BUFFALO, N.Y. — According to analysis compiled by the New York State School Boards Association, voters approved roughly 97% of school district budgets Tuesday and about two-thirds of districts that sought to override the property tax cap were successful.
New York State Council of School Superintendents Deputy Director Robert Lowry said the 18 total budgets defeated on the first try are slightly more than average but in general the numbers are in line with where they’ve been since 2012 when the state enacted the cap.
“I think there’s a lot that voters have to be concerned about, not necessarily with schools but with life in general, so we’re grateful for their vote of confidences indicated by their support for the budgets,” Lowry said.
Citizens Budget Commission Director of State Studies Patrick Orecki said the consistency comes in spite of uncertainty at the state level this year as lawmakers discussed but ultimately rejected eliminating the “Save Harmless,” provision which ensures districts get at least as much funding as the previous year. There were modest changes to how inflation factors into year over year growth.
“For the past few years, the state has been phasing in its formula and kind of new what the next few years of aid down to districts was going to be so this was the first time that that was more of a question mark in several years,” Orecki said.
Lowry said school districts will quickly be looking ahead to next year’s budgets as legislators continue conversations about funding changes. Lawmakers did direct the Rockefeller Institute to initiate a study examing the Foundation Aid formula, which determines the base aid every district receives.
“While districts may have lost students, they’re doing much more for those students and their families than ever before. Mental health services is one high profile example but there are other examples,” Lowry said.
Orecki said the study creates an opportunity for the state to take a more forward looking approach at school funding and create less uncertainty in budget processes. He said it will always be a contentious topic for lawmakers because they all represent districts that want more money.
“It’s one of the biggest pieces of the state’s spending pie so decisions made in school aid really drive what else is possible in the rest of the budget too for the state,” he said.
The Citizens Budget Committee is advocating for the Rockefeller Center to broaden the scope of its study to look at all parts of school funding. Foundation Aid represents about $25 billion a year but Orecki said there’s another $15 billion every year for expense-based aid like transportation, hardware and textbooks.
Districts where budgets failed will vote again on June 18.
