ECB recommended revisions of the state school aid calculation procedures

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On December 7, SAANYS coordinated with other associations included in the Educational Conference Board (ECB) to send a letter to Governor Cuomo recommending revisions of the State School Aid calculation procedures that would improve financial aid planning by school districts.

The 2011-12 state budget instituted new limitations (caps) in annual changes to School Aid and Medicaid – the two largest components of state spending. The changes, which are codified in law for upcoming budget cycles, are different for each of the two components. The Medicaid cap is based on the 10-year average change in the medical component of the Consumer Price Index; and the School Aid cap is based on the one-year, annual change in the personal income of state taxpayers. The method for calculating the School Aid cap is more volatile, with year-to-year swings as much as five percent. In fact, forecasting the change in personal income for a single year is itself, open to wide variation as data become available.  For example, the changes in the personal income forecast for 2013-14 have been revised downward several times, with concomitant reductions in the possible School Aid cap falling from $950 million to $610 million.

In its letter, ECB recommends that the method used to set the School Aid cap be revised in a manner that is similar to that used for Medicaid. The calculation of the School Aid cap should use the 10-year average of change in statewide personal income. It is expected that this revised approach will seldom go up or down by more than one-half of one percent per year. For 2013-14, such a revision would result in a School Aid cap of 4.0 percent – a possible increase of $814 million.In addition to SAANYS, the associations constituting the Education Conference Board are: Conference of Big 5 School Districts, NYS Association of School Business Officials, NYS Congress of Parents and Teachers, NYS Council of School Superintendents, NYS School Boards Association, and NYS United Teachers. The ECB letter to Governor Cuomo is posted on the SAANYS website. For more information about ECB or the letter sent to Governor Cuomo regarding State Aid, contact James Viola, Director of Government Relations at JViola@saanys.org.

 

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OCTOBER IS PRINCIPAL’S MONTH IN NY

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SAANYS is pleased to announce that October 2012 has been proclaimed Principals Month in New York State. This recognition by Governor Andrew Cuomo comes on October 1 in acknowledgment of current and increasing responsibilities of school principals amid growing expectations and challenges in New York schools.

October is also National Principals Month, as recognized by the US Senate and House of Representatives. SAANYS was pleased to work with the governor’s office in extending this recognition to New York State. New York State Principals Month is an opportunity for the public to learn more about the great things principals do each-and-every day for students, teachers, and community.

The proclamation is also an opportunity to raise the level of discourse surrounding public education, its leaders, and educators. With the increasing challenges facing school principals in particular, such acknowledgement of the principal’s work and pressures is productive and welcome.

“SAANYS and its members are grateful to the governor for this commendation,” commented SAANYS Executive Director Kevin Casey. “Principals are leaders, managers, teachers, and caregivers working tirelessly for New York’s students. This proclamation is a meaningful acknowledgement of their time, dedication, and perseverance.”

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March Message from Executive Director Kevin Casey

And the Beat Goes On

We are first in spending and thirty-fourth in results. We are first in spending and thirty-fourth in results. We are first in spending and thirty-fourth in results.

Like an incessant drumbeat I hear of our alleged spending and results almost every time the governor or lieutenant governor speak of education. It gets repeated in newspapers and on the radio. Repeated often enough that many people accept it as a sad truth. I do not. I know better.

I believe the often repeated statement is a convenient sound bite designed to create blame in order to build public support for drastic cuts in education spending. Apparently, New York is thirty-fourth among states when measuring the percentage of the adult population with high school diplomas. This is a straight measurement from U.S. census data without consideration to where these adults attended school (another state possibly) or of factors such as immigration or emigration (according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data Center, 33 percent of New York’s children come from immigrant families). Nor does thirty-four percent consider the percentage of population below the poverty line (20 percent of New York’s children are living in poverty according to the Casey Foundation) or the percentage of New York’s population for whom English is a second language. And, it does not consider years of under-funding our largest school district, which resulted in a court order in the CFE case to increase funding.

What this simple declarative statement does is mislead. It creates the impression of a mediocre educational system, when in fact some cursory research reveals data that demonstrates otherwise. A recent comprehensive and objective state-by-state analysis of education systems resulted in New York State being ranked second overall in the nation. (2011 Quality Counts (QC), Editorial Projects in Education Research Center). Second, not thirty-fourth. The results of this study were conspicuously reported in Education Week, but apparently nobody informed the lieutenant governor or governor.

More specifically, QC gives New York an “A” in accountability. New York ranks eighth nationwide in K-12 achievement and fourth nationwide in “young adults in postsecondary education or with a degree.” New York ranks first nationwide in the rate in which both the reading gap and math gap are being closed, despite the poverty and immigration statistics cited earlier herein. And, New York ranks fourth in high school graduation rate improvement from 2000-2007. Clearly somebody is doing something right.

In Commissioner Steiner’s recent testimony to the state legislature, he opened with examples of evidence of successes in education, and should be applauded for doing so. He cited the QC study and also provided the following facts:

• New York ranks second in percentage of students who pass AP exams, and participation has increased for all student subpopulations.
• New York consistently ranks first or second in the number of Intel Science Talent Search finalists.
• Nineteen New York schools were honored by the U.S. Department of Education as National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence in 2010.
• The number of students with disabilities earning Regents diplomas increased more than 14 times from 1996 (526) to 2009 (7,708).
• More New York students in the class of 2010 took the SAT than any other class in the state’s history. Forty-two percent were minorities and 39 percent will be first generation college attendees.
• Seventy-four percent of full-time, first-time students earn their bachelor’s degrees within six years of entering college.

To be fair, I am well aware that I could be presented with statistics (a 72 percent overall four year high school graduation rate, with several sub-groups with lower percentages) that suggests much work still needs to be done. However, we all should know that a realistic and substantive analysis of educational results is complex, and needs to consider the impact of poverty and language and cultural barriers. The constant drumbeat of a simplistic and ultimately misleading statistic may be effective politics, but it is poor scholarship and an unkind reflection of our students’ achievements.

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