As part of this initiative, two awards have been retired. The Superintendent of the Year and School Board Member of the Year awards have been phased out to direct more attention toward our deserving school business officials. We extend our congratulations to the previous winners of these two awards and express our gratitude for their tireless dedication to students and education. Click here to see past award recipients.

Being introduced are the Trailblazer Innovation Award and Collaborative Excellence Award. The Trailblazer Award recognizes a transformative initiative by a school business official, celebrating innovative solutions and practices that have significantly enhanced the effectiveness and overall progress of education, learning, or financial management. The Collaborative Excellence Award applauds the collective achievements of the entire business office team and is awarded to the entire business office.

Another notable change is in the criteria for the Joan Colvin Starfish Award. Previously bestowed upon a member who published an article in the ASBO New York Reporter Magazine, the award is now a student impact award, aligning more closely with Dr. Colvin's starfish story about making a difference in an individual student’s life.

A final exciting change is to the George A. Perry Volunteer Service Award. Formerly decided by the awards committee through voting, the award will now be nominated and selected by the ASBO New York staff, who closely collaborate with volunteers throughout the year and have the best insight into those members who have gone above and beyond.

As part of our assessment of the awards and scholarships offerings, we have made improvements to the submission process, facilitating the nomination of your peers and colleagues. Recognizing the busy schedules of everyone in their roles, we have streamlined the process by introducing online submission forms and eliminating unnecessary essay requirements wherever possible.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced today the relocation of the Belmont Stakes to Saratoga Race Course in 2024 to facilitate the uninterrupted construction of a new Belmont Park. The ASBO New York team has been diligently collaborating with the Saratoga Convention and Visitors Bureau and local hotel partners since early summer when the potential relocation of the Belmont to Saratoga was first recognized.

As excitement grows for the Education Summit scheduled for June 2-5, 2024, our staff has taken proactive measures to prepare for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course June 6-9, 2024. Our goal is to ensure a seamless experience for attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors, despite additional events and tourists in Saratoga Springs.

With the proximity of these events, the Association is committed to ensuring that attendees enjoy the same high-quality conference experience. To this end, we have implemented the following steps:

• Increased accommodation availability: Additional hotel blocks have been secured in the immediate Saratoga area and surroundings, providing ample lodging options for attendees.

• Advanced registration: Conference and exhibitor registration will open early.

• Dedicated housing links: Attendees and vendors will receive dedicated housing links, maximizing their opportunities to secure suitable accommodations.

• Advanced scheduling: Evening events have been planned earlier than usual to avoid disruptions to the conference itinerary.

• Headquarters hotel details: The designated headquarters hotel remains the Saratoga Hilton, conveniently connected to the Saratoga City Center. Through our contract, we have secured a large housing block with pre-negotiated room rates and maintain a two-night minimum stay policy. Housing at the Saratoga Hilton is prioritized for conference attendees.

• Exclusive Housing Links: Housing links will only be accessible to registered attendees and exhibitors to ensure room availability exclusively for those participating in the conference.

ASBO New York would like to reassure all attendees that the Education Summit dates do not overlap with the Belmont Stakes. Our staff have cultivated strong relationships with event and hotel partners, ensuring a smooth conference experience for all attendees.

"With our dedicated efforts and close collaboration with the Convention and Visitors Bureau and partners, we are fully prepared to provide an exceptional conference experience," said Brian Cechnicki, Executive Director. "We are thrilled to host attendees once again in Saratoga."

We encourage members to contact our staff directly with any questions or concerns. For more information and updates, please visit the ASBO New York website and stay tuned for attendee and vendor registration opening soon!

For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Cechnicki
Phone: (518) 434-2281 x 108
Email: brian@asbonewyork.org

ASBO Executive Director Brian Cechnicki released the follow statement in response to Governor Hochul's 2022 State of the State address:

We are pleased to see the Governor making education a central component of her 2022 State of the State. The continued commitment to fully fund Foundation Aid is a welcome sight to school districts throughout the state who have remained underfunded since the formula was first created. In addition, we are glad to see that the Governor plans to take aggressive action to ensure that teacher staff shortages within districts are addressed. We look forward to working with Governor Hochul, the New York State Senate, and the New York State Assembly to ensure that the needs of school districts and their students are met in the 2022-23 Enacted Budget.

You can download the presentation here.

Topics to be covered on the webinar include:

• State Aid (Including the new Pandemic Adjustment)
• Extension of small group employer consortium membership protections
• Change in paid time-off for voting requirements

April 3, 2020 Update - ASBO is currently making plans to host a Virtual Education Summit during the originally schedule conference dates. More details to follow! 

ASBO New York continues to monitor the rapidly changing situation related to the spread of COVID-19 for our school districts and for our own events. We understand that concerns for public health, among other issues, are affecting our members. Our main priority is the health and safety of our association community. We have made the difficult decision to postpone our Annual Education Summit & Expo, originally scheduled for May 31-June 3, 2020 in Saratoga Springs. The conference will be rescheduled for November 15-18, 2020 in Saratoga Springs and combined with the SBMW. The Expo trade show will be moved to the November conference along with programming and special events. This will come with challenges and opportunities to maintain and enhance the attendee and vendor experience, but ASBO is committed to making a superb conference meeting the needs of all of our members. These unprecedented times call for preparations for unprecedented events.

As we form a more concrete plan for the new conference, ASBO staff will be contacting each stakeholder group regarding the rescheduling of the conference and the options therein. Thank you for your understanding.

We understand those who had hotel reservations at the Saratoga Hilton may have received a notice from them - we apologize for you receiving that notification prior to an announcement from us. That was sent prior to our final decision to cancel. All hotel reservations have been canceled for attendees, with the exception of the Embassy Suites- attendees must cancel their own reservations at this hotel. 

Please note, the SBO Leadership Academy sessions originally planned for May 30-31 will be moved to an online course format, possibly with moving the workshops to a weekday. 

These kinds of decisions are never easy to make. Thank you to the ASBO board, all of our volunteer chairs, committees, and speakers for your leadership, flexibility, and support.

The ASBO New York staff are working remotely and continue to be available via email, so please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

The State Division of Budget has released their school aid runs which are available here.

     Category of Increase                                                Change (millions)

While the Executive Budget legislation and school aid runs are currently unavailable, there are several policy proposals present in the 2020 Executive Budget Briefing Book we’d like to highlight.

Foundation Aid / Expense Based Aids:

The Executive Budget provides an increase of $704 million in Foundation Aid; however, there are several things to note. This increase includes a $200 million allocation for High-Need districts and a $50 million Community School set-aside. The Executive Budget also proposes increasing the number of schools receiving community school funding to 440 districts.  While specifics aren’t yet available, the Governor’s presentation noted, “We need to throw out our existing formula.” The Governor then called for a new formula that would drive State Aid to High-Need schools. 

The briefing book also notes, “the Executive Budget recommends the consolidation of 10 expense-based aid categories into Foundation Aid starting in the 2020-21 school year” – we will be able to provide more details on how this might work once budget legislation is released. Last year, the Governor had proposed capping and block granting 11 expense-based aids. This year he is proposing capping transportation aid at the greater of inflation or inflation plus a district’s enrollment growth, while also changing the transportation aid ratios available to school districts. For building aid, the Governor proposes a new aid tier for projects approved during the 2020-21 school year.

School Funding Transparency:

The Governor highlighted that in FY 2021, all 673 major school districts in the State will report school building-level funding. While there was no expansion noted in the briefing document, we will review budget legislation for further details. We anticipate the Governor will seek to expand on this issue, since his budget address referred to funding differences between schools as a central “civil rights injustice.”

School Tax Relief (STAR) Program

The Governor proposes to reduce the income limit for participation in the STAR Exemption program for property owners currently enrolled to $200,000 (currently $250,000). These homeowners would need to enroll in the STAR Credit program to continue to receive their benefit. 

This proposal also includes provisions to ensure that STAR benefits are not given to property owners who have not paid their property taxes. 

Other Budget Items:

Also included in the Executive Budget proposal is new funding for prekindergarten expansion, the Empire State After School program, Early College High Schools, the Syracuse Comprehensive Education and Workforce Training Center, the Master Teachers Program, curriculum on diversity and tolerance, charter school tuition, and the STEM entrepreneur pilot program. 

ASBO will share school district aid runs and additional analysis as information becomes available. 

Executive Budget Briefing Book Available Here

2020 Executive State Budget Proposal Webinar - NEW DATE & TIME

The Governor presented his Executive Budget on January 21st. In addition to school district state aid, this legislation will include the Governor’s policy positions leading into budget negotiations with the legislature. ASBO will be presenting our initial analysis of the Executive Budget via webinar on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 9am. 

Click here to register 

ASBO New York is happy to share this sample manual for administering Federal grants.

The document is the product of a working group, co-chaired by Richard Cunningham and Victor Churchill, which has been developing this manual since Spring 2019. The sample manual addresses policy, procedures, and compliance issues specific to Federal Allocations for Special Education (IDEA, Section 611 and 619). Users of this sample manual must modify it for their specific district circumstances. We present the manual as both a fillable pdf and a word document. Click here to view the Uniform Grant Guidance page.

PILOT Assessments 
(S.3972 Harckham / A.218 Paulin)
This legislation postpones the reduction in a PILOT payment due to a successful assessment challenge to the following school fiscal year.

Small City School District Debt Limit 
(S.5425 Mayer / A.7062 McDonald)
This legislation would treat small city school districts the same as other districts by factoring in their building aid to determine their debt limit for capital projects. 

Other bills of interest that passed both houses include:

Authorization to establish health insurance funds
Bedford CSD (S.2685 Mayer / A.123 Buchwald)
Frontier (S.1732 Jacobs / A.8139 Ryan)
Grand Island (S.1733 Jacobs / A.8312 Morinello)
Kenmore UFSD (S.1735 Jacobs / A.3629 Schimminger)

Notification prior to IDA approval of incentives
(S.2769 Comrie, Jr. / A. 2947 Solages)
Requires IDAs to send notifications of proposed financial incentives for a project and any reasons for deviation from their uniform tax exemption policy to affected local taxing jurisdictions. For school districts, notifications are required to be sent to the school board and district superintendent of the school district.

Clarifying substantial completion of construction 
(S.2394 Breslin / A.3552 Cusick)
This bill would define for school districts and BOCES substantial completion as the date certified by the architect or engineer when construction is code compliant and in accordance with contract documents.  The bill also requires districts to provide punch list to contractor 45 business days after substantial completion.

Insurance coverage for small employers (51-100 employees)
(S.2043 Seward / A.4947 Cook)
A chapter amendment to legislation passed last year that reduces the extension from 5 to 2 years allowing small group employers to remain in their health insurance consortia.

School bus stop-arm cameras
(S.4524-B Kennedy / A.4950 Magnarelli)
Allow cameras on school bus stop-arms to ticket drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus. Cameras would be authorized and paid for by local municipalities, not school districts.

Polling places in small city school districts can open at 6:00 
(S.4009 Mayer / A.6540 Otis)
All independent school districts that are serving as polling places can now open at 6:00 AM.

Extending BOCES ability to lease real property 
(S.5323 Mayer / A.6671 Paulin)
Extends ability of BOCES to lease private property for up to 20 years until 2024.

Authorize BOCES to contract with preschool special education providers 
(S.5629 Mayer / A.7694 Benedetto)
Allows preschool special education programs to utilize BOCES OLAS to recruit employees.

Probationary period for tenured administrators who move districts
(S.4007 Mayer / A.8346 Benedetto)
Reduces the probationary period for tenured administrators and supervisory staff who are appointed in a new district from four years to three years.

Authorize monitor for Wyandanch CSD
(S.6588 Brooks / A.8422 Jean-Pierre)
Authorizes the Commissioner of Education, in  consultation  with the state comptroller to appoint a monitor to oversee the Wyandanch USFD.

Building Aid amnesty
Huntington (S.2976 Gaughran / A.4711 Stern)
Mahopac (S.4949 Harckham / A.7129 Byrne)
Monticello (S. 4333 Metzger / A.6331 Gunther)
Newburgh (S.1777 Skoufis / A.7056 Jacobson)
Roscoe (S.2611 Metzger / A.3666 Gunther)

Authorize Schenevus to apply to the Commissioner for an apportionment of aid 
(S.4957 Seward / S.7499 Miller)
Allows Schenevus to apply for a spin up or advance in state aid to address cash flow problems.

Flexibility for small city school districts in scheduling annual reorganization meetings
(S.5768 Mayer / A.7708 Otis)
Aligns scheduling of Board of Education reorganization meetings in small city school districts with requirements for other independent school districts. Instead of being required to hold them on the first Tuesday of July, they would have to be scheduled in the first 15 days of the month.

Pharmacy benefit management drug price negotiations
(S.6531 Breslin / A.2836 Gottfried)
Regulates how pharmacy benefit managers negotiate drug prices and requires them to conform to established standards.

Authorize a pilot electronic open bond sale program for municipalities 
(S.5886 Gaughran / A.8336 Thiele)   
This bill would allow an open auction bidding process for bonds issued by municipalities of specific size.

Workplace Violence 
(S.1720 Ramos /A.6157 Titus)
Adds school districts/BOCES to list of employers to provide workplace safety training. 

Retiree Earnings Cap Increased 
(S.1866 Breslin /A.2858 McDonald)
Increases retiree earnings cap for those receiving pension and under 65 from $30,000 to  $35,000 annually.

Religious Vaccination Exemptions 
(S.2994 Holyman /A.2371 Dinowitz) Chapter 35 of 2019
This bill ends religious exemptions for required student vaccinations. The Governor has already signed this bill into law.

Read the full report here.

Awards Luncheon - Tuesday, June 4, 2019
11:45 AM - 1:30 PM at the Saratoga Hilton Ballroom 

Luncheon Sponsored by Ecosystem Energy Services USA Inc.

Philip B. Fredenburg Memorial Award for Outstanding Service

2019 Award Winner Announced during Awards Luncheon, Tuesday, June 4

Gregory E. Carlson Outstanding SBO of the Year Award

2019 Awarded to Herb Chessler, Middle Country CSD

Outstanding Superintendent of the Year Award

2019 Awarded to Robert Chakar, Andes CSD and Margaretville CSD

Outstanding School Board Member of the Year Award

2019 Awarded to Steven Sabo, Niagara Wheatfield CSD

George A. Perry Volunteer Service Award

2019 Awarded to Timothy Hilker, Saratoga Springs City SD

New SBO Leader of the Year Award

2019 Awarded to Brigid Villareale, Hempstead UFSD

Advocate of the Year Award

2019 Awarded to Christina Coughlin, NYSED

Dr. Joan Colvin Starfish Award

2019 Awarded to Karl Keil, Camden CSD

Past Presidents Scholarship

2019 Awarded to:
Christopher Carlos, Eastern Suffolk BOCES
Mandi Harvey Genesee Valley BOCES
Sara Kennison Springville-Griffith Institute CSD 

For more information on the awards, please click here.

Click here to view all ASBO Reports.

“We appreciate recent actions by the Legislature to include in the State Budget ASBO’s recommendations for reducing costs for school districts by allowing piggybacking of transportation contracts and staggering Building Condition Surveys.  However, more cost saving measures need to be enacted, particularly if Foundation Aid is not fully funded, to offset these rising health care costs,” stated Michael J. Borges, ASBO Executive Director.

The report also looks at regional increases in health care spending as well as projected increases for the 2019-20 school year.  Health care costs increased the most over a five-year period in the Finger Lakes region (31.8%), the Hudson Valley (29.7%), and on Long Island (27.7%).

Projected health insurance costs for the 2019-20 school year are expected to rise the most in the Mohawk Valley (6.7%), and the Capital District and Central New York (6.2%) based on survey responses.

“These increases will be unsustainable in the long-term, particularly for high-need or fiscally stressed school districts, and the state needs to do more to assist school districts with reigning in these spiraling costs,” continued Mr. Borges.  “The state should take steps to facilitate the participation of school districts, particularly small high-need districts, in health insurance consortiums that work together to help contain costs.  In addition, the state should allow school districts to participate in a statewide prescription drug plan, which would allow the bulk purchasing of medicine that will help reduce costs,” commented Mr. Borges.

To download the press release, click here.

To read the full report, click here.

• Establishing a TRS reserve
• Staggering Building Condition Surveys over five years, beginning in January 2020
• Allowing piggybacking on out-of-district transportation contracts

• Raising the salary cap for BOCES District Superintendents
• Making reduced-price lunches free for students

• There will be no changes to reimbursable aids, including building aid
• The state will not direct how school districts distribute their funding. Instead, districts are directed to file a report on how they have prioritized addressing identified inequities by September 1

Along with all of the good news, there are some challenges in the budget. While we appreciate the significant Foundation Aid increase over the Executive Budget proposal, it is a smaller percentage increase than last year and doesn’t represent a significant step toward fully funding Foundation Aid, leaving many school districts without adequate funding to provide all students with the opportunity for a meaningful education. The budget also made the Tax Cap permanent without modification. Visit our State Budget page for complete coverage and analysis of the 2019-20 New York State Budget.

Webinar: Enacted Budget

We will be hosting a webinar to present the 2019-20 New York State budget relating to education and its effect on school districts this Thursday (4/4) at 2 p.m.

Register for the webinar here.

New York State Senate

• Increases School Aid by $1.6 billion or 6.0 percent above the 2018-19 school year;
• Increases Foundation Aid by $1.2 billion or 6.8 percent;
• Provides $25 million in additional grants to school districts to support English Language Learner students;
• $10 million for increased reimbursement for in-state school meal procurement;
• $750,000 for Farm to School Programs;
• $20 million in additional funding to support schools placed under receivership;
• $20 million for expanded pre-kindergarten grants, $5 million above the Executive;
• $2 million for new Early College High School programs;
• Discontinues the Contract for Excellence program;
• Denies the Executive proposal to require districts to set aside a portion of their Foundation Aid increase to schools selected by the Division of Budget;
• Repeal current law that requires school districts to submit school level funding plans that are duplicative with requirements under the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act;
• Deny the Executive proposal to change the personal income growth index to a 10-year average;
• Provide a three-year phase-in of Foundation Aid;
• Deny the limitation on building aid reimbursement;
• Deny the consolidation of expense-based aids;
• Deny the freezing of school aid claims based on the November data;
• Provide amnesty for building aid penalties;
• Provide amnesty for transportation aid penalties;
• Apply prior year adjustments toward state aid recoveries;
• Increase the aidable salaries for staff providing career and technical education services through BOCES;
• Phase-in reimbursement for ninth graders in Special Services Aid for non-component school districts;
• Allow school districts to establish reserve funds for Teacher Retirement System expenses within their existing State and Local Employees' Retirement System reserve fund;
• Supplemental basic tuition for charter schools paid in current year;
• Stagger building condition surveys over a five-year period;
• Allow school districts that have tax certiorari judgments that exceed the amount of the district's annual budget to receive Building Aid for the bonded payment; and
• Modify the Executive proposal allowing school districts to purchase school bus stop arm cameras, to require such cameras be reimbursable through state aid.

New York State Assembly

• Increases School Aid by $1.6 billion;
• Increases Foundation Aid by $1.2 billion. All districts would receive at least 53 percent of their Foundation Aid;
• A timeline for full funding of Foundation Aid: 2020-21, 33 percent of Foundation Aid still due; 2021-22, 50 percent; 2022-23, 100 percent;
• Proposes limiting community schools set-aside to 2.5 percent of the Foundation Aid a district receives and a maximum 20 percent increase in a given year. Amounts above these thresholds may be used for community schools programs at the district’s discretion. Includes addressing trauma as a possible use for community schools set-aside;
• Rejects equity plans;
• Modifies the proposal for 10-year personal income growth average to begin with 2020-21, keeping 2019-20 as being based on the one-year change;
• Ends Contracts for Excellence;
• Homelessness Aid: For all districts with a homeless count greater than five, aid is $144.71 * homelessness count, with $10,000 minimum and $7 million max;
• Rejects executive building aid proposal
• Includes school based health, dental, and mental health services in the categories for building capacity ratings, making these spaces eligible for building aid;
• Using building aid to finance debt related to tax certiorari, if the amount is greater than the previous year’s total general fund expenditures; building aid ratio plus 0.1;
• Raises BOCES salary cap: 2019-20, $34,000; 2020-21, $40,000; 2021-22, $46,000; 2022-23, $52,000;
• A modification to reimbursement for CTE for non-component districts;
• Rejects services aid block grant;
• Allows piggybacking onto transportation contracts for out-of-district students;
• Allows transportation aid for pre-K students;
• Rejects Executive proposal to end prior year adjustments;
• Addresses worker pay and retention in New York City transportation contracts;
• Creates a TRS Reserve Fund (can put in two percent of all pay for a given year; balance capped at 10 percent of pay);
• Supplemental basic tuition for charter schools paid in current year;
• Requires Smart Schools Review Board to meet at least every three months; at each meeting they need to announce the date of their next meeting;
• Any money the state recovers through excess payment of aid shall be used for prior year adjustments in addition to appropriated funds for PYAs;
• Five-year staggered schedule for Building Condition Surveys (Building Condition Survey every five years, plus designated visual inspections, depending on year scheduled for BCS);
• Building Aid for lead testing and periodic inspections required by the Commissioner.

• One section to complement FY 2020 Executive Budget provisions include with Article VII legislation that directs the Budget Director to implement uniform reductions to address shortfalls in tax receipts which reach or exceed $500 million, exempting school aid.
• One section that is designed to mitigate the financial impact of legislative action taken outside the enacted budget process.

• Amends the language for the General Support for Public Schools appropriation regarding School Funding Equity Plans in relation to the interaction between such plans and statutory budgetary requirements.
• Updates the lapse date of the School District Performance Incentive re-appropriation from March 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
• Updates the lapse date of the School District Management Efficiency re-appropriation from March 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020.

• Clarify that “underfunded high-need schools” are defined in paragraph d of subdivision 3 of section 3614 of education law, not paragraph c.
• Specify that the School Funding Equity Plan language is “notwithstanding subdivision two of [section 3614 of education law],” in relation to the interaction between such plans and statutory budgetary requirements.
• Clarify that the Services Aid apportionment shall be equal to the product of the Services Aid base multiplied by the sum of “one and” the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the current year “plus” the annual change in resident weighted average daily attendance, provided that such sum is not less than one.   This change is necessary because CPI is defined in education law as the percentage change (e.g., 0.02 rather than 1.02).
• Include inadvertently repealed language related to state lottery support for deaf and blind schools, which is not impacted by the Services Aid proposal.

School Aid Growth Cap

APPR

School Bus Cameras and Fines for Passing Buses

State Deadline for School Level Reporting

School Districts Designated to Submit Equity Plans

Simplifying Expense Based Aids

Basic STAR Exemption Eligibility Changed

• Recruit 250 new teachers in shortage areas through the We Teach NY Program ($3 million).
• Make permanent the Property Tax Cap.
• Expanding Pre-K for 3 and 4-Year olds ($15 million)
• After School ($10 million)
• Early College High Schools ($9 million)
• Master Teachers ($1.5 million)
• Community Schools ($50 million)
• Expand the Empire State Excellence in Teaching Program to Recognize Outstanding Teachers.  Governor Cuomo proposes a fourth round of awards to support and recognize outstanding teachers across New York State.
• Ensure That Every Student Can Graduate High School with College Credit, a Skilled Credential, or Meaningful Work Experience by 2025
• Make the Largest Investment in Computer Science Education in the Nation. The FY 2019 Budget included a $6 million annual investment in professional development for teachers, and the FY 2020 budget adds an additional $6 million. Designed as a $30 million commitment over five years, this historic investment will ensure that every elementary, middle, and high school across the state provides computer science education by 2025. 
• Support Ten New P-TECHs. $5 million to add ten more public-private educational partnerships in 2019.
• $3 million for school districts with high suspension rates to offer teacher training and promote alternate forms of discipline, including restorative justice
• School bus traffic safety, including increasing fines and authorizing stop arm cameras on school buses

Governor to Release Executive Budget Proposal on Tuesday

ASBO New York’s State Budget Page