EdVANTAGE Blog

In tomorrow’s school district budget votes, only 27 districts are proposing tax increases above their levy limit – the threshold requiring 60 percent of voters to approve.  This is down from 51 a year ago.

Under proposed school district budgets, spending would rise by an average of 3.1 percent, up from 1.7 percent a year ago. [i]

Proposed tax levy increases also averaged 3.1 percent, compared to 2.2 percent a year ago.

Higher need districts under the State Education Department’s “Need/Resource” categorizations do report higher spending increases, on average than other districts, but generally there do not appear to be distinct patterns in proposed spending and tax increases.

Statewide, districts plan to reduce combined reserves by a total of $370 million.  Poorer, higher need districts are generally drawing down unrestricted reserves at a faster rate than their counterparts and relying more on fund balances to support their budgets.

More detailed observations about the property tax report cards follow. Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, I sent a note to superintendents asking, now that you have seen the School Aid run for your district, what are your reactions.

Here is one response, from the leader of a rural Western New York district.  I’d say it’s the most compelling, but the mixture of sentiments expressed is very typical:

My first reaction is one of sincere gratitude, and I called both of my legislators first thing this morning to thank them for their advocacy.

On the other hand, despite the increase, I spent my day today meeting with employees to let them know they are losing their jobs.

If future increases fail to make a more significant impact on the GEA [Gap Elimination Adjustment] more quickly, our district anticipates a growing gap in the two years following next, and we do not have many more places where we can cut.

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The Associated Press reports,

The New York state budget currently under negotiation may be remembered years from now as the beginning of the end for many small towns, cities and school districts.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had tough words Friday for local officials facing fiscal crises and seeking more help from Albany, telling them they should consolidate services, school districts or whole governments rather than looking for relief from Albany.

 The piece goes on,

 “If it was really, really tough, you’d see that happen,” Cuomo said in his strongest comments yet on the local fiscal crises. “If you are a school district, or a city, or a town or a county, and you are looking for a fundamental financial reform, consolidation is one of the obvious ones.”

Consolidation is an answer to some financial challenges and should be one of the strategies available to manage fiscal threats.

But it is not the answer for all situations, and it is no answer for some of the most financially troubled communities.

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The Council’s summary and analysis of Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget for education is now available here.

It’s titled, “At the End of Our Rope,” and subtitled “Despite positive steps in Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget, many school districts still face desperate choices.”

Echoing our November finance survey report, the summary begins with a recitation of five reasons why we hear such widespread alarm over financial prospects.  One reason is that districts have been through a prolonged period of difficult budgets:  despite the aid increases enacted last year, 87 percent of all districts are receiving less help from the state than they were in 2008-09, four years ago.

So we note, “A key theme is that the dire outlook is not driven by the proposed budget for the one year ahead, but by forces that have accumulated and accelerated over many years.”

In the introduction, we observe,

Governor Cuomo’s budget is more positive for schools than might have been anticipated, partly because the Governor proposes additional aid above what the School Aid growth cap he initiated would have allowed.

Yet a repeat of our survey would likely yield even more pessimistic results now, as superintendents, boards, business officials and communities wrestle with actual budgeting choices.

The report summarizes the Governor’s budget proposals affecting schools and offers commentary on many, including School Aid recommendations, Education Reform Commission initiatives, and the stable pension contribution rate option.

It also includes a section on the debate over increasing Foundation Aid vs. reducing the Gap Elimination Adjustment.

While it makes sense to focus on reducing the GEA, both are means of providing more general aid, some poor districts gain little from further GEA reductions, and what really matters is how aid is calculated, not what form it takes.

Last Thursday evening (January 31), over 1,200 concerned parents, community members, educators, and school district leaders gathered for a forum titled, “Your Public Schools in Fiscal Peril – Running Out of Time & Options.” Organizers hoped for 800 and planned for no more than 1,000.

The Council’s November 2012 survey report found 9 percent of superintendents anticipating financial insolvency for their districts within two years and 41 percent in within four years.  Even higher proportions foresaw “educational insolvency” — becoming unable to fund instructional and other student service mandates.

Why do so many Capital Region residents see their schools as in peril?

Why do so many school district leaders across the state fear insolvency?

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At 2 pm today, Governor Cuomo will present his 2013-14 proposed state budget.

We will send out whatever information we get as soon as it becomes public, including School Aid runs.

Several media sources have noted that leaks and previews have been much scarcer than in prior years.

The big questions in education are:

(1) How much of an overall aid increase will the Governor propose?;

(2) How much of the increase might be directed to expanding prekindergarten, extending the school day or year, and the other new initiatives the Governor described in his State of the State address two weeks ago?; and

(3) Will he propose any significant mandate relief?

In the meantime, below is some of the news we have highlighted in our blog and on Twitter over the past week. Read the rest of this entry »

All but six of New York’s school districts had teacher and principal evaluation plans approved by the State Education Department by the January 17 deadline prescribed by law at Governor Cuomo’s insistence last year.

We are relieved and surprised by the small number of districts without approved plans.

What superintendents think about the quality of those plans, their impact on teaching and learning, and what had to be done to get approval are questions we will be exploring in the weeks ahead.

The state’s largest district was one of the handful missing the deadline.

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There was an elephant in the room when Governor Andrew Cuomo talked about education in his State of the State address last week.  In this case, we’re not referring to the symbol of the Republican Party.

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Here is the Council’s statement in reaction to Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address today:

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