October 10, 2018

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that, beginning with the 2018-19 school year, State Report cards must include: specific, per-pupil expenditures of federal, state and local funds. This includes actual personnel expenditures and actual non-personnel expenditures of federal, state and local funds, disaggregated by source of funds.

The first of these reports will be required for the 2018-19 school - year. Those reports will be on actual expenditures and are expected to be due by December 2019.

The State Education Department is hosting a series of regional meetings across the state with community stakeholders including school district leaders, board members and parents to discuss the financial reports required by ESSA.

September 27, 2018

NYSSBA Annual Business Meeting
Saturday, October 27^th - 8:00 a.m.
Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, The New York Ballroom

Below you will find a link to the 2018 Voting Delegates' Guide for the Annual Business Meeting.  This guide contains the report of the Resolutions Committee as well as amendments and rebuttals received by the September 21 deadline.

• 2018 Voting Delegates' Guide

September 24, 2018

Last week, Ed Trust-NY launched an online tool analyzing data on building level per-pupil allocation reports that 76 school districts were required to submit to the state by the start of the school year. You can access this data tool as well as the original reports at the links below.

• Ed Trust - NY School Funding Transparency Tool
• NYS DOB School Funding Transparency Forms

September 17, 2018

Late last week, the committees responsible for negotiating the federal education spending package released their committee report. While this spending plan still needs final legislative approval in both houses before going to the President for approval, it is unlikely the agreed upon  levels will change much. This deal was reached as NYSSBA was reaching the end of 6 weeks of federal advocacy on many topics, including the federal spending plan. Additional analysis is underway but initial reports indicate the following is included in the deal:

September 10, 2018

Last week, Governor Cuomo signed legislation extending certain tenure-like protections to labor class employees, such as district support staff, with five years of experience or more. These employees will now be entitled to certain investigatory procedures including a hearing before an independent hearing officer before they can be subject to any disciplinary action.

NYSSBA had sought a veto to this legislation, and in prior sessions had secured a veto, but unfortunately this year the issue was not resolved in our favor. NYSSBA's letter in opposition can be viewed below.

• Letter opposing  S.8973 / A.11223 

September 7, 2018

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that, beginning with the 2018-19 school year, State Report cards must include: specific, per-pupil expenditures of Federal, State and local funds, including actual personnel expenditures and actual non-personnel expenditures of Federal, State and local funds, disaggregated by source of funds.

The first  of these reports will be required for the 2018-19 school year, and those reports will be on actual expenditures and are expected to be due by December 2019.

To ensure the financial reports are useful to school districts and their communities, SED is soliciting stakeholder feedback through a series of regional meetings.

August 24, 2018

Late yesterday afternoon, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released regulations governing the federal tax deductibility of donations to local charitable funds,  which school districts were authorized to establish in the 2018 state budget.

Full analysis of the IRS proposal is still underway. However, our initial review indicates that the IRS plans to reject the deductibility of the majority of these types of donation.

August 9, 2018

Last night, the New York State Division of the Budget released a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document to assist districts in the completion and submission of the New York State School Funding Transparency Form.  A link to the FAQ is included below.

July 25, 2018

Following the Monday passage in the US Senate, the House acted yesterday to approve the reauthorization of the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. 

Highlights of the final version of the reauthorization, dubbed the "Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act" are below. If signed, this act would:

July 20th, 2018

Last week, the NYS Division of the Budget (DOB) released the form and guidance on the new requirement for districts to report annually on building level, per pupil budget allocations, based on a requirement in the 2018 enacted state budget. NYSSBA sent an Advocacy Alert to members later that same day summarizing the materials released by DOB.

DOB is soliciting questions on the form and guidance until July 25, 2018, and will use the questions to produce a "frequently asked questions" (FAQ) document by August 8, 2018. Districts that are subject to the requirement in year one will have until August 31, 2018 to submit their forms.