of employees (which will decrease future costs) or raise local taxes (which will give them justification for imposing a local property tax cap.)
QUESTION
How about teacher centers? Are they in?
ANSWER
Yes. Teacher Centers are funded through a $14.3 million restoration. This restoration represents the state fiscal year amount (thru 3/21/12) which supports a fully annualized (full year) program of $20.4 million.
QUESTION
Any possibility of Federal Funds helping out?
ANSWER
No. Existing Job Funds from the Federal Government that are unspent or in reserve may be spent to ease the impact of the state aid cuts. However, additional Job Funds are not anticipated. Other potential education funds emanating from Washington also appears highly unlikely, with the emphasis in Congress focusing on cutting billions from the federal budget. Most educational funding has been “level funded” for next year.
QUESITON
Can you speak to the inequity of equal vote for each citizen when a 60 percent override for a Tax Cap is in discussion?
ANSWER
The requirement for anything higher than 50 percent is called a supermajority and is traditionally used to discourage quick or rapid change. Examples of required supermajorities are 60 percent to overcome a rules change, a filibuster, or 66 percent of the states ratifying a constitutional amendment. The requirement of a supermajority for a planned annual budget (public vote of the electorate) is totally inappropriate. It allows one vote against the budget to count more than the vote of one in support. It is one of the most egregious aspects of the tax cap proposal; namely that it is undemocratic and sets a poor precedent.
QUESTION
What are the three most important things that a school district can do to close a budget gap?
ANSWER
Under current law and the present political circumstances, they are: Use available reserves and federal EduJobs funding, lay off employees staffing nonessential programs and services, and impose a reasonable tax increase.