Provides that the East Ramapo central school district shall be eligible to receive an apportionment of funds to be used for services and expenses; directs certain reports to be submitted.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6242
SPONSOR: Brabenec TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to apportioning funds to the East Ramapo central
school district for services and expenses
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to provide the East Ramapo Central School
District with a spin up.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. States the legislative intent.
Section 2. Provides a spin up of $20 millidn to the East Ramapo Central
School District.
Section 3. Sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The East Ramapo Central School District has experienced significant
fiscal challenges in recent years. This bill would help alleviate these
challenges by providing a one-time spin up of $20,000,000 of funding.
For yearS, the East Ramapo Central School District has been shortchanged
due to New York's outdated school aide formula by an estimated
$20,000,000 per year, an amount nearly identical to the spin up money
needed now.
It is imperative the newly mandated school aide formula evaluation is
completed in time to allow the East Ramapo Central School District to
receive its proper and accurate funding for the 2025 - 2026 school year.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A.10671 Referred to Education
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To Be Determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6242
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRABENEC -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT in relation to apportioning funds to the East Ramapo central
school district for services and expenses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds and
2 declares that the East Ramapo central school district faces a substan-
3 tial budgetary shortfall and absent legislative intervention, the
4 district is at risk of being unable to pay its staff, and students
5 attending the public schools in the district will suffer. In recognition
6 of this crisis, the legislature hereby provides the East Ramapo central
7 school district with an accelerated payment of twenty million dollars
8 ($20,000,000) to provide the funds necessary for the district to meet
9 its payroll obligations.
10 § 2. The East Ramapo central school district shall be paid on an
11 accelerated schedule as follows:
12 (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, for aid payable
13 in the school years 2025-2026 through 2054-2055 upon application to the
14 commissioner of education, submitted not sooner than the second Monday
15 in July of the school year in which such aid is payable and not later
16 than the Friday following the third Monday in July of the school year in
17 which such aid is payable, or ten days after the effective date of this
18 act, whichever shall be later, the East Ramapo central school district
19 shall be eligible to receive an apportionment pursuant to this act in an
20 amount equal to the product of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) and
21 the quotient of the positive difference of thirty minus the number of
22 school years elapsed since the 2025-2026 school year divided by thirty.
23 (2) Funds apportioned pursuant to this subdivision shall be used for
24 services and expenses of the East Ramapo central school district and
25 shall be applied in support of its educational programs and any liabil-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07602-01-5
A. 6242 2
1 ity incurred by such central school district in carrying out its func-
2 tions and responsibilities under the education law.
3 (b) The claim for an apportionment to be paid to the East Ramapo
4 central school district pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section
5 shall be submitted to the commissioner of education on a form prescribed
6 for such purpose, and shall be payable upon determination by such
7 commissioner that the form has been submitted as prescribed and that the
8 school district has complied with the reporting requirements of this
9 act. For each school year in which application is made pursuant to
10 subdivision (a) of this section, such approved amount shall be payable
11 on or before July thirty-first of such school year upon the audit and
12 warrant of the state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by
13 the commissioner of education in the manner prescribed by law from
14 moneys appropriated from the general fund for general support for public
15 schools due such school district pursuant to section 3609-a of the
16 education law.
17 (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3609-a of the education
18 law, an amount equal to the amount paid to the East Ramapo central
19 school district during the current year pursuant to subdivisions (a) and
20 (b) of this section shall first be deducted from payments due during the
21 current school year pursuant to subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph a of
22 subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of the education law in the following
23 order: the fixed fall payments payable pursuant to subparagraph 4 of
24 paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of the education law, and
25 any remainder to be deducted from the individualized payments due to the
26 district pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of
27 the education law shall be deducted on a chronological basis starting
28 with the earliest payment due the district.
29 (d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the sum of payments
30 made to the East Ramapo central school district during the base year
31 pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section plus payments made
32 to such school district during the current year pursuant to section
33 3609-a of the education law shall be deemed to truly represent all aids
34 paid to such school district during the current school year pursuant to
35 section 3609-a of the education law for the purposes of computing any
36 adjustments to such aids that may occur in a subsequent school year.
37 (e) (1) On or before the first day of each month beginning in July
38 2025 and ending in June 2055, the chief fiscal officer and the super-
39 intendent of schools of the district shall prepare and submit to the
40 board of education and monitors, so long as these roles are filled, a
41 report of the fiscal condition of the school district, including but not
42 limited to the most current available data on fund balances on funds
43 maintained by the school district and the district's use of the appor-
44 tionments provided pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section.
45 (2) Such monthly report shall be in a format prescribed by the commis-
46 sioner of education. The board of education and monitors shall either
47 reject and return the report to the chief fiscal officer and the super-
48 intendent for appropriate revisions and resubmittal or shall approve the
49 report and submit copies to the commissioner of education and the state
50 comptroller of such approved report as submitted or resubmitted.
51 (3) In the 2025-2026 through 2054-2055 school years, the chief fiscal
52 officer of the district shall monitor all budgets and for each budget,
53 prepare a quarterly report of summarized budget data depicting overall
54 trends of actual revenues and budget expenditures for the entire budget
55 as well as individual line items. Such report shall compare revenue
56 estimates and appropriations as set forth in such budget with the actual
A. 6242 3
1 revenues and expenditures made to date. All quarterly reports shall be
2 accompanied by a recommendation from the superintendent or chief fiscal
3 officer to the board of education setting forth any remedial actions
4 necessary to resolve any unfavorable budget variance including the over-
5 estimation of revenue and underestimation of appropriations. The chief
6 fiscal officer shall also prepare, as part of such report, a quarterly
7 trial balance of general ledger accounts in accordance with generally
8 accepted accounting principles as prescribed by the state comptroller.
9 All reports shall be completed within sixty days after the end of each
10 quarter and shall be submitted to the chief fiscal officer and the board
11 of education, the state division of budget, the office of the state
12 comptroller, the commissioner of education, the chair of the assembly
13 ways and means committee, and the chair of the senate finance committee.
14 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
