2021 NYS Budget Information

Get the NYS Budget information for public education in New York state.

2020/21 State Budget

CNYSBA Sample Advocacy Letter about potential school aid cuts and added costs due to COVID-19 and June 9th vote

Cuomo’s chance to redefine public education, City & State New York (4/20/20)
Deep cuts to schools could happen unless billions in new federal stimulus funding come through.

“I think it would be largely catastrophic,” said Rick Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium. “I don’t know how a system could recover.”

2020/21 State Aid Implications for Schools - Statement by Dr. Rick Timbs, Executive Director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium (4/3/20)

2020/21 School Aid Runs (April 2020)

2018/19 State Budget

Recognition
Congratulations to Dr. Rick Timbs, Executive Director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium, and other public school finance experts for their recognition by the Regents State Aid Subcommittee for their assistance in developing the state budget plan and proposals.

"Without your involvement the balance would not have been as positive as we feel it is in light of the huge state deficit and numerous other challenges with which we started. We have an increased respect for the role all of you play throughout the school year and a true appreciation for your level of support in continuing to speak out on behalf of New York's students and their school communities."
- Beverly L. Ouderkirk & Nan Eileen Mead, Regents & Co-Chairs of the State Aid Subcommittee

Advocacy
Call to Action: We need you, our membership and stakeholders in the districts, to take action. Call, email, tweet, facebook - whatever you are most comfortable with, whatever tools you have at your disposal, use one of them or use them all. If you have a smartphone, you can easily reach your legislators with the few clicks. Find resources and sample letters below.

The three key issues that Albany must address:

Increase 2018-19 Foundation Aid by $1.2 Billion
Reject a 2% cap on annual increase to BOCES, Building and Transportation Aid
Improve Foundation Aid Formula for equity, adequacy, predictability, and sustainability

Feel free to use and manipulate these sample emails/letters to call on your legislators.
Refer to our advocacy toolkit for legislator contact information.
Download your district's data from the legislative forums to support your messages.
Sample Email/Letter Assembly
Sample Email/Letter Senate
Here are some sample tweets/facebook messages that you can post or share our social media messages.
Sample Tweets/Facebook Messages

One-House Budget Proposals
Both houses of the legislature passed their one-house-bills, containing recommendations in response to the 2018-19 Executive Budget proposed by the Governor. Both Houses proposed higher increases in Foundation Aid than the Governor (+$1.2 Billion Assembly plan and +$717 Million Senate plan) and rejected a 2% cap on Building, BOCES, and Transportation Aid. The NYS Council of School Superintendents provided a side-by-side comparison of the Governor’s, Assembly’s and Senate’s budget positions: Where they stand – 2018-19 budget negotiations and public schools

Media reactions:
How the school aid formula became unrecognizable, City & State NY, April 15, 2018
Interview with Dr. Rick Timbs from SSFC on the transparency of education equity, Capitol Pressroom on WCNY, March 19, 2018*

The Governor's 2018-19 Executive Budget Proposal
Preliminary per-district School Aid Runs are available based on the Governor's budget proposal. Check back for an in-depth analysis of individual categories that is underway.

Three key points from the Governor's proposal:

The Governor’s budget plan proposes a total school aid increase of $769 million. This amount is less than half of the $1.6 billion in total aid the NYS Board of Regents and other statewide educational organizations, including CNYSBA and the Statewide School Finance Consortium, have recommended as needed to simply maintain 2017-18 services.
Only $338 million of this amount is allocated for Foundation Aid, which is critically insufficient to even cover anticipated annual increases in our general operating expenses.
The Governor also proposes a 2% annual cap on increases to Building, Transportation and BOCES Aids starting in the 2019-20 state budget, all of which would have severe impacts on school districts that depend on these services.

Go to our Events page to find Legislative Budget Forums near you for a chance to speak with your state representatives face-to-face and download school aid facts and data as they relate to your school district.

Media reactions:
DeFrancisco suggests looking for savings in health care, education spending, Politico NY, January 31, 2018
Opposition grows against school budget review proposal, The Daily Gazette, January 31, 2018
Education officials decry Cuomo plan to cap BOCES, building aid, Times Union, January 31, 2018
Our view: Employ united front in fight for school aid, The Citizen, January 31, 2018
Dr. Rick Timbs, SSFC, on school aid runs, The Capitol Pressroom on WCNY, January 23, 2018
State schools chief skeptical of proposed review of local budgets, The Daily Gazette, January 22, 2018
Dr. Rick Timbs, SSFC, on impact of Governor's budget proposal on education, WIBX 950, January 18, 2018
Ed groups question Cuomo's school aid allocation plan, Politico NY, January 18, 2018
Education funds fall short, waer.org, January 17, 2018
Cuomo proposes 3% more for schools, ed groups look for more, Buffalo News, January 16, 2018

2017/18 State Budget

2017-18 State Budget passed

- School aid increase $1.1 Billion
- Foundation aid increase $700 Million

Review per-district school aid runs

Media reactions:
CNY School budgets up for a vote following late state aid infusion, waer.org, May 15, 2017
CNYS Council of Superintendents reaction to enacted state budget, April 9, 2017
State aid to schools grow, but some call it status quo, The Buffalo News, April 8, 2017

Budget Extender until May 31
Due to the inability of lawmakers to reach a budget agreement before April 1, the 2016-17 budget is extended until May 31 in order to keep the government funded and operational.

Media reactions:
Major deal almost done; uncertainty a blow to poorer districts, Albany Times Union, April 7, 2017
Cuomo tries to broker budget deal with Senate out of town, New York Times, April 6, 2017
Lawmakers mull Cuomo's latest proposal, stateofpolitics.com, April 6, 2017
Budget impasse could linger for weeks, Times Union, April 6,2017
Will 2017 Be the Year That New York’s Funding Lawsuits Finally Prevail? the74million.org, April 4, 2017
Statewide School Finance Consortium Executive Director Dr. Rick Timbs – On School Foundation Aid, wutqfm.com, April 3, 2017
Budget talks stall again, Cuomo calls for extender, Times Union, April 3, 2017

Advocacy
Urgent Call to Action: Governor urges lawmakers against additional spending for public schools!
Here is Our Take on the Senate and Assembly One-House Bills.
Find facts and 'asks' in this document that you can use for your own advocacy efforts.

We need you, our membership and stakeholders in the districts, to take action. Call, email, tweet, facebook - whatever you are most comfortable with, whatever tools you have at your disposal, use one of them or use them all. If you have a smart phone, you can easily reach your legislators with the few clicks. Find resources and sample letters below.

The three key issues that Albany must address:

1. Separate Community Schools funding from Foundation Aid
2. Increase 2017-18 Foundation Aid by $2 Billion
3. Phase in $4.3 Billion of outstanding Foundation Aid

One-House Budget Proposals
Both houses of the legislature passed their one-house-bills, containing recommendations in response to the 2017-18 Executive Budget proposed by the Governor – see links to the actual documents below.

NYS Senate Budget Resolution – Response to the 2017-18 Executive Budget submission
NYS Assembly Budget Proposal – Recommended changes to the 2017-18 Executive Budget

The NYS Council of School Superintendents provided a side-by-side comparison of the Governor’s, Assembly’s and Senate’s budget positions: Where they stand – 2017-18 budget negotiations and public schools

Media reactions:
Senate releases budget plan, weighs in on school funding saga, Chalkbeat, March 14, 2017
Assembly budget rejects governor’s repeal of foundation aid, Chalkbeat, March 14, 2017

Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal
Governor Cuomo proposed a $1 billion increase in school aid, which includes short of $428 million or 2.6% in additional foundation aid (with $150 million set aside for community schools). The rest is made up of categorical aid and other special initiatives. This proposal clearly falls short of what the Board of Regents and other statewide education organizations have recommended is needed to maintain current services.

Here are the school aid runs per district as of January 18, 2017.

Media reactions:
School equity falls short, The Post-Journal, March 19, 2017 *
Oswego County school leaders: Proposed school aid insufficient, Oswego County News Now, March 14, 2017 *
Editorial: Fully fund schools at last, Times Union, March 9, 2017
School business officials: 98% are within tax cap, Times Union, March 6, 2017
Backing CFE side, 92 lawmakers want $4.3B in foundation aid, TWCN, March 3, 2017
Education policy in Trump era, WAMC Radiolab, February 28, 2017
Former Gov. Spitzer underscores NY’s constitutional school funding obligation, Times Union, February 15, 2017
Elia: Budget plan shortchanges education, Times Union, February 14, 2017
New York State Economic and Fiscal Outlook FY 2018, Fiscal Policy Institute, February 7, 2017
Legislators meet with Cayuga education leaders to discuss aid to schools, The Citizen, January 29, 2017 *
The state’s failure on school funding, The Daily News, January 28, 2017
Students’ constitutional rights are obligatory, not ‘symbolic’ or ‘aspirational’, Michael Rebell/Campaign for Educational Equity, January 26, 2017
Governor Cuomo’s budget proposal disregards students’ constitutional rights, Michael Rebell/Campaign for Educational Equity, January 24, 2017
Dr. Rick Timbs’ Interview on Governor’s Budget, WIBX News, January 24, 2017
Gov. Cuomo’s school aid formula change worries educators, Watertown Daily News, January 22, 2017
Editorial: Hold firm on school aid, Times Union, January 22, 2017
Cuomo seeks unilateral power to make mid-year budget changes, Politico NY, January 20, 2017
School aid formula changes worry education leaders, lohud The Journal News, January 19, 2017
Dr. Rick Timbs on Capitol Pressroom discussing changes to foundation aid formula, WCNY, January 19, 2016
CNYSBA Charles Borgognoni on school financing, Keeler in the Morning, January 19, 2017
$1 billion hike in state aid to schools not enough, The Buffalo News, January 19, 2017
Cuomo proposal to undo aid formula sends ripples through ed world, The Daily Gazette, January 18, 2017
Is $1 billion school aid increase ‘not enough’?, Utica Observer Dispatch, January 19, 2017

Budget Proposals of Educational Entities
Below are the various budget proposals that were being discussed before the Governor released his budget proposal:

Comparison of NYSASBO, Regents and Educational Conference Board proposals.

NYS Board of Regents state aid proposal, December 12, 2016
Board of Regents seeks $2.1B school aid boost, Times Union, December 12, 2016
NY Education Departments: 7% school aid hike sought, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, December 12, 2016
Education officials present multi-million-dollar wish list, Chalkbeat, December 12, 2016

NYS Educational Conference Board school finance recommendations, December 1, 2016

NYSASBO state aid recommendations for 2017/18 school year, November 2016

The coming budget challenge, State of Politics, November 22, 2016

Foundation Aid Formula

SSFC and many other public school advocates have long called for an overhaul of the foundation aid formula in order to distribute state aid more fairly.

Editorial: State must tackle school equity gap, LOHUD.com, December 8, 2016
NYASBO recommendation for changes in the Foundation Aid Formula, NYASBO Task Force on Foundation Aid, October 3, 2016
State Ed opts to give lawmakers options, rather than taking strong stance on aid formula, Politico New York, September 13, 2016
School-aid formula changes recommended, LOHUD.com, September 12, 2016
Education to push legislature to change school aid formula, Politico New York, September 12, 2016

Constitutional Convention

How can changes to the state constitution affect public education? New Yorkers have the opportunity to vote to amend the state constitution in November 2016. This may be a chance to change how we educate our children and how we pay for it.

Another Constitutional Convention could happen in New York, Governing.org, January 17, 2017
Connect: NY - Pros and Cons of a Constitutional Convention on education, WCNY.com, September 19, 2016

2016-17 State Budget

School Aid will increase by about $1.47B:

$434M to end the GEA
$627M increase in Foundation Aid
$340M increase in Expense-Driven Aids

Our major goals have always focused on the adequacy, equity, predictability and sustainability of State Education Aid. We are appreciative of the substantial increase in Foundation Aid, which brings us closer a bit closer to adequacy. Equity, predictability and sustainability, however, are still elusive. Read our full budget response. Here are the School Aid runs for your district.

State aid for New York schools returns to pre-recession level, Buffalo News, April 1, 2016

State lawmakers reach budget deal with big wins for charters, community schools, Chalkbeat NY, April 1, 2016

NYS budget leaves children behind again, Education Law Center, April 1, 2016

Education aid to increase nearly $1.5B, lawmakers get rid of GEA, Times Union, March 31, 2016