On Board Online • March 16, 2026
By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief
While Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a minimum foundation aid increase of 1% for all school districts, the Assembly and Senate have formally expressed their support for a minimum increase of 2%.
On March 10, three weeks before the state's official April 1 budget deadline, both the state Assembly and Senate proposed "one-house" budget bills that would fund schools more generously than the governor's executive budget proposal.
The governor and both legislative houses support full funding of the foundation aid formula, which calculates aid by multiplying a base cost per pupil by factors for student needs (e.g., poverty, disabilities, English language learners). The formula also considers regional costs and the relative wealth of local taxpayers.
Proposals differ on how to address the needs of the more than 400 of about 700 school districts that would not qualify for an aid increase under the current formula (which was originally implemented in the 2007-08 school year). While the governor proposed a 1% minimum increase, both legislative houses favor 2%.
"Overall, we are confident that state government will fund schools appropriately in 2026-27 school year," said NYSSBA Executive Director Robert Schneider. "But much work remains to be done to reconcile the various proposals. We are pleased that the Assembly and the Senate proposals reflect attention to a number of issues that NYSSBA and other schools have called attention to, such as costs associated with the zero-emissions bus mandate."
"Everyone recognizes that schools' expenses rise each year," added NYSSBA President Christine Schnars, who has been a member of the school board in Jamestown for 34 years and also serves on the Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES board.
"Until the foundation formula is updated, the best we can do is preserving the policy of 'hold harmless' and providing those districts with a minimum level of aid increase," Schnars said. "We are particularly pleased to see creative ideas in the Assembly and Senate to recognize the unique costs of educating English language learners and homeless/foster students."
For a detailed analysis of the various proposals by NYSSBA's governmental relations staff, see www.nyssba.org/advocacy-legislation/key-issues .
"We make it easy for school board members and others concerned about school funding to identify and contact their legislators," said Brian Fessler, NYSSBA's chief advocacy officer. "Click on Grassroots Advocacy on the advocacy portion of the NYSSBA website or go directly to www.votervoice.net/NYSSBA/Home . As state budget negotiations continue, we ask school board members to contact the governor and state legislators and share their important views."