Yesterday was election day for many offices around the country. In New York, elections were generally limited to local offices at the town, city and county levels. Notable results in those races included current state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani being elected as the new mayor of New York City.
While state level offices were generally not on the ballot, there was a special election in the North Country to fill an open state Assembly seat. Former Assemblymember Billy Jones resigned in August to take a leadership position with a local community college. In that special election, Plattsburgh Town Supervisor Michael Cashman declared victory over his Republican opponent. Cashman’s victory helps preserve a thin Democratic supermajority in the state Assembly.
Federal Budget Update
As of today, the federal government has entered into the longest shutdown in our nation’s history. The 36 days – and counting – exceeds the 35 day shutdown that took place in late 2018/early 2019. There have been reports of discussions in the U.S. Senate this week around a possible framework compromise to reopen the government, but firm progress has yet to materialize.
For most school districts in New York, the current impact of the shutdown continues to be limited. Main funding streams, including Title I and IDEA, have been disbursed to states. However, some targeted funding streams such as Impact Aid have stopped flowing. In addition, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) noted that the U.S. Department of Education is likely to “experience disruptions…compounded by the administration’s ongoing efforts to wind down the department and reduce its workforce. With significantly few staff in place, even routine operations are more vulnerable to interruption.” While the short-term impact to New York’s school districts should be minimal, the risk of financial disruption increases the longer the shutdown goes on.
Recent developments have centered around the US Department of Agriculture’s announcement that the administration did not have the legal authority to continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) past November 1st. Meanwhile, this past Friday afternoon, two federal judges ruled the administration must continue to fund the SNAP using contingency funds during the shutdown. In New York State, up to 3 million people may be facing increased risk of food insecurity as a result. However, school meal reimbursements should continue to flow uninterrupted for at least the next month, if the government shutdown persists for that long.
State Budget Update
Late last week, the state Division of Budget released the mid-year update to the current state financial plan. The report notes that the projected economic outlook has “improved significantly” from the Division’s previous forecast, “reflecting strong wage growth, continued stock market strength fueled by expected growth in the technology sector, and slower than expected impacts from the tariffs.” Coupled with improved revenue collections, the Division has revised the projected 2026-27 state budget deficit to $4.2 billion. This is compared to an initial $7.5 billion projected deficit.
Despite the somewhat rosier revisions, the Division further notes that “the State continues to face economic risks and fiscal challenges stemming from recent Federal legislation and policies, uncertainty and volatility caused by the ongoing Federal government shutdown and failure to pass a short-term concurrent resolution, a softening labor market, unpredictable tariff policies and concomitant concerns about the potential for a trade war, and the inherent risk of stock market concentration in large technology companies.”
Governor Hochul will propose her 2026-27 Executive Budget by mid-January (likely on January 20th).
Upcoming NYSSBA Webinar
Local Government and School Boards: Working together to strengthen communities
On November 21, 2025 at 12pm, join members of the legislative teams from NYSSBA, the NYS Association of Counties, NYS Conference of Mayors, and NY Association of Towns for a deep dive webinar into the way state and local governments interact and how school boards interact with other local governments. Our special guest will be Assemblymember John T. McDonald, III. As chair of the Assembly Governmental Operations Committee and former Mayor of the City of Cohoes, Assemblymember McDonald will bring us insight from his unique perspective as a current state and former local elected official. You can register here.