BILL NUMBER:S4729

TITLE OF BILL:

An act
to repeal section 317 of the education law, relating to general
education development examinations

PURPOSE OF THE BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to allow a fee to be charged for a
candidate's admission to the General Education Development (GED) test
so the State Education Department ("Department") has sufficient
funding to continue to offer over 50,000 GED tests each year.

SUMMARY OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE BILL:

Section 1 of the bill repeals Education Law §317 to allow the
Department to impose a reasonable fee for admission to the GED test.
The fee would be used to support and sustain the oversight and
administration of GED tests.

Section 2 is the effective date.

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL:

              

The Department charged a $25 fee for admission to the GED test from
1991 until 1994 when the Legislature enacted Education Law §317
prohibiting the imposition of a fee for admission to the GED test.
Since then, the only funding sources for the GED test are General
Fund support and small fees charged for additional copies of diplomas
and transcripts. The exception to this is one-time Education
Assessment Account funding of $1.0 million received in the current
year.

Reductions in State General Fund operating appropriations to the
Department have resulted in cuts to the GED program budget. From
2005-06 through 2008-09, General Fund support for the GED program
ranged from $3.6 million to $3.9 million. It was $3.4 million in
2009-10, $2.4 million in 2010-11 and, based on the Executive Budget,
it will be $2.16 million for 2011-12 - a 36 percent cut from
2009-10. Until Education Assessment Account funding became available
during the current year, the Department suspended the test site
contracts for six weeks in the summer of 2010.

One cost to the Department for administrating the GED test is payments
to the American Council on Education (ACE) for statewide testing
services, including test development. Pursuant to its contract with
ACE, the Department pays for all testing and scoring materials, as
well as a fee of $10 per test taker and $175 per test site. The
total cost for the ACE contract is about $1.1 million per year.

In addition, the Department reimburses the test sites $20 for each
test they administer and an additional amount for test candidates
with a disability who require special
accommodations. However, these payments only partially reimburse the


test sites for their administrative expenses such as space rental and
proctor fees. These reimbursement contracts cost about $1.1 million
per year. Lastly, the Department trains test administrators, oversees
testing operations, scores the tests, maintains all testing records
and provides transcripts and diplomas.

Currently, while 46 states charge a GED test fee ranging from $40 to
$380 and some also charge a re-testing fee ranging from $10 to $50,
New York does not charge anything.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS OF THE BILL:

The Department has a shortfall in the GED program of $1.3 million over
the next two years and a shortfall of $1.1 million per year
thereafter. The Department has requested $700,000 of additional
General Fund support for the 2011-12 State Fiscal Year. However, if
additional General Fund support can not be provided at the level
needed on a recurring basis, then a fee for admission to the GED test
would allow the Department to maintain its current level of test
offerings to the segment of the population that has, by far, the
highest unemployment rate.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new legislative proposal.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act would take effect July 1, 2011.