What's happening
This bill limits a school district's contingency budget to the lesser of the previous year's tax levy or the lowest proposed defeated budget.
Why it matters
Caps the amount a school district can raise through a contingency budget. to the lower of either last year’s tax levy or the lowest defeated proposed budget—potentially reducing the district’s ability to increase funding after budget rejections.
Shifts power over school budgets more decisively to voters. , since districts can no longer automatically revert to a higher contingency budget if their proposed budget is rejected; this may force districts to craft more acceptable initial budgets.
Could lead to tighter school finances and program cuts. in districts where proposed budgets are repeatedly defeated, as contingency budgets would be held to stricter limits, possibly affecting educational services, staffing, or extracurriculars.
Maintains consistency in what expenditures are excluded from spending calculations. , ensuring that certain mandated or exempt costs are treated the same way in both the proposed and contingency budgets, which could prevent districts from circumventing the new cap through reclassification of expenses.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
School boards and district administrators
The bill would add the dollar amount of the lowest defeated budget proposal as a limit on contingency budgets for the same school year.
School district taxpayers
The bill would tie contingency budget limits to the lowest budget proposal voters rejected, alongside existing tax levy or spending limits.
School district budget officers
The bill would require the same types of spending exclusions used for a proposed budget when calculating total spending in a contingency budget.
Headline styles
Cap School Emergency Budgets
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4526
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 4, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to limiting the contingency budget of a school district
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section 2023 of the education law, as amended by section 3 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
a. The contingency budget shall not result in the lesser of (i) a tax levy greater than the tax levied for the prior school year; or (ii) the dollar amount of the lowest, proposed, defeated budget for the applicable school year. For the purposes of this paragraph, the same types of expenditures excluded from the calculation of total spending for the proposed budget shall be excluded when calculating the total spending in the contingency budget.
§ 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section 2023 of the education law, as amended by section 24 of part A of chapter 436 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
a. The contingency budget shall not result in a percentage increase in total spending over the district's total spending under the school district budget for the prior school year that exceeds the lesser of: (i) the result obtained when one hundred twenty percent is multiplied by the percentage increase in the consumer price index, with the result rounded to two decimal places; [or] (ii) four percent; or (iii) the dollar amount of the lowest, proposed, defeated budget for the applicable school year. For the purposes of this paragraph, the same types of expenditures excluded from the calculation of total spending for the proposed budget shall be excluded when calculating the total spending in the contingency budget.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08811-01-9
A. 4526 2
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the first of May next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law; provided that the amendments to section 2023 of the education law, made by section one of this act, shall not affect the expiration of such section and shall expire therewith, when upon such date the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.