March 27, 2019

With just over four days remaining before the start of the state fiscal year, state legislators and Governor Cuomo continue to work on the state budget. This morning, the Joint Education Subcommittee met and announced some areas of consensus in the budget bill.

The parties have agreed to allow school districts to enter into "piggyback" contracts for transportation services. This NYSSBA supported mandate relief proposal will allow districts to share services at any point in the contract of the initiating district.

In addition, the parties have agreed to changes to the schedule of building condition surveys, and have come to an agreement about operating aid for the State Education Department. The amount and purpose of that aid was not made available.

March 19, 2019

Following the release of the Legislative budget proposals last week, the Governmental Relations team is advocating for NYSSBA's budget priorities, including:

• Significantly increasing Foundation Aid over the Executive proposal
• Rejection of the proposed school-based funding redistribution plan
• Rejection of the proposed consolidation of reimbursement aids into a block grant, or "services aid"
• Rejection of the proposed reduction in building aid reimbursement rates
• Rejecting a permanent tax cap or any extension until common sense adjustments are made
• Updating the BOCES District Superintendent salary cap
• Increasing the cap on aidable BOCES CTE salaries and special services aid for non-component districts
• Establishing a renewed period of building aid and transportation aid forgiveness
• Authorizing the creation of a TRS reserve fund
• Repealing the building level budget reports adopted last year, as proposed by the Senate
• Making prekindergarten transportation aidable, as proposed by the Assembly
• Making space for health, mental health and dental health building aid eligible, as proposed by the Assembly
• Making school bus stop arm cameras transportation aidable, as proposed by the Senate.

March 14, 2019

Below, you will find NYSSBA Senate budget proposals.

As we indicated earlier this week, both houses included proposals for significantly more education aid, primarily Foundation Aid, than the executive proposed.

• NYSSBA Summary of 2018 Senate Budget Proposal

March 13, 2019

Last night the Senate released their legislative budget proposal. The Senate proposes a $1.2 billion increase in Foundation Aid over 2018-19.   The NYSSBA Governmental Relations team is working through the bills now but, upon initial review it appears that their proposal rejects some of the Executive's most damaging proposals, as the Assembly did, while adding several NYSSBA requested and supported initiatives.

March 12, 2019

Early this morning, the Assembly released their legislative budget proposal. The NYSSBA Governmental Relations team is working through the bills now but, upon initial read it appears that their proposal rejects some of the Executive's most damaging proposals, while adding several NYSSBA requested initiatives. Some of the highlights include:

Changes to Executive Proposal

• Rejecting the  proposal to redistribute Foundation Aid
• Rejecting the proposal to combine Expense Based Aids into a "Services Aid" proposal
• Rejecting the proposal to make the Tax Cap permanent 
• Rejecting changes in Building Aid calculation

February 20, 2019

Last week, the Governor released the "30-Day Amendments" to his budget proposal. Advocates in all sectors worried that after the announcement of an anticipated $2.3 billion deficit, there would be large cuts in all sectors. While some areas were not as lucky, education remained largely unchanged in the Executive proposal.

The legislative houses are both working on their respective proposals. Many of you connected with your legislators at the 2019 Capital Conference, but it is important to continue communicating and informing them of your districts needs.

February 6, 2019

Today, NYSSBA Governmental Relations submitted testimony on the Executive budget proposal during the joint budget hearing on education. This testimony included both a response to the Executive proposal and advanced several NYSSBA proposals that were not addressed in his budget.

NYSSBA's testimony can be accessed below:

• 2019-20 State Budget Testimony

January 25, 2019

Legislation to amend the current APPR law to eliminate the mandate to use state exams as the measure of student performance has passed both the Assembly and the Senate. If enacted, districts would instead be required to collectively bargain what assessment is used as the student performance measure in APPR. During the floor debate, NYSSBA's concerns and proposed amendments were referenced by legislators.

January 22, 2019

Legislation to amend the current APPR law to eliminate the mandate to use state exams as the measure of student performance in APPR has moved through both the Senate and Assembly Education committee.  If enacted, districts would instead be required to collectively bargain what assessment is used.

January 15, 2019

Earlier today, Governor Cuomo presented his combined State of the State and Budget address. While there was relatively little mention of education in the address itself, the comments the Governor did make were concerning. The Governor announced that he would propose a $956 million (3.6%) increase in education funding. However, the actual formula based aid increase proposal is only $748 million (approximately 2.8%), $338 million of which is Foundation Aid.  The Governor also proposed the adoption of a state mandated building level aid distribution mechanism.