Smart Schools Bond Act Update

NYSED’s Stephen McNally gave an update on the Smart Schools Bond Act to the Public School Accounting Committee January 8, 2019 at ASBO headquarters. He reported that 602 approved plans for 407 school districts resulted in the state awarding $1.3 billion of the total $2.0 billion available under the Bond Act. Most of the funds have been used for school connectivity and classroom technology. The New York City School District has received approval for its full amount of $783 million and school districts in the rest of the state have received approval for $498 million and can still apply for $719 million in additional Smart Schools Bond Act funds.

• At the December 3, 2018 meeting, the Board approved the second NYC SSIP for School Connectivity ($249 million) and Instructional Technology ($133 million) for a total budget of $383 million.

• Combined with the previously approved Pre-K and Transportable Classroom Removal SSIP for $400 million, the City has now been approved for all of their $783 million allocation.

• An additional 51 plans totaling $32.7 million for Public Schools and 6 plans for Special Education Schools for $194,406 were approved.

• This brings the total number of approved SSIPs under the Smart Schools Program to 602 for 407 school districts budgeting $1.3 billion of the total $2.0 billion available under the Bond Act.  

• An additional 36 Special Education Schools have been approved for $1.8 million out of the total $5.0 million appropriation available.

• Approved Funding through 11 Smart Schools Review Board Meetings (in millions of dollars)

• Open Reimbursement System for the legislatively required $25 million Supplemental Nonpublic Loan Program for pre-4/15/17 districts with nonpublic schools and expenditures in School Connectivity, which weren’t originally included in the calculation of the nonpublic loan amount.

• Approximately 133 school districts for $5.5 million and $19.6 million for NYC.

• Copy over current plans submitted after 4/15/17 to the revised SSIP form that will capture the new nonpublic loan requirement for schools with nonpublic schools and School Connectivity budget items.

• Work with individual districts that need assistance separating the new loan-eligible items from non-loanable items under School Connectivity.