New York State Executive Chamber | Governor Eliot Spitzer

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 31, 2007

UNPRECENDENTED EXPANSION OF SCHOOL AID TIED TO ACCOUNTABILITY

Governor Eliot Spitzer today proposed a landmark school investment program that will increase education aid by 40 percent over the next four years.

Under the Four-Year Educational Investment Plan, school aid will increase by $1.4 billion in 2007-08, which will grow to an unprecedented $7 billion additional annual infusion of resources to schools by 2010-11. 

The Plan establishes a new Foundation Aid formula to provide $982 million in additional aid to school districts, targeted primarily to districts most in need, but providing all districts with at least a three percent increase over aid provided through a myriad of aid formulas last year. The new Foundation Aid formula links school funding to the cost of a successful education and allocates State Aid in a transparent, equitable, and predictable manner. 

“After this unprecedented infusion of resources, the focus of education debate in New York will rightfully shift to accountability and performance in the schools,” Spitzer said.

The new funding will be tied to accountability measures. Schools districts receiving large Foundation Aid increases of 10 percent or $15 million will be required to develop a “Contract for Excellence.” which will commit school officials to demonstrate that funds are spent to produce measurable results in student outcomes. These techniques include smaller class sizes, increased student time on task, full-day prekindergarten, teacher quality initiatives, and middle school and high school restructuring. 

Other accountability measures include development of improvement targets for individual schools and school districts by the Regents, including State assessments and graduation rates, by July 2008. The Regents will provide a student progress report that gives parents information about their child’s educational progress over multiple years of testing by July 2008 and by July 2010 will establish a system to provide cumulative achievement measures based on data about each student’s progress. 

Objective measures will be developed to assess the effectiveness of school superintendents and principals, and those with a strong educational performance will be recognized and encouraged to assist low performing school districts. The Schools Under Registration Review program will be expanded to increase the number of schools required to implement a reorganization plan and funding will be provided to encourage districts to voluntarily participate in School District Efficiency Reviews.

The Budget also provides for full funding of $645 million for Universal Pre-K by 2010-11, beginning with a $99 million increase in funding in 2007-08, and provides $2 million in planning grants in 2007-08 to support the requirement that high needs and/or low performing districts implement full day kindergarten programs by 2010-11. 

Educational reforms in the Budget include requiring the Regents to review the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs and to establish minimum standards for local tenure determinations; creating a Taskforce on Preschool Special Education to review the relationship between preschool special education and other early childhood programs; and the creation of math and science initiatives that will increase the supply of qualified math and science teachers in schools across the State and recognize and reward talented middle school students in math and science.



In addition, the Budget supports educational choice by providing for an increase in the charter school cap from 100 to 250. It provides $15.2 million of transitional funding to five districts impacted by a concentration of charter schools (Buffalo, Albany, Schenectady, Roosevelt, and Lackawanna) and a new requirement for the Regents to notify a school district of a new approved charter school in their district prior to adoption of their school budget. The Budget also supports, with $25 million in 2007-08, a tuition tax deduction for parents who pay tuition for children in public or non-public schools.

The Budget provides more than sufficient funds to address the school funding needs highlighted by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, increasing state funds directed to New York City schools by $3.2 billion over the next four years. When combined with $2.2 billion in increased spending on education New York City has committed to providing in their four-year financial plan, the total amount of increased spending on New York City schools over the next four years will be $5.4 billion. 

The Budget also establishes a “maintenance of effort” for Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers to ensure that additional State funds supplement rather than replace current spending. In addition the Mayors of these dependent school districts that do not currently have mayoral representation on their school boards will be authorized to appoint representatives to their school boards.

The Budget provides the following funding changes: 

Overall School Aid Increase: A school aid increase of over $1.4 billion for 2007-08, bringing total funding to $19.2 billion in 2007-08. By 2010-11, school aid funding will provide for $7 billion more in annual spending, reaching a total of $24.7 billion.

Foundation Aid Increase: An increase of $982 million for a new Foundation Aid program for 2007-08, bringing total funding to $13.5 billion in 2007-08. By 2010-11, Foundation Aid would grow to a total of $17.3 billion.

Universal Prekindergarten Increase: An increase of $99 million for Universal Prekindergarten (UPK), bringing total funding to $394 million in 2007-08. By 2010-11, this funding will increase to a total of $645 million.

School Facilities Funding: An increase of $135 million for EXCEL and other building aid, growing to a $725 million increase in 2010-11. This will support $2.6 billion in State bonding under the EXCEL program when fully implemented over the next two years, supplementing other reimbursements supporting school construction.

Other Aid Increases: An increase of approximately $200 million in other school aid programs, such as transportation aid and BOCES funding, bringing total funding to $3.4 billion in 2007-08. By 2010-11, this funding will increase by $1.1 billion to a total of $4.3 billion.