March 31, 2015
State education deal in jeopardy
The state budget is set to include a $1.4 billion increase in education funding, but that could change today as bills had not yet been printed this morning and negotiations were still going on, according to Sen. Jim Seward’s office.
Bills are expected to be voted on today in an effort to make the midnight deadline to pass an on time state budget, said Jeff Bishop, director of communications for Seward (R-Oneonta).
Several items in a previous struck education deal were being renegotiated, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D-Ithaca) said this morning.
Late Monday Gov. Andrew Cuomo requested more negotiation, Lifton said at 5:50 p.m.
“It’s run into serious snags,” she said. “Apparently, a number of the items are back under discussion.”
Lifton was not sure what was back under review or why.
The earlier deal reached by state lawmakers increased the school aid, cut in half a controversial program that used school aid to fund other state expenses and overhauled teacher evaluations, Lifton and Seward (R-Oneonta) said earlier Monday afternoon.
The long awaited state aid runs, which reveal how much funding each district will receive, are also expected to be released today, according to Seward.
School districts’ aid allotments were withheld during the state budget negotiations this year, a move that drew ire from school officials trying to formulate district budgets by the May 6 deadline.
Cuomo had proposed a budget that included a $377 million state aid increase.
But that increase was really only money the state had previously agreed to pay as reimbursement to school districts for transportation, building and BOCES costs, Lifton said.
“That was like zero money really,” she said.
If the state Legislature agreed to several controversial education reforms, Cuomo proposed upping his budget to a $1.1 billion increase.
The earlier budget deal under negotiation again this morning included far more funding than Cuomo’s top budget proposal, Lifton noted.
Under the deal, more than half the funding set to be taken away this year from all the schools in the state under the Gap Elimination Adjustment will be released to the districts, Seward said.
Seward had sponsored a bill to eliminate the GEA, a law passed in 2010 to take back school aid to balance the state budget, but that bill did not make it in to the budget agreement.
There is “general agreement” among legislators the adjustment will be eliminated from next year’s budget, he said.
Homer Superintendent of Schools Nancy Ruscio and McGraw Superintendent Mary Curcio were both disappointed that the GEA was not eliminated this year.
“I guess I’m disappointed that the Senate proposal that offered complete restoration for the GEA was not included in a year that the state has a surplus,” Ruscio said. “Certainly, every bit helps.”
Since 2010, the Homer school district has lost a total of $14,878,591 in state aid to the GEA.
An increase in foundation aid will also be beneficial, Curcio said. Foundation aid is money allocated per pupil.
The previous budget deal lawmakers negotiated included a $420 million increase in foundation aid for state schools, Lifton said.
In last year’s state budget, McGraw school district saw an increase in both foundation aid and a decrease in funds removed by the GEA, which was “extremely helpful,” Curcio said.
The deal also included $680 million in aid for poor school districts, Lifton said. It was unclear how much would go to local school districts this morning.
Reforms to the Annual Professional Performance Review for teachers and principals would be placed in the hands of the state Board of Regents and the state Education Department under the budget deal, Lifton and Seward said.
The departments were set to receive $1 million to redo the rating system, Lifton said.
Cuomo’s executive budget proposed revamping the way teachers’ performance is scored, relying more heavily on state testing as a measure of their success. This has been a highly contentious move among educators and others.
State tests do not take into account factors other than teacher performance that affect students’ test scores, such as poverty, Seward said.
“That’s unfair to the teachers,” he said. “We’re looking to develop an evaluation system with less reliance on testing.”
The state education department and the board of regents are set to report back to the Legislature with a new system by June 30, Seward said.
Ruscio agreed state education reforms belong with the regents and education department.
But she was concerned about the timing of the reforms, noting that any performance review changes will have to be negotiated between June and the start of the next school year when teachers are on break.
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