Division of Budget Statement on Transportation Aid

In a statement to Capital Tonight, Freeman Klopott spokesman for the NYS Division of Budget said, “We are sensitive to the food and instructional material deliveries, and if they provided these services, we will work with districts to reimburse them.”

This comes after an Educational Conference Board (ECB) statement reacting to a recent memo from the State Education Department on the subject of transportation aid reimbursement for pandemic related expenses.

In their memo, SED clarified that, under current Education Law, transportation expenses incurred for things other than the physical transport of students to and from school are not eligible for reimbursement. Ineligible expenses include costs associated with: keeping employees or contractors on standby, maintaining infrastructure, or other costs incurred while transportation services were not being provided to schools because of closure due to COVID-19.

The memo goes on to state, that as part of the Board of Regent’s 2021-2022  budget and legislative initiatives, they will advocate for the law to be amended to allow for reimbursement for the expense of keeping employees and contractors on standby between March 18, 2020, and May 1, 2020. In addition, their proposal will include language to allow reimbursement for costs associated with the delivery of things such as student meals and educational materials during school closure.

While we are appreciative of the Division of Budget’s openness to reimburse the cost of delivering food and educational materials, we continue to advocate for the reimbursement of other expenses. This would include costs incurred to maintain the ability to provide transportation services during the time when schools were mandated to remain on stand-by at the end of the 2019-2020 school year.