March 16, 2018

Below, you will find NYSSBA analyses of the Senate and Assembly budget proposals.

As we indicated earlier this week, both houses included proposals for significantly more education aid, primarily Foundation Aid, than the executive proposed. However, like the executive, each house included a variety of policy-related proposals directly affecting school districts.

March 14, 2018

Last night, the Senate released its own response to the Executive budget proposal. This afternoon, they introduced the accompanying resolution that provided some additional details around the proposal.

Complete analysis of the bills are underway, however some initial highlights include:

• A $957 million increase in education aid over 2017-18
  • $717.2 million of this funding would be an increase in Foundation Aid
• A rejection of the Executive proposal to cap reimbursement for BOCES, transportation and building aid

March 13, 2018

Last night, the Assembly Majority released their legislative budget proposal. Analysis of the bills is underway, however an initial read reveals that this proposal includes a number of NYSSBA priority items, and rejects some of the most harmful items in the Executive proposal.

The Assembly proposal includes:

• $1.5 billion in education funding over 2017-18
• $1.2 billion in Foundation Aid over 2017-18, more than tripling the Executive proposal
• A commitment to a four year phase-in of the Foundation Aid formula
• An increase in the BOCES district superintendent salary cap  
• Authorization for districts to create a TRS reserve fund

March 7, 2018

Earlier this week, the State Senate and Assembly each acted on a series of bills in response to the most recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The Senate acted first, taking up a series of school focused bills on Monday afternoon. Included in their package was legislation that would:

• Make all threats of mass violence against a school a felony
• Alter the reimbursement for the Smart Schools Bond Act payments
• Establish grant programs for some districts to access funding mental health coordinators and school resource officers
• Increase the salary limits for retired police officers serving as school resource officers
• Require that a NYC police officer be placed in every NYC school
• Designate all school resource officers as peace officers
• Create distinctive license plates, the fees for which would fund school safety programs

March 2, 2018

Work on the development of the "one house" legislative budget proposals for 2018 is well under way. Take Action Now

Contact your legislators and ask them to consider NYSSBA's priorities  as they finalize the 2018 state budget, including:

• Increasing Foundation Aid for all districts
• Rejecting the proposed cap on expense based aids
• Rejecting SED and DOB approval of building based budgets
• Increasing funding for district based health and mental health services

February 16, 2018

Late Thursday night, Governor Cuomo submitted a series of amendments to the original executive budget proposal he offered in January. Commonly referred to as "30 Day Amendments," the release notably includes a number of potential changes to the state's tax system, in response to the new federal tax plan - and the cap on SALT deductions, in particular - enacted late last year. These proposals include:

February 12, 2018

Congressional leaders have finally reached a long-sought agreement on top-line spending that will pave the way to complete the FY 2018 federal appropriations and budget process. The bipartisan agreement establishes new spending levels for FY 2018 and 2019, and temporarily extends federal funding until March 23 to avoid an additional federal government shutdown. Congress must now put together a larger omnibus spending package that will spell out allocations of funds for the U.S. Department of Education and other agencies through the remainder of the fiscal year.

January 25, 2018

Earlier this week the NYSSBA Governmental Relations team conducted a webinar to provide an overview of the 2018 Executive Budget and answer your questions.  

If you were unable to attend live and wish to view the webinar, you may do so at any time at the link below.

• NYSSBA 2018 Executive Budget Analysis Webinar

You may also review the written material Governmental Relations shared as a part of the webinar:

• NYSSBA 2018 Executive Budget Analysis

January 22, 2018

Friday night, the US Senate failed to pass a fourth Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government running. The House passed a CR (H.R.195) by a vote of 230 to 197 on Thursday that included a full reauthorization for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through FY 2023 in hopes of attracting Democratic votes in the Senate.  The CR would have continued level funding for Title I grants for disadvantaged students, special education state grants and related programs and, would delay for two years the collection of the federal excise tax (or "Cadillac Tax") on certain employer health care coverages.

January 16, 2018

Earlier today, Governor Cuomo released his proposed 2018-19 state budget. The Executive proposes a $769 increase in education funding. This is a 3% increase in education spending. The allowable growth under his self-imposed link to personal income growth would have been half that at 1.5%

$769 increase in education (3%)

• $338 million increase in Foundation Aid (with $50 million increase in Community School set-aside)
• $288 million unrestricted
• Total foundation aid set aside for Community Schools would now be $200 million
• NYSSBA asked for $1.5 billion in Foundation Aid
• $317 million for Expense-based Aids
• $64 million for an unspecified Fiscal Stabilization Fund
• $15 million in additional funding for 3 and 4 year old prekindergarten funding
• $10 million  in additional funding for after school programs
• $9 million for expansion of Early College High Schools
• $6 million for the Smart Start program to support computer science and engineering
• $5 million for Breakfast After Bell to provide breakfast to students in higher need school districts after the first bell rings
• $2.5 million to expand access to Advanced Placement exams
• $2.5 million in other initiatives including but not limited to:
• $250,000 for mental health and trauma support in schools
• $1.5 million for gang prevention (over 3 years)
• Conversion aid for full day kindergarten