Governor's Services Aid Proposal Radically Cuts Aid to School Districts, Shifts Burden to Local Taxpayers

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ALBANY, NY (02/05/2019) (readMedia)-- Governor's Services Aid Proposal Radically Cuts Aid to School Districts, Shifts Burden to Local Taxpayers

An ASBO New York analysis of the Governor's proposal to shift 11 categories of school aid into a single block grant shows it would dramatically cut state aid for most school districts. Small and rural school districts would be the most effected. An examination of recent trends in the 11 aid categories found that after a few years, cuts in aid to high-need rural schools would amount to more than $211 per student per year.

"The Governor's proposal uses a sledgehammer to reign in growth in these 11 aid categories, when a scalpel will do," stated Michael J. Borges, ASBO New York Executive Director. "A majority of the growth in these 11 aid categories occur in two categories: transportation and BOCES. Transportation costs consistently outpace inflation and ASBO has offered a number of proposals for sharing and bidding reforms that will reduce costs," continued Mr. Borges.

"School districts rely on BOCES for essential services and educational opportunities for students that would be difficult for districts to replicate individually. The special education and career and technical education programs are key aspects of BOCES services that would be curtailed by these proposed cuts in aid. The impact would be especially felt by small and rural school districts with neither the financial or human resources to replace these BOCES services," said Mr. Borges.

The 2019-20 Executive Budget proposes to change eleven reimbursable aids to school districts to a block grant that would grow based on changes in inflation and district-level enrollment. The net result of this change would be a sharp decrease in the growth of state aid to school districts without doing anything to reduce their expenses.