Board of Regents asks state lawmakers for additional $2.1 billion in school funds

In the run up to the legislative session, the state’s education policymaking body staked out an “aggressive” position to increase state education funding over the next three years, including a $2.1 billion increase next year over last year’s $24.8 billion budget.

Central to the board’s proposal is a three-year phase-in of “foundation aid,” a formula created over a decade ago and derailed by the recession that aims to provide sufficient funding to districts with high-needs students. In New York City, 30 percent of the state’s allocation to the city comes from foundation aid, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office.

The Board of Regents is poised to call for a full phase-in of $4.3 billion in total aid by the 2019-20 school year, including $1.47 billion to be provided next year.

“We thought it appropriate for the Regents to remind everybody that foundation aid is something the Regents made a commitment to a long, long time ago,” said Regent James Tallon,who chairs the Regents state aid subcommittee. “And therefore, in doing the three-year phase-in, I think we’re being aggressive.”

The state’s foundation aid formula was created in response to a lawsuit claiming the state does not provide enough funding to give each child a sound basic education. Funding increases were put on hold during the recession, while many districts across the state absorbed education budget cuts. The state restored some recession-era cuts last year, leaving advocates hopeful the state legislature will refocus its commitment on restoring foundation aid this year.

Still, extra education funding is far from a done deal. The Board of Regents has no formal power over the legislature, so their proposal is only a suggestion for lawmakers. Making matters more complicated, the state recalculated the amount districts are owed in foundation aid after November and increased the total owed to districts by $500 million, mainly because of increased student enrollment in high-needs districts.

“We are by no means out of the woods,” Tallon said. He also acknowledged that budget constraints could make a full restoration of aid an uphill battle. “We’re not unmindful of the fact that the state is in one of these cycles that going to place a lot of constraints on revenue,” Tallon said.

The increase in foundation aid represents a large portion of the Regents proposal, but there are a number of other initiatives that bring the board’s total suggested increase to $2.1 billion. The other budgetary asks include $100 million to support English Language Learners and $60 million to build career and technical education programs. The total ask is a bit less than the $2.4 billion increase Regents proposed last year, but far more than the $1.5 billion in additional funds that ended up in the final budget.

State officials also suggesting changes to how the aid formula calculates poverty. Like most states across the country, New York has long used free and reduced-priced lunch to calculate student need. But that metric has become increasingly flawed as more schools offer universal free lunch, leading fewer families to fill out the free lunch form.

Instead, the Regents have suggested switching to “direct certification,” which counts students whose families are engaged in other programs like Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). State officials said they expect the proposal — which suggests using a blend of free and reduced-priced lunch and direct certification while the state makes the transition — to have little effect on the total funding directed towards New York City.

On Monday, the Regents gave preliminary approval to the proposal. They are expected to cast a final vote on the state aid proposal on Tuesday.