ALBANY, NY – The Council's version of an easier to read School Aid run for Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed budget is now available online.
To access the spreadsheet, please copy this link into your browser https://www.nyscoss.org/nyscossdocs/Advocacy2324/2401_BT_Report1.xlsx.The spreadsheet includes table which will produce four reports for any district (hitting "Ctrl P" on any tab will print a report for that tab):
“All Aids” shows aid results by category with 2023-24 and proposed 2024-25 amounts presented side-by-side, with year-to-year change and percentage change. The format makes it easy to identify categories experiencing increases and decreases and which categories may be most influencing the bottom-line total change.
"Save-Harmless Summary" is a first-time addition to our spreadsheet. This tab will show how much, if any, a district is due to receive as save-harmless funding and the reduction in Foundation Aid it would experience as a result of the proposed changes to save-harmless. To illustrate the potential impact of the reduction, this report calculates the reductions as percentages of 2023-24 district total general fund expenditures and 2023-24 district tax levy, providing a sense of the magnitude of budget cuts or tax increases need to offset the aid loss.
“Foundation Aid Analysis” shows Foundation Aid amounts as calculated under the Governor’s proposal and under the formula as under current law and the difference between the two calculations. As explained further through the link at the end of this article, the Governor proposes two changes to Foundation Aid—lowering an inflation factor and cutting save-harmless. For nearly all districts not on save-harmless, the lower inflation adjustment reduces the size of the increases by about 1.4 percentage points from what they would receive under current law. This tab also shows how some of the key district variables in calculating Foundation Aid have changed over time.
"Estimate Change Over Time" shows whether calculated aid amounts by category for 2023-24 have changed since the time the current state budget was enacted last May. Any variances are due to changes in data, not actions by policymakers. This tab also shows differences by aid category for 2024-25 between the Governor’s proposal and what districts would receive, if current formulas were continued without change. Here, variances can be due to proposed formula changes, but the only formula the Governor proposes to change is Foundation Aid.
Here is a one-page piece which explains the proposed changes to Foundation Aid.
Please write to advocacy@nyscoss.org with any questions or suggestions.