Amends the education law, in relation to adjusting the maintenance amount for the city school district of the city of New York

21 Co-sponsors

• James F. Brennan
• Joan Millman
• Carl Heastie
• Alan Maisel
• Michael Benedetto
• Adam Clayton Powell IV
• Grace Meng
• Jeffrey Dinowitz
• Hakeem Jeffries
• Daniel O'Donnell
• Joseph Lentol
• Marcos Crespo
• Micah Kellner
• Keith L.T. Wright
• Rory Lancman
• Karim Camara
• Richard Gottfried
• Naomi Rivera
• Nelson Castro
• Vanessa Gibson
• William Colton

4 Multi-sponsors

• Herman D. Farrell
• Deborah Glick
• Audrey Pheffer
• William Scarborough

BILL NUMBER:A8695

Title of bill

An act to amend the education law, in relation to adjusting the maintenance amount for the city school district of the city of New York

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill will update and clarify existing provisions of the education law to ensure that adequate funding is provided and maintained for New York City public schools.

Summary of specific provisions

Section one amends paragraph b of subdivision 5-a of section 2576 of the education law. It stipulates that the city's appropriation must be adjusted to reflect the five year roll- ing average percentage change in the New York City Metropolitan Area Regional Consumer Price Index (CPI). This section reiterates the City of New York's (City) obligation to contribute $2,200,000,000 of "city funds" in excess of the total amount of 2006-07 expenditures pursuant to section 13-a of part B of chapter 57 of the laws of 2007. Such an appro- priation must not include city payments to bond or note holders for debt service or payments for employee pension benefits.

Section two sets out the effective date.

Justification

First, when the mayoral control law was enacted, a cornerstone of the agreement stipulated that the mayor had to commit to maintain annual funding levels for public schools. This maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement means that the City must spend at least as much money as it spent the preceding year, not including costs for pensions and debt service. However, due to inflation and the rising costs of providing an adequate education as mandated by the State constitution, the current MOE does not meet these goals. By including an inflation factor that reflects the average costs in the New York City metropolitan area over 5 years as part of the MOE, this provision will better reflect actual costs and better achieve the purpose of maintaining programs and services from years to year.

Second, when the Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State New York (CFE) court decision was settled by the State in the enacted 2007 budget, the State required the City to add $2.2 billion over the 2006-07 baseline year to its yearly spending by the conclusion of a phase-in period. To ensure that the CFE funds are delivered, this provision reiterates the City's obligation as provided in the laws of 2007 and explicitly links payment of the City's $2.2 billion contribution to the MOE by the end of the phase-in period. These funds, like all MOE funds, will not include payments for pensions and debt service. This provision will ensure that ALL these funds will go to the classroom to fund the State consti- tution's sound basic education requirement as established in CFE.

Prior legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

Undetermined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately; provided, howev- er, that the amendments to paragraph b of subdivision 5-1 of section 2576 of the education law as made by section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed ther- ewith.