News From Albany

Tuesday evening, March 8th, the HCS Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss some of the new information that has come out of Albany during “Lobby Week” and the winter meeting of The New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS). Throughout last week there were many political and financial conversations relating to next year’s budget and the topic of school district consolidation. Additionally, information regarding BOCES aid was shared with superintendents from our State Aid Planning Department through Questar BOCES. Some of the more pertinent points, related to our school district, were shared with the Board of Education and the community members that were in attendance. I will outline the topics discussed below.

Recent information was released regarding BOCES aid and the way that BOCES aid will be potentially redistributed. Some of the services that HCS has utilized in the past may no longer be eligible for BOCES aid. Legal work through Labor Relations and the CBO (central business office), among others, are presently under discussion and possibly will not drive BOCES aid in the years to come. The aid would be decreased for the 2012-13 school year for services rendered in 2011-12. We will know more about this when the Governor has an approved budget.

Additionally, the way BOCES aid is distributed, throughout New York State, may be recalculated. If this occurs, HCS is slated to lose an additional 25% ($103,000) of our BOCES aid in 2012-13 for the services provided in the 2011-12 school year. Originally, we were worried that this change would occur next year. Updated information now speculates that this will take place the following budget year. When the decision is made, we will let you know. Due to this cut, as well as other cuts in aid, we are planning an upcoming meeting with our Legislators. We will make it known that this decision, along with others, will continue to substantially affect our district and what we can provide for our students.

Moreover, the Governor’s Commission on Mandate Relief has recently released a report on their findings and suggested areas of mandate relief. The NYSED (State Education Department) is also considering areas of relief, along with NYSSBA and NYSCOSS. Some of the recommendations can be seen below from a March 8th edition on the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) Advocacy Alert. Hopefully, there will be more information that comes from SED regarding additional mandate relief.

NYSSBA Advocacy Alert

MOVEMENT ON MANDATE RELIEF

Last week Governor Cuomo’s Mandate Relief Redesign Team issued its initial report, pledging to prevent future unfunded mandates and make minor changes to the retirement system. The news was disappointing considering that the governor had failed to include any mandate relief proposals in his state budget proposal, deferring to the Redesign Team. NYSSBA is participating in the team’s work and hopes that the promise of continuing work on major proposals results in additional reform. On the positive side, this week the Board of Regents made significant progress on their own mandate relief agenda. Aside from last year’s paperwork reduction measure, this is the first mandate relief effort by the Regents in several years. Some of the items require legislative changes, which the Regents have pledged to pursue. Others are regulatory changes that can be implemented immediately. The agenda follows NYSSBA’s recommendations and would accomplish the following reforms:

1. Provide flexibility by consolidating textbook and software aids. This will allow districts to select their areas of greatest need and direct the total amount of these two former aid categories to that area.
2. Provide flexibility in claims auditing. This would authorize BOCES central offices to perform claims auditing for component districts, relieving small districts from the problem of appropriately separating duties.
3. Eliminate the requirement that school districts have an Early Grade Class Size Reduction Plan. SED no longer has the authority to require this plan and so this action will take it off the books and clarify that districts no longer need to produce this plan.
4. Provide school calendar flexibility to allow school districts outside New York City to hold regular days of session in July and August. This is in response to a NYSSBA priority that seeks the ability of districts to lengthen the school day and school year when they choose. While this is a tremendous first step, the ultimate goal is to seek state aid for those additional days of instruction to relieve local taxpayers of the resulting financial burden.
5. Allow local districts to piggyback on other states’ and local government contracts. This option would yield savings to districts both in the prices of goods and services purchased as well as their not having to incur the time and expense of going out for bid(s).
6. Eliminate the Wicks Law for school construction. This is a longtime NYSSBA priority. All other states and the federal government, which formerly required “multiple prime contracting”, have abolished this practice. It is cumbersome and expensive and can delay claims, resulting in litigation. Delays can also needlessly subject students to unsafe conditions. There are numerous protections that can be added to statutes to protect subcontractors from abuse by general contractors, requiring prompt payment and preventing bid shopping. These are in place in other jurisdictions and work very well at less cost.

NYSSBA is pleased that the Regents have joined the effort to provide relief from burdensome state mandates. Relief from special education mandates was also a part of the Regents proposal, but this aspect of the plan was tabled until the next meeting, to provide adequate time for discussion. NYSSBA strongly urges the Regents to include special education mandate relief in their agenda and to join NYSSBA in vigorously advocating for the required statutory changes.

The last component of our updated information was related to our potential consolidation study. After speaking with representatives from our State Education Department, members of NYSCOSS, and a Superintendent from a recently consolidated district, we are now told that the incentive aid is being released from SED as promised and is then subject to the cuts in aid through the GEA (Gap Elimination Adjustment), as are all other aids with the exception of foundation aid and building aid. The Hamilton Central School District will consider this information along with all upcoming information as we begin the consolidation study process. We will keep you updated regarding additional information as we become aware of it.