NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1527
SPONSOR: Gunther
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to excluding expenditures
for school resource officers employed by a municipality and assigned to
a school district from tax levy limitations
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide increased flexibility to school districts within the property
tax cap to utilize a municipally employed school resource officer.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Sections 1 and 2 of this bill amend section 2023-a of the education
law by adding a provision relating to expenditures that are exempt from
the school district "tax cap". The new provision exempts the portion of
the tax levy necessary for expenditures to pay for a school resource
officer, provided that the officer is employed by a municipality and
that the school district is assigned in compliance with section 1318 of
the real property tax law.
Section 3 defines the term "School Resource Officer". Section 4 of the
bill is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Safety and security are vital necessities when it comes to our school
districts. Recent events around the country have shown us that it is
imperative to have adequate measures of protection at our schools, in
order to ensure the safety of children, staff and any individual who
steps into the school. Allowing this expenditure to be exempt from the
tax cap will assist school districts in providing for increased safety
and security.
While providing safety and security for various communities across the
state, this legislation will also provide incentive for school districts
to comply with section 1318 of the real property tax law which states
that school districts must not have any operating funds in excess of
four percent of the current school year budget.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A104 referred to Education/S3311A referred to Education
2019-20: A3186 referred to Education
2017-18: A846 referred to Education/S1025 referred to Education
2016: A9502 referred to Education/S6878 referred to Education
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to state.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately provided that the amendments made
to section 2023-a of the education law by sections one and two of this
act shall not affect the repeal of such section and shall be deemed
repealed therewith.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1527
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GUNTHER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to excluding expenditures
for school resource officers employed by a municipality and assigned
to a school district from tax levy limitations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraphs (iii) and (iv) of paragraph i of subdivision
2 2 of section 2023-a of the education law, as added by section 2 of part
3 A of chapter 97 of the laws of 2011, are amended and a new subparagraph
4 (v) is added to read as follows:
5 (iii) in years in which the normal contribution rate of the New York
6 state teachers' retirement system, as defined by paragraph a of subdivi-
7 sion two of section five hundred seventeen of this chapter, increases by
8 more than two percentage points from the previous year, a tax levy
9 necessary for expenditures for the coming fiscal year for school
10 district employer contributions to the New York state teachers' retire-
11 ment system caused by growth in the normal contribution rate minus two
12 percentage points; [and]
13 (iv) a capital tax levy[.]; and
14 (v) a tax levy necessary for expenditures to pay for a school resource
15 officer that is currently employed by a municipality and assigned to the
16 school district provided that the school district is in compliance with
17 section thirteen hundred eighteen of the real property tax law.
18 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 6 of section 2023-a of the education
19 law, as added by section 2 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws of 2011,
20 is amended to read as follows:
21 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in the
22 event the trustee, trustees or board of education of a school district
23 that is subject to the provisions of this section proposes a budget that
24 will require a tax levy that exceeds the tax levy limit for the corre-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00535-01-3
A. 1527 2
1 sponding school year, not including any levy necessary to support the
2 expenditures pursuant to subparagraphs (i) through [(iv)] (v) of para-
3 graph i of subdivision two of this section, then such budget shall be
4 approved if sixty percent of the votes cast thereon are in the affirma-
5 tive.
6 § 3. Section 2 of the education law is amended by adding a new subdi-
7 vision 25 to read as follows:
8 25. "School resource officer" shall be defined as a police officer or
9 peace officer who serves in a role as security personnel for a school
10 district.
11 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.