More aid, zero-emission buses, but few specifics for schools in Hochul budget plan

It is hard for educators to argue with a $2.1 billion increase in aid that translates to a 7.1% increase, for a record total of $31.3 billion in aid to education.

Much of the increase in the executive budget proposal is the continuation of a three-year phase-in of a 2007 school aid formula meant to provide the greatest aid for the neediest students, as well as greater predictability for revenues. Known as the foundation aid formula, it is the pot of money that pays for most of the day-to-day operations of schools.

When the financial crisis hit in 2008, the foundation aid was frozen for three years. Districts have been struggling to regain the funds ever since. The state was $4 billion behind in the formula a year ago before the phase-in began.

"What we’ve see so far is extremely encouraging," said Robert N. Lowry Jr., deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

Hochul's budget would increase foundation aid by $1.6 billion, while also providing for at least a 3% increase in foundation aid for every school district. That gives an increase to more than a third of the nearly 700 districts where foundation aid has been fully phased-in. 

"It's very significant, and the fact that the state has made a commitment to phase in the formula addresses one of the longstanding frustrations of school officials that they couldn’t predict what might happen with state aid from one year to the next," Lowry said.

The budget also would provide $11.8 for capital improvements to the Tuscarora Indian School in the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District. The school is one of three state-owned school buildings on Native American territory that would receive a total of $35.7 .

Public schools aren't the only ones that would see an increase in aid in the governor's budget.

The proposal would provide $295 in support, an increase of 18%, for non-public schools. That includes $193 to reimburse non-public schools for the cost of state-mandated activities – $55 for science, technology, engineering and math instruction, and $45 for capital health and safety projects. 

Other education items in the budget include: 

• Require all school bus purchases to be zero-emission by 2027, and all school buses on the road have zero emissions by 2035. State transportation aid would be available for zero-emission bus infrastructure – such as charging stations – and purchasing or leasing electric buses.

• A cost of living adjustment of 11% in tuition rates for the next school year for private and special act school special education services. The state would reimburse 60% of the cost paid by school districts and counties. 

• The budget also would increase the per-pupil funding for New York City charter schools by 4.7%.

Hochul would continue the current formulas for services that are paid for in one year and reimbursed the following year by the state, such as transportation, building aid and BOCES costs. There had been a concern in the past that the formula would change after the districts had spent money on the programs, according to Lowry. 

The governor's budget also would give an incentive to retired teachers and other school workers who have retired to return to public employment by temporarily waiving the $35,000 income limit for retirees. Currently, if the retirees earn more than $35,000, their retirement benefits are reduced.

"This cap serves as a disincentive to return to work, and thousands of educational professionals have left the workforce during the pandemic," Hochul's budget briefing book said.