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Regent Jim Tallon began
the October meeting of the Regents Education Finance Advisory Group of
which the Association is a member with an overview of State and National
politics and their affect on New York State education policy. The
improving economy will help of course over time, he said, as will the
possible change of administration in Washington, D.C. (e.g. additional
education funding for No Child Left Behind). However, the enormous
challenges of the growing national deficit, health care cost increases
including Medicaid costs which are crippling the counties and the
potential cost of the CFE case make predictions for 2005 very difficult.
The Regents have
decided to press on with its Foundation Proposal for reform of education
finance with some modifications. An accountability proposal is being
developed as well as a proposal for folding in special education aid and
universal pre-kindergarten aid into foundation aid. Regent Tallon also
said they were reviewing changes in building aid and asked for
recommendations with respect to the building aid formula.
Burt Porter, SED
Director of Finance, reviewed specifics of the Regents state aid
proposal for 2005-06. With respect to the accountability proposal, the
Regents will not link it to school funding. Rather, they will impose
greater administrative requirements thereby avoiding the dilemma of
taking aid away from failing schools.
Discussion ensued
regarding accountability, about the need to remove people who run
failing schools (a Business Council issue), the need to agree on
measures of success to be used and the need for incentives for success.
Also discussed were incentives to get better teachers to serve in the
schools with the greatest need.
Burt then described the
successful schools model approach. The Regents chose those schools in
which 80% succeeded on the seven Regents exams and then provided an
additional 1.0 weighting for children from families in need. (This is
similar to the Association’s proposal, Funding for Achievement, except
that the Regents exclude major aid categories such as BOCES, Special
Education and Transportation Aids from Foundation Aid.)
In September, the
Regents held four hearings around the state on special education
funding. The consensus reached was that there is a fundamental
difference between children with disabilities and children in need of
academic intervention and that special education placement decisions are
generally made without regard to costs. The possible conclusion is that
placement neutral funding is less desirable than the current system of
reimbursement for actual costs. Recent experience from other states
seems to support this. The issue of whether and how to drive aid to
reflect actual costs is ongoing.
The question of folding
universal pre-kindergarten aid into the Foundation Formula was raised.
No new districts have been added to the program since 2001 and so
universal pre-kindergarten is not universal. For districts without the
program, additional state aid may or may not result in additional
programs being set up particularly if it is rolled into the Foundation
Formula. The pressures on the local tax rates from other sources, e.g.
health insurance increases, may prevent districts from establishing
universal pre-kindergarten.
The Regents Education Finance Advisory Group meets next on November 22,
2004 10:00am-12:00pm in Room 217 of the Education Building.
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