GOP lawmakers criticize Hochul proposal to end 'hold harmless' school aid policy

ALBANY — Republican state legislators on Monday criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to end a guarantee that no school district can receive less state aid than it did the previous year — a debate that is shaping up to be one of the top issues in Albany this year.

Hochul, a Democrat, has proposed ending the “hold harmless” policy for school funding, citing declining enrollments in many districts over the last decade. She also noted that during her tenure, she’s steered record school aid increases, especially “foundation aid,” the primary category of education funding for all schools statewide.

Adjusting state-aid formulas accordingly would mean less state assistance for 337 of the state’s 700+ school districts — including 44 on Long Island.

It’s a proposal that’s generated strong opposition from Democratic and Republican legislators and triggered suggestions that it’s meant to a be a bargaining chip in budget negotiations during what is an election year for state legislators.

A group of Republicans rallied at the State Capitol on Monday to denounce the proposal. They contended that even if some district enrollments haven’t grown, the demand for school services has.

If “hold harmless” is eliminated, districts might lay off teachers and support staff, they said. They also said rural schools — which depend more highly on state aid than others — would suffer the most from a policy change and may no longer be able to offer strong academic options, such as advanced placement courses.

“This hits every region around the state,” Assemb. Edward Ra (R-Franklin Square) said. “Budget should be about funding priorities and funding education should be our priority.”

“There’s new services that were never needed” before, Assemb. Doug Smith (R-Holbrook) said, citing special education and English-as-second-language programs among the increasing demands on schools.

Further, Hochul’s proposal “coincides with the loss of federal (COVID-19) funds that are evaporating his year,” putting a burden on schools, Smith said.

While acknowledging the give-and-take of budget negotiations, the Republicans noted that while the budget is due April 1, it’s been late the last two years and statewide school voting day is May 21 — meaning if “hold harmless” isn’t resolved quickly, many districts will have to propose funding cuts and layoffs in May.

“If this is a bargaining chip, it still may bump up against” the deadline for schools to prepare their budgets for referendums, Assemb. Mary Beth Walsh, a Saratoga County Republican, said.

Just down the hallway from where Republicans rallied, the leader of the State Senate indicated many Democrats also oppose the elimination of the “hold harmless” policy.

“We’re always open to conversations, but obviously anything that results in (almost) half of the school districts getting less money is a difficult conversation,” said Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers).

Hochul, at a Long Island event last week, noted she boosted “foundation aid” by more than $1 billion over the last two years — making up for what she called “disinvestment” by previous governors and which won overwhelming support in the education sector. Combined with generous federal pandemic aid, she said Island districts received a nearly 40% increase in aid over that time period.

But that can’t be sustained, the governor said. Further, giving more money to schools that have enrollment declines “doesn’t make sense.”

“Anyone who thinks that you can sustain that rate of increase … is unreasonable and must not balance their own budgets at home, because that's not how it works. So we never said that we would do that same increase every single year,” Hochul said. She also said school districts are sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in reserve funds that could be tapped instead of “hoarded” to offset any state-aid reductions.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy