2006-07 Legislative Budget — Pre-K – 12 Education
BRIEFING BULLETIN March 2006
Number 06-08
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Overall Increase of $1.268 Billion in General Support for Schools—THE LARGEST ONE-YEAR INCREASE EVER
- Added $450 million to Governor’s proposed increase of $650 million.
- Overall increase in computerized aid of $ 1.1 billion over 2005-06.
Flex Aid —
- Increased Flex aid by $85 million providing a 1 percent increase for all districts.
Sound Basic Education Aid —
- Agreed with the Governor’s proposed increase of $375 million to be distributed using the current formula.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal to allow the Division of Budget to determine the distribution.
School Building Program —
- Created a new capital construction program (EXCELL) to provide $1.8 billion for New York City, $400 million for high-needs school districts and $400 million for the remaining school districts to be distributed on a per pupil basis.
- Increases the transitional finance authority bond cap for New York City by $9.4 billion to assist with their capital plan.
Governor’s Proposals Rejected —
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal for a tuition tax credit to pay for private school tuition.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal for a single school district budget vote.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposed increase in the Charter School cap.
Rejected the proposal to provide property tax rebates to homeowners in districts that cap spending at the contingency budget level.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal to shift the cost of preschool special education evaluations to local school districts.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal to shift the cost of 3020-a hearings to local school districts.
School TAx Relief (STAR) —
- The property tax savings under the STAR program would be increased by 30% — this additional property tax relief savings would come in the form of a direct rebate check from the state that will be mailed by the end of October.
Teachers Programs —
- Agreed with the Governor’s recommendation to increase Teachers of Tomorrow funding by $5 million to $25 million.
- Restored the Governor’s proposed cut in Teacher Centers and provided a $6 million increase for a total of $37 million.
- Continued Teacher Support Aid at $67.48 million.
- Restored the Governor’s proposed cut in the Mentor Teacher-Intern program.
- Restored $500,000 in funding for National Board for Professional Teacher Certification.
BOCES/Special Services aid —
- Restored BOCES aid to present law level of $753.5 million for 2006-07, an increase of $58.1 million.
- Special services aid is increased by $6.1 million to reflect the increased costs of providing career education programs.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal to require BOCES to demonstrate savings for services compared to existing state contract prices.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal to eliminate reimbursement to BOCES for the administrative costs of cooperative purchasing.
Excess Cost Aid —
- Restored public and private excess cost aid to present law level of $2.8 billion, an increase of $125 million.
- Rejected the Governor’s proposal to reduce the average state aid ratio used to calculate aid for private special education programs from 85% to 49%.
Universal PreK —
- Increased funding by $50 million over the 2005-06 levels.
Tax Limitation —
- Increased funding by $76.6 million targeting the increase to districts with high residential tax burdens and districts with strong spending effort per child.
Supplemental Extraordinary Needs Aid —
- Creates a new aid program targeting $136.1 million to low wealth districts and districts with high need pupils.
High Tax Aid —
- Creates a new aid program targeting $20 million to districts with high residential school taxes relative to income levels.
Enrollment Adjustment Aid/Growth Aid —
- Creates a new enrollment growth aid targeting $26.7 million to districts which have experienced enrollment growth since 2001.
- Increased growth aid by $2 million.
BKB/sh/56827
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