NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6871B
SPONSOR: Maher TITLE OF BILL:
An act relating to approving certain employee benefit costs for trans-
portation employees for the Goshen Central school district
PURPOSE:
This bill would correct -a clerical error in the Goshen Central School
District's State Aid Management System (SAMS)application for the
2020-2021 school year to ensure the District retains full transportation
aid for that school year.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Directs the commissioner of education to consider the cost of
employee benefits for transportation employees in the 2019-202.0 school
year as approved costs of the Goshen Central School District.
Section 2: Sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
When a school district or the State makes an error in a school
district's aid application, the impact on the school is often detri-
mental; the school has to repay the money provided by the state and it
may make them ineligible for future aid. These errors tend to be minor
in nature, such as miscommunication during a staff transition or a cler-
ical mistake. While these errors are smaller in scale, the amount of
money school districts lose out on is not. There is significant prece-
dent for aid forgiveness, as the State legislature has passed numerous
pieces of legislation to avoid school districts from incurring such
significant penalties:
Due to unique and unforeseen circumstances, the Goshen Central School
District made a clerical error in their SAMS application. As a result,
the District now faces a potential loss of $485,608. This bill will
correct the clerical error in the Goshen Central School District's
(SAMS)application to ensure the District retains full transportation aid
for the 2020-2021 school year.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6871--B
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAHER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from
said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT relating to approving certain employee benefit costs for trans-
portation employees for the Goshen Central school district
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The commissioner of education is hereby directed to consid-
2 er the cost of employee benefits for transportation employees in the
3 2019--2020 school year, on file as of November 15, 2021, as approved
4 costs of the Goshen Central School District and any amounts already so
5 recovered shall be deemed a payment of moneys due for prior years pursu-
6 ant to paragraph c of subdivision 5 of section 3604 of the education law
7 and shall be paid to the appropriate district pursuant to such
8 provision, provided that the failure to submit accurate data was an
9 inadvertent administrative or ministerial oversight by the school
10 district, and there is no evidence of any fraudulent or other improper
11 intent by such district.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10796-04-3
