State Ed chief Betty Rosa seeks phase-in of Hochul proposal to end 'hold harmless' policy
State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa speaks to members of the state Board of Regents during a meeting in Albany on Nov. 13, 2023. Credit: Hans Pennink
ALBANY — The state Education Department on Thursday asked the state Legislature for a 3-5-year phase-in of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal that would reduce school aid to nearly half of all school districts.
State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said at a legislative hearing on the budget that Hochul’s call to end the “hold harmless” provision in school aid this year would be too abrupt for school districts to handle.
The “hold harmless” policy has meant school districts could always count on receiving as much state aid as they go in the previous year, even if the formula calls for reduced aid. The formula factors in enrollment, surpluses and community wealth among other measures.
Rosa said the department’s new analysis found that 337 of the state’s more than 700 school districts would see less aid year-to-year under Hochul’s proposal.
Several Democrats and Republicans said they wanted to scrap Hochul’s proposal altogether.
“The entire state is ablaze because of the governor’s cuts,” said Assemb. Doug Smith (R-Holbrook). “This is devastating and you are talking about hundreds of teachers potentially being laid off.”
Sen. Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers) said Hochul’s plan is “an absolute cut” to schools. Assemb. Michelle Hinchey (D-Kingston) said the governor’s proposal is “absolutely outrageous” because it includes “extreme cuts.”
Hochul has argued the school aid formula should be followed because many school districts have lost enrollment and have built record high reserves in recent years because of spikes in state and federal aid. Hochul’s proposal is part of her budget theme to make New York State more affordable to stem an exodus of residents and to attract more employers.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 found that New York State spends more per pupil — $26,571 annually — than any other state.
Hochul and the legislature increased school aid by more than $5 billion over the last two years, or 33% above 2021 funding levels, Hochul said. Now she proposes a $825 million increase in school aid for the coming year, to a total of $35 billion.
“As much as we may want to, we are not going to be able to replicate the massive increases of the last two years,” Hochul said in her budget address last month. “No one could have expected the extraordinary jumps in aid to recur annually.” She said that when federal COVID-19 aid is included, schools received an additional $20 billion over the last three and a half years.
“Schools are sitting on surpluses,” she said Tuesday.
Under questioning Thursday by legislators, Rosa said that if Hochul’s proposal is adopted for the coming school year, staff and program cuts are likely. Hochul’s action would be particularly difficult because one-time federal aid to help schools recover from the COVID-19 pandemic ends next year, which Rosa called a “fiscal cliff.”
“We just need a longer runway,” said Jeffrey Matteson, senior deputy commissioner for education policy at the state Education Department. “They can’t do this in one year.”
However, the state Education Department had warned school districts over the last two years that schools should prepare for an end of the extraordinary state and federal aid increase. Christina Coughlin, the department’s chief financial officer, said most schools have reserves they could use in the transition.
Still, “this next morph caught our schools off guard,” Rosa said.
Legislative leaders and Hochul will soon start to negotiate a state budget, which is due by April 1.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
