Relates to fees for general education development examinations; repealer

BILL NUMBER:S4729

Title of bill

An act to repeal section 317 of the education law, relating to general education development examinations

Purpose of the bill

The purpose of this bill is to allow a fee to be charged for a candidate's admission to the General Education Development (GED) test so the State Education Department ("Department") has sufficient funding to continue to offer over 50,000 GED tests each year.

Summary of the provisions of the bill

Section 1 of the bill repeals Education Law §317 to allow the Department to impose a reasonable fee for admission to the GED test. The fee would be used to support and sustain the oversight and administration of GED tests.

Section 2 is the effective date.

Statement in support of the bill

The Department charged a $25 fee for admission to the GED test from 1991 until 1994 when the Legislature enacted Education Law §317 prohibiting the imposition of a fee for admission to the GED test. Since then, the only funding sources for the GED test are General Fund support and small fees charged for additional copies of diplomas and transcripts. The exception to this is one-time Education Assessment Account funding of $1.0 million received in the current year.

Reductions in State General Fund operating appropriations to the Department have resulted in cuts to the GED program budget. From 2005-06 through 2008-09, General Fund support for the GED program ranged from $3.6 million to $3.9 million. It was $3.4 million in 2009-10, $2.4 million in 2010-11 and, based on the Executive Budget, it will be $2.16 million for 2011-12 - a 36 percent cut from 2009-10. Until Education Assessment Account funding became available during the current year, the Department suspended the test site contracts for six weeks in the summer of 2010.

One cost to the Department for administrating the GED test is payments to the American Council on Education (ACE) for statewide testing services, including test development. Pursuant to its contract with ACE, the Department pays for all testing and scoring materials, as well as a fee of $10 per test taker and $175 per test site. The total cost for the ACE contract is about $1.1 million per year.

In addition, the Department reimburses the test sites $20 for each test they administer and an additional amount for test candidates with a disability who require special accommodations. However, these payments only partially reimburse the

test sites for their administrative expenses such as space rental and proctor fees. These reimbursement contracts cost about $1.1 million per year. Lastly, the Department trains test administrators, oversees testing operations, scores the tests, maintains all testing records and provides transcripts and diplomas.

Currently, while 46 states charge a GED test fee ranging from $40 to $380 and some also charge a re-testing fee ranging from $10 to $50, New York does not charge anything.

Budgetary implications of the bill

The Department has a shortfall in the GED program of $1.3 million over the next two years and a shortfall of $1.1 million per year thereafter. The Department has requested $700,000 of additional General Fund support for the 2011-12 State Fiscal Year. However, if additional General Fund support can not be provided at the level needed on a recurring basis, then a fee for admission to the GED test would allow the Department to maintain its current level of test offerings to the segment of the population that has, by far, the highest unemployment rate.

Prior legislative history

This is a new legislative proposal.

Effective date

This act would take effect July 1, 2011.