On state budget, educators are relieved, but preparing for Foundation Aid study

As school districts begin to prepare their budgets, they now have a better idea of what they are preparing for.

Questions surrounding foundation aid clouded much of the first part of the year and raised questions about if districts would see their funding levels drop.

We now know that the final enacted state budget rejected a proposal by Governor Kathy Hochul to eliminate hold harmless, also known as save harmless, in favor of a compromise that retained the governor’s adjustment of the foundation aid formula’s inflation factor with a slight moderation, while launching a study of the formula to be conducted by the Rockefeller Institute with input from the State Education Department.

The governor and others have critcized the formula for not keeping up with shifts in population nor taking into account district reserves.

The final budget has education leaders breathing a sign of relief, but only temporarily. That foundation aid study is expected to be incorporated into next year’s state budget and there are varying takes on where its focus should lie.

“The governor’s proposal would have taken us many steps in the wrong direction,” State Senator James Skoufis said.

He joined educators in the Hudson Valley Wednesday to drive the point home: Districts can now be sure that no matter what aid is calculated for them, it won’t be less than last year.

School districts will however, see the impact of that adjusted inflation factor. Legislative leaders and the governor ultimately decided on that element being calculated at 2.8% rather than the governor’s proposed 2.4%, or the statistical reality according to the formula, which budget officials have said is closer to 5%.

Governor Hochul, meanwhile, reiterated an intention to ensure that aid is reaching where it is most needed, once the study is completed.

"Every student deserves a high-quality education in the state of New York," she said. “This budget builds on our record funding for education, lays the groundwork to improve reading proficiency and puts the state on a path to a more equitable school funding formula."