New York State Assembly - 1997 Annual Report

The Honorable Sheldon Silver
Speaker New York State Assembly
State Capitol, Room 349
Albany, NY 12248

I am pleased to present to you the annual report of the Assembly Standing Committee on Education for the 1997 legislative session.

Once again, the session was marked by a long budget battle over our children's future. In particular, the Assembly waged a war against the Governor's cost shifts to localities and sweeping education block grants which would have caused the terrible loss of many urgently needed programs. Under your leadership the Education Committee successfully defended public education and fought for a state budget and legislative program that strengthened New York State's commitment to public education.

In the final budget agreement we began several new initiatives with the successful implementation of our Learning, Achieving and Developing by Directing Education Resources (LADDER) Plan. LADDER included the creation of a Universal Prekindergarten program which, when fully implemented, will provide the opportunity for all four-year-old children to participate. It also created enhanced financial incentives for districts to provide full-day kindergarten, reduced class size, enhanced building aid, professional development and a greater state commitment for school aid to our public schools.

Throughout the budget battle, the Education Committee made steady progress in reviewing a number of diverse legislative proposals, ranging from pupil transportation to special education to computers in schools. The Education Committee considered 419 bills over the course of 16 committee meetings.

The enacted budget also contained provisions to establish a single, state-wide voting day for school district budgets, and made progress in the battle to reform school bus safety. In addition to the major provisions enacted as part of the budget, the Assembly also passed a widely-supported school violence proposal, and held public hearings on BOCES, LADDER, and special education.

Much remains to be done in the current year, particularly with regard to repairing and maintaining public school buildings, and improving our children's ability to master the Regents' new higher learning standards.

Once again, it has been my pleasure to serve as chairman of the Education Committee. I look forward to working with you in 1998 as we continue to fight on behalf of the 3 million students in New York State's public and private schools.

Committee Members
Majority	Minority
Edward Griffith	James R. Conte, Ranking Minority Member
Albert Vann	John Ravitz
Aurelia Greene	Frances T. Sullivan
James F. Brennan	Jerry Johnson
Ronald C. Tocci	Chloe Ann R. O'Neil
Thomas P. DiNapoli	Bernard J. Mahoney
Barbara M. Clark	Patrick Manning
Anthony J. Genovesi	Elizabeth Little
Robert K. Sweeney	Steven Labriola
Earlene H. Hill
Paul D. Tonko
William L. Parment
Susan John
Steven Englebright
Audrey G. Hochberg
Scott M. Stringer
Carmen E. Arroyo
William Scarborough
Harvey Weisenberg
Debra Mazzarelli

Terri Crowley, Legislative Coordinator
Norreida Reyes, Legislative Associate
Clare Cusack, Committe Assistant
Sabrina Ty, Associate Counsel
Susan Tully, Chief of Staff, M/A Sanders
Barbara Brundage, Senior Legislative Associate, M/A Sanders
Rebecca Popp, Committee Clerk
Josie Huba, Program and Counsel Executive Secretary

The New York State Constitution states that, "The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this state may be educated" (Article 11, Section 1). This constitutional provision establishes the foundation for the areas of responsibility of the Standing Committee on Education.

The Committee is primarily responsible for overseeing educational policies and programs affecting prekindergarten, elementary, secondary and adult education. The Committee's jurisdiction extends to all aspects of elementary and secondary education for more than three million school children attending both public and non-public schools. Within New York State, there are 709 school districts, including the nation's largest, the New York City School District, which enrolls over 1,000,000 students. In addition, 38 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) provide occupational education, shared services, special education, and academic programs on a regional basis throughout the State. The Committee also participates in the process for selecting persons to serve on the New York State Board of Regents.

The Committee is continually challenged to ensure that the public schools of this large and diverse state provide the range of opportunities that all students need to fulfill their potential. The Committee plays a significant leadership role in supporting equitable funding and strengthening the quality of elementary and secondary education in the State.

During the 1997 Session, 419 bills were referred to the Education Committee. These bills dealt with such wide-ranging issues as State aid to education, violence in schools, school-community collaboration, and technology in schools. In addition to these bills, the Committee held public hearings on BOCES Reform, Special Education and the Assembly Majority's education initiative entitled Learning, Achieving and Developing by Directing Education Resources (LADDER). This initiative set forth a new commitment to our pubic schools that contained one of the first Universal Pre-Kindergarten Programs in the nation as well as other comprehensive components, including enhanced state aid.

The purview of the Assembly Education Committee is extremely wide, and affects virtually all aspects of public education. This report will provide a more detailed examination of the Committee's budgetary and legislative achievements affecting the education of all students in the State.

The Governor once again proposed a flawed budget for education which would have ultimately failed to serve the children of New York State. While the Governor's proposal had been packaged as an overall increase of $302 million, when the cost-shifts were factored in, the amount of the actual increase was only $213 million. Only once since World War II have schools received a smaller percentage increase in state aid over a five year period than they were allotted under the Governor's proposed 5-year plan.

The Assembly fought back and won a 6.70% increase in state support for education. The final 1997-98 appropriation of $10.343 billion for general support of public schools includes an increase of $650 million.

The Assembly Majority restored the State's commitment to public education through its comprehensive education plan, LADDER (Learning, Achieving and Developing by Directing Educational Resources). Over the next five years, LADDER significantly increases State support for public schools and provides funding for major new initiatives. LADDER provides the resources which will give every four-year-old the opportunity to attend a universal pre-kindergarten program and every school district the option to provide full-day kindergarten. In addition, the Assembly plan provides for a reduction of class sizes in kindergarten through third grade and provides increased aid for textbooks, computers, school safety programs and professional development.

LADDER addresses infrastructure needs through an enriched Building Aid formula that will increase State reimbursement for debt service and a $250 million program to support minor maintenance and repairs over a five year period. LADDER also provided the presentation of a $2.4 billion School Facility Health and Safety Bond Act before the voters. A brief summary of the LADDER initiatives follows:

$2.4 Billion School Health and Safety Bond Act: Authorizes the bonding of $2.4 billion for the purpose of funding critical projects related to the construction, expansion and modernization of public school buildings for grades k-12. This proposal was presented to the voters of New York State, but was rejected by a small margin.

Universal Pre-Kindergarten: Beginning in 1998-99, $50 million will be provided for the program. Over a four-year period, funding will increase to $500 million to make pre-kindergarten available to every four year old across New York State.

Full-Day Kindergarten: Beginning in 1998-99, aid is provided to fund the costs of transition from a half-day kindergarten to full-day kindergarten program.

Class Size Reduction: Beginning in 1999-2000, a first year grant of $75 million, which grows to $225 million over three years, is added to reduce the average class size for grades kindergarten through third grade to an average of twenty students.

Extended School Day/School Violence Prevention: The Legislature rejected the Governor's proposal to add these programs to the Targeted Needs Block Grant, and restored and increased funding to $7.27 million to support these critical programs. Beginning in 1998-1999, funding will be increased to $15.2 million and will grow to $50 million by 2001-2002.

Minor Maintenance and Repair Aid: Beginning in 1998-99, a first year grant of $50 million will be provided and which will increase to $80 million by the year 2001-2002 for critical minor maintenance and repair projects of school districts.

Building Aid: All districts will receive an additive increase of 10% to their building aid ratio for projects approved after July 1, 1998. Further, a 10% building aid ratio minimum for all districts was implemented. Also, the budget agreement provided a regional cost factor for building projects approved on or after July 1, 1998. The Governor's proposed elimination of the choice in building aid ratio was rejected.

Textbooks, Software and Hardware Aid: Beginning in 1998-99, $3 million in additional aid will be provided which will increase to $120 million by 2001-2002.

Instructional Technology Aid: The Big Five school districts and other non-component districts will now be able to access BOCES for instructional technology purposes only. Also, all districts will now be able to purchase instructional technology independently or through BOCES and receive the same level of reimbursement. These provisions take effect in 1998.

Professional Development: Beginning in 1998-99, a grant and formula of $5 million, which will increase to $35 million in 2001-2002 was provided for professional development.

Mentor Teacher/Intern Program: The Assembly fought for and won the re-inititiation of this program, funding it at $10 million.

In addition to the LADDER Plan, many other changes were made to New York's education system, including:

Plain Language Budgeting: In the 1996-97 budget, small city school districts were required to separate their budgets into three parts: Administration, Program and Capital. If the budget is defeated, the Administration portion may not exceed the percentage it was in the previous year's budget or the previously defeated budget, whichever is less. These provisions were extended to all districts outside the Big Five cities.

Contingency Budgets: As part of the 1997-98 enacted budget, the Legislature included a provision limiting how much districts can spend when subject to a contingency budget. Based on this agreement, total spending under the contingent budget is capped at the lesser of 120% of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 4%. School district buildings projects, enrollment growth, tax certiorari and other court orders and judgments, increases in state aid and grants, and emergency expenses are excluded from the cap. Sports and other extracurricular activities including field trips are contained in the contingent budget, and will require separate voter approval.

Statewide Voting Day: Similar to last year's legislation affecting Long Island, all districts voting on their budgets are now required to vote on the third Tuesday in May, with an exception for religious observances.

Energy Performance Contracts: The law was clarified regarding the way in which energy performance contracts can be utilized by school districts by requiring that these contracts must generate savings equal to the cost of the contract and that they cannot exceed 18 years in duration. The law was also amended to require the Commissioner of Education to develop regulations in consultation with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority regarding the approval process for energy performance contracts.

Special Education: Public and Private Excess Cost Aid was increased by $95.08 million. Greater aid is generated by increasing Declassification Aid weighing from .13 to .5, to maintain support services for children formerly in special education. The Legislature rejected the Executive's proposal to change the formula to one which would base aid upon statewide incidence rates for disabled pupils rather than on individual school district pupil counts. In addition:

Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID): The Assembly successfully won a $1 million increase for VESID. This will help alleviate pressures on VESID from additional consumers with disabilities on welfare who will be seeking assistance in obtaining employment.

Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES): The Governor's proposal claimed to freeze BOCES Aid at current levels. In actuality, it froze BOCES funding and program agreements at 1996-97 levels. The Assembly rejected the Governor's proposal and preserved present law. This generates an increase of $42.96 million over the Governor's proposal. Also, non-component schools will now be offered access to BOCES staff development services and may also receive aid for staff support offered through institutions of higher education. Further, beginning in 1997-98, BOCES districts will be required to prepare an annual report card measuring the academic and financial performance of the district.

Teacher Centers: These programs were slated for elimination under the Governor's proposal. The Assembly recognized that with the requirements of higher standards, these centers which provide staff training and professional development to teachers are urgently needed, and successfully restored and increased funding for Teachers Centers to $20 million.

Teacher Support Aid: The Legislature rejected the Governor's proposal to cut these funds and successfully restored Teacher Support Aid to $67.50 million. This aid program is desperately needed in the Big 5 school districts, especially in New York City, which needs this aid in order to meet its contractual obligations with teachers.

School Bus Safety: The Assembly rejected the Governor's school bus safety proposal, and instead won the implementation of the Assembly's School Bus Safety program, which was introduced to the budget table by Assemblyman Michael Bragman. A grant of $400,000 is provided to fund support for school bus safety initiatives. A School Bus Driver Safety Training panel is to be created to maintain a database of bus accidents and establish training and safety programs. Schools will be required to submit evidence to the State Education Department that each school bus driver has completed the safety training program.

Rejection of Governor's Proposed Targeted Needs Block Grant Program: The Governor's proposal created a Targeted Needs Block grant by consolidating nine categorical programs (Schools as Community Sites, Youth at Risk, Extended Day/School Violence Prevention, Missing Children Prevention Education, Parenting Education, Primary Mental Health Project, Comprehensive School Health Demonstration, Effective Schools Consortia and Transferring Success) and reduced funding by $11 million.

The proposal also created Workforce Development Grants by consolidating four programs (Adult Basic Education, Adult Literacy Education, Workplace Literacy and Apprenticeship Training). Funding would have remained stable, but 75% of the total block grant would have been federally funded rather than State supported. The Assembly not only rejected the block grants, but restored and provided increases to many of the programs.

This legislation would create the "School-to-Work System Act" of 1997 and was developed to ease the transition between school and work. To implement the system, a state advisory council would be created to develop a school-to-work policy and ensure that students have access to school-to-work activities; promote local partnerships and ensure that participating school districts are members of local partnership committees; approve each local partnership committee; establish uniform curriculum standards for school-to-work components; and provide technical assistance to participating school districts. This legislation passed in the Assembly but died in the Senate.

This bill would allow school boards to implement a voluntary thirteenth year school program by passing a resolution. The thirteenth year program allows pupils who have met graduation requirements but have not completed career education courses in which they had been previously enrolled to complete the career education sequence. This legislation passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.

The Assembly invested a great amount of time and resources in developing comprehensive school violence prevention legislation, entitled the Safe Schools/Safe Children Act (A.4661-B, Sanders). Throughout the process, it was universally agreed that parents, teachers and the community must be able to determine accurately the level of violence in their schools, have a stronger voice in formulating safety policy, and receive greater support from government to accomplish these goals.

The Assembly legislation provides a comprehensive approach to school safety by: requiring the immediate removal of violent or disruptive students from the classroom, requiring each school district to have a code of conduct and school safety plan, increasing parental responsibility, creating a uniform violent incident reporting system, creating an Omnibus School Violence Prevention Grant Program, increasing communication between the juvenile justice system and the schools, and providing new classifications of crimes for the use and sale of firearms on school grounds.

More specifically, the proposal requires that students who have committed violent acts be immediately removed from the classroom and referred to law enforcement officials for action and requires that the students be suspended immediately. Also, school officials can suspend a student caught carrying a gun in school if school officials believe the gun seizure is proper, even though an earlier court ruling had excluded the gun as evidence in a juvenile delinquency case. To increase parental responsibility, this bill requires that a parent have an informal conference with the principal or appropriate personnel in the event of a principal suspension and grants parents the right to leave the work place in order to meet with educators.

The bill requires the participation of members of the community (teachers, parents and other school personnel) in the development of the Code of Conduct and comprehensive school safety plan.

The bill includes a grant program with an emphasis on school safety and security to provide additional financial support to address the safety concerns of school districts statewide. In addition to extended day programs and school violence prevention programs, grant funding could be used for safety devices such as metal detectors, training security personnel, and training school personnel in violence prevention and non-violent conflict resolution techniques. Another component to the grant program would provide funding for intensive violence prevention programs which may be joint projects between a school and community based organization or similar agency with provision for technical assistance to implement such programs. The competitive grants would be awarded on a priority basis to schools or school districts, taking into account certain criteria such as a high incidence of school violence, a high at-risk population, the rate of student truancy and the effectiveness of the proposed program. The grant funds must be used for purposes consistent with the elements and goals of their School Safety Plan. For two sessions this legislation has passed the Assembly and died in the Senate.

This legislation, which passed the Assembly and died in the Senate, would require that all schools provide training for self-examination of breast or testicular cancer. This legislation requires that the State Education Department, as part of any health or hygiene education program, require students in their junior or senior years of high school to receive instruction on breast and testicular self examination for cancer.

This law expands the responsibilities of the Task Force on School-Community Collaboration, and extends the life of the Task Force from October 1, 1998 through October 1, 2002. Further, the law directs the Task Force and the Board of Regents to hold a series of meetings on collaboration in each of the state's judicial districts. This law enables the State and interested local communities to use existing resources to improve the well-being of children and families by working together toward such goals as increasing the number of children ready to learn when entering school, improving child health and nutrition, decreasing violence and other behavioral problems among children and youth, and increasing the educational performance for all children.

The safety of children on school buses is always a high priority of the Committee. For this reason, the Committee considered a number of bills to keep children free from danger and unhealthy situations.

A recent federal Environmental Protection Agency study has found that secondary smoke inhalation can be extremely harmful to an individual's health. Therefore, it is important to safeguard the health of children by eliminating secondary smoke on school buses. This legislation would prohibit smoking at all times on buses that transport pupils regardless of the presence of pupils on the bus. This legislation passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.

This legislation would provide transportation for students within a school district to a non-public school located more than fifteen miles from the pupil's home, provided that the parents reimburse the district for the incremental costs associated with the additional segment of travel. If the parents are willing to pay the additional costs of transporting their children to a nonpublic school further than the fifteen mile limit established by the school district, the parents should have the option of sending their children to the private school of their choice as long as the cost differential is met. This legislation passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.

Current law does not provide for a minimum or maximum time limit for transporting children with disabilities. In many instances, children spend upwards of 2 hours or more on a school bus both to and from school, adding to the length of their day. The purpose of this bill is to restrict travel time for students with disabilities in New York City to one hour. This legislation passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.

The Education Committee continued its commitment to students with disabilities by reporting measures designed to assist persons with disabilities. One measure, A.4780 (DiNapoli), provides state aid to alternative programs for high risk students who are 16 years or older and who are at risk of dropping out or requiring residential placement. Typically, these students are excessively truant, emotionally disturbed or have failed all other alternative programs which have been attempted.

This legislation accounts for the fact that some students cannot be educated in a traditional setting but may achieve success in a program that is based on a one-on-one or small group instruction, with curriculum designed for each student.

This bill would require the State Education Department to publish information on the number of children with disabilities who are exempt from Regents' and Pupil Evaluation Program (PEP) examinations. Section 4403 of the Education Law lists a number of responsibilities of the Education Department with regard to children with disabilities, including a statistical summary of the number of children with disabilities in the state and the nature of their disabilities. This legislation would provide the public with more information about special education. The bill passed in the Assembly, but died in the Senate.

Recent media reports have brought to light the fact that some parents are being charged the cost of administering various assessments used to place children in gifted and talented programs. These costs could place a financial barrier on some deserving gifted and talented students from entering such programs. The Committee took great care to assure through chapter 536 of the Laws of 1997 (A.8155, Clark), that in no case will any parent, guardian or pupil be charged a fee for the administration of diagnostic tests or other evaluation mechanisms that are used to admit students to gifted and talented programs.

In 1986, the Legislature enacted Chapter 683, which ensured that youth incarcerated in county jails would continue to receive educational services provided by the school district in which the facility is located. Due to the high costs associated with incarceration, alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders are continually being developed because of their programmatic success and cost-effective approach.

Day reporting has been a successful alternative to incarceration. But unlike incarcerated youths, those participating in a day reporting program are not eligible for educational services under the provisions enacted in 1986. A.3583-A (Sanders) allows youth sentenced to day reporting centers to be eligible for educational services that are currently available to youth incarcerated in county jails and includes such services for which a school district is entitled to receive aid. This legislation passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.

This proposal would allow school districts providing programs to incarcerated youth to be eligible for an advance of 40% on their apportionment for services provided between July 1 and November 30. Aid for programs educating youth incarcerated in county correctional facilities is currently paid after the filing of reports on November 30, March 31 and June 30. Programs which start on July 1 therefore do not receive any aid until after their first report is submitted after November 30. The first aid based on the reporting period from July 1 to November 30 is usually received in December. Thus programs have been operating since July 1 without receiving aid for nearly one half the year. These programs experience financial difficulty in functioning during the extended period of time before state aid is first received. This bill assists the financial operation of incarcerated education programs by providing an advance on September 1 toward the state aid that they will receive later in the year. This legislation passed in the Assembly, and died in the Senate.

This law establishes a service center for independent living in Harlem. The Harlem Independent Living Center currently exists through a federal grant. However, the center's services will be needed beyond the life of the grant. This community-based, non-residential service center for independence will now receive state funding as part of a larger network of state Independent Living Centers which places emphasis on enhancing the independent living of unserved consumers with disabilities (e.g., consumers with disabilities with English as a Second Language (ESL), traumatic brain injury, mental illness, economically and socially disadvantaged).

This legislation would require boards of education of large city school districts to timely and completely respond to requests from the comptroller or such other financial officer or body of the city for financial information. Large city school districts are already required to respond to requests by the comptroller or city financial officer for financial information. This bill simply adds the requirement that such responses be in a timely and complete fashion. This legislation passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.

A number of bills were considered which pertained only to the New York City school district. This legislation would require that NYC School Safety Officers pass a civil service exam designed for the position.

The bill was passed by the Legislature but was vetoed by the Governor. In the veto message, the Governor stated that such reclassification should be done administratively rather than by statute and that this bill grandfathers in the existing school safety officers rather than requiring them to take the civil service exam.

When the position of School Safety Officer was first created, a small number of employees were hired for this position. At the time, the position was classified as non-competitive. The position has now grown to over 3,000 employees. Due to this growth as well as the desire for better recruitment and training, there is a need for a uniform recruitment procedure. This bill was designed to address this concern.

This law clarifies the number of days that the New York City school district will provide transportation to students who attend non-public schools. The New York City school district recently discovered that in the current 1996-1997 school year, and in every year which Easter Sunday is separated from either the first or the last day of Passover by more than seven calendar days, the number of days that non-public schools remain open while public schools are closed exceeds five days. This law will ensure that the New York City school district is legally authorized to provide transportation to non-public school students for more than five, but less than ten, days in the applicable years so that students are able to meet the State requirement of 180 days of attendance.

This legislation would authorize the Board of Education of the city of Buffalo to establish a minority scholarship recruitment program. The bill, which passed the Assembly but died in the Senate, offers a full academic scholarship for the junior and senior years to college students in return for the students' commitment to teach for three years in the Buffalo Public School System. Students who accept the scholarship and teach for three years in the Buffalo Public School System would not be required to repay any money to the School District. Students who do not teach in the Buffalo Public School System would be required to repay, with interest, any money advanced by the school district.

This law transfers from the Rochester City School Board to the superintendent the authorization, within budgeted amounts, to appoint associate, assistant and district superintendents, and other supervising staff who are excluded from the right to bargain collectively pursuant to Article XIV of the Civil Service Law. This allows the superintendent more latitude to effectively manage the daily operations of the Rochester City School District.

This law allows school districts to contract for mobile instruction units (MIU). School districts, pursuant to this law, have the same option to use a Request For Proposal (RFP) for "mobile instruction unit contracts" as now exists for school bus contracts. It is appropriate for MIU's to be included in Section 305 of the Education Law which has a five-year sunset and establishes an inter-agency task force to study and report on the impact and effectiveness of the law.

The American flag is the symbol of our country. This law encourages every public school to display the American flag in their classrooms.

Studies have concluded that young people in our country are ill-informed about civil matters. Often they cannot identify who is representing them at various levels of government. This legislation would facilitate the process of voter registration for secondary students of voting age. This bill passed the Assembly and died in the Senate.

This legislation would encourage greater participation in the sciences through a special purposes challenge grant program. Enriched science programs require both a high degree of teaching expertise and a substantial outlay of funds for materials and equipment that are often outside the ability of many school districts. Model programs exist elsewhere, however, where the private sector has made up this deficiency through the donation of money, surplus equipment, and staff expertise. The purpose of such programs has been to motivate students to seek careers in science and engineering, thus responding to the needs of technologically oriented businesses, and to upgrade the educational content of science courses in disadvantaged school districts, thus responding to an educational need. This bill passed the Assembly and died in the Senate.

This bill, passed by the Assembly, allows a student in a Union Free, Central and Small City school district to serve as an ex officio member of their respective school board. The students would be allowed to participate in meetings of the board, ask questions of persons making presentations and express their point of view regarding any proposals that come before the board.

This law authorizes the creation of certain union free school districts by municipalities situated within a central or union free school district.

This law enacts the "Ithaca City School District public construction flexibility demonstration project act". This law authorizes the Ithaca City School District to award or enter into contracts with regard to a renovation project either under Section 101 of the General Municipal Law, a single guaranteed maximum price general contract, or a full construction management contract approach.

The Assembly's Education Committee, in conjunction with the Senate's Education Committee, held a joint public hearing on March 3, 1997 on Boards of Cooperative Educational Services: Their Role in Improving School Performance.

The Committees received testimony regarding the Statewide Task Force on BOCES' assignment to study BOCES and make recommendations in three areas: governance and organization of BOCES, cost and quality of BOCES services, and the role of BOCES and District Superintendents in supporting State school reform.

Commissioner Mills released an accompanying statement with the final report agreeing with most of the Task Force's recommendations but proposing some alternatives. Witnesses were invited to comment on both the Commissioner's proposals and the final report of the Task Force. Under consideration were the following:

The Regents of the State of New York and Governor George E. Pataki both proposed a major reform of the school aid formula for students with disabilities. The Assembly Education Committee held a public hearing on March 19, 1997 to solicit testimony from individuals and organizations regarding these reform proposals and their potential impact on the education of children across the state.

New York State currently provides extensive state aid for special education for students with disabilities. Public excess cost aid, currently funded at $1.36 billion, is available for students with disabilities educated in public settings, either by local school districts or BOCES. Private excess cost aid, currently $104 million, is available for students educated in private schools for students with disabilities.

The current formula for public excess cost aid is based on the number of students who are classified as having a disability in each school district. Districts receive additional aid for students who are placed in special education classes, compared to those placed in regular classrooms. Some students with special needs in public settings also generate high cost excess cost aid, which provides districts with a greater level of reimbursement.

The Regents proposed eleven strategies to reform special education in New York State. Among these strategies, they proposed funding reforms that would both provide for an increase in aid for general education, prevention and support services and a new funding formula for special education aid. The proposed formula would have established a universal rate of incidence at 12% (which is the national average), with that average then adjusted for poverty. Currently, the formula is based upon the number of students classified in special education. The Regents proposed this formula as a means to allow the State to be responsive to the apparent link between poverty and high incidence of special needs students, without encouraging specific types of placements for students. High cost public excess cost aid and private excess cost aid formulas would remain unchanged. The Regents proposed funding 97-98 public excess cost aid at 96-97 levels in 1997-98, and would have phased in the new formula over the following four years.

The following goals are the basis for the Regents reform efforts (Regents Proposal, February, 1997):

The 1997-98 Executive Budget also proposed a reform in special education funding. The Governor's proposal, like the Regents, would sever the link between classification and state aid. The proposal would also enhance aid for prevention and support services, although less generously than under the Regents' proposal. Unlike the Regents proposal, the Governor's public excess cost aid utilized a universal rate of incidence which is modestly adjusted for poverty and twenty-four high poverty districts would receive an enhancement of their aid based on poverty. Under the Governor's proposal, aid changes would be effective in 1997-98 with no phase-in to the new formula, although it would limit aid losses and gains. The Legislature did not act on either the Regents or the Governor's proposals.

The Assembly Majority developed a comprehensive, five-year initiative to provide each New York child with the educational experience he or she needs for future educational and economic success. This five-year plan, LADDER, (Learning, Achieving, and Developing by Directing Education Resources), is a thorough, step-by-step approach to strengthening our educational system. Recognizing the importance of local flexibility when determining the educational needs of New York's children, no component of the LADDER proposal is mandated upon school districts or parents.

The Committee felt it was important to gain insight on the Assembly Majority's plan by seeking public comment regarding the LADDER Plan. A public hearing was held on April 9, 1997.

The public reiterated what the Assembly Majority had recognized: that too many of New York's children are not given the opportunity to receive the early education experience they need to begin school with the cognitive and social skills necessary for a successful journey through our educational system. Without question, an essential ingredient to New York's economic future must be strengthening the educational tools available to every New York child as early in life as possible. To reach that objective, the LADDER Plan provides resources to allow every four-year-old child the opportunity to participate in a high-quality pre-kindergarten program without imposing any mandates on school districts. The Plan reinforces that commitment by making it easier for school districts in the state to offer full-day kindergarten.

Many children are struggling to learn in crowded, under-equipped classrooms in outdated and dilapidated facilities. The Plan will reduce class size from kindergarten through grade three, with the ultimate goal of an average class size of no more than 20 students by the year 2001. LADDER also includes a 10% enhancement of the building aid formula plus a regional cost factor and a 10% minimum floor, a $250 million Minor Maintenance Fund, and a $2.4 billion School Health and Safety Bond Act as a multi-year effort to address pressing infrastructure and construction needs in school districts throughout this State. The Plan further provides for increased aid for textbooks and computer technology for every New York school. Finally, the Assembly Majority's Plan underscores a commitment to staff by providing funding for programs that strengthen their professional development.

Chapter 19 (A.2462, Magee) Legalizes and validates actions taken by the Stockbridge Central School District relating to capital improvements.

Chapter 34 (A.6298, Sanders) Increases the number of days transportation will be provided for nonpublic schools in New York City when public schools are closed.

Chapter 48 (A.4208, Butler) Ratifies, legalizes, and validates actions taken by the Little Falls City School District relating to certain capital improvements.

Chapter 61 (A.339, Weisenberg) Encourages public school authorities throughout the state to display United States flags in the classroom of each school, and allows acceptance of donations of flags from individuals or civic groups.

Chapter 90 (A.1659, Johnson) Authorizes a name change for the Angelica-Belmont Central School District to the Genesee Valley School District at Angelica-Belmont.

Chapter 102 (A.6568-A, Brown) Legalizes, validates and ratifies actions taken by the Tully Central School District relating to capital projects.

Chapter 112 (A.6890, Galef) Provides that the board of education of the city of Peekskill may adopt a resolution to decrease the full term of a member of the board to two years in order that, as nearly as possible, an equal number of trustees shall be elected to the board each year.

Chapter 324 (A.3470-A, Wright) Establishes a service center for independent living in Harlem.

Chapter 328 (A.8642, Sanders) With voter approval, creates a state debt of $2.4 billion to enact the school facility health and safety bond act of 1997 and provides for a proposition to be submitted to the people to be voted on at the general election of November, 1997.

Chapter 334 (A.1426, Little) Legalizes and ratifies actions taken by the Bolton Central School District relating to the purchase of a bus.

Chapter 339 (A.3253, McGee) Adjusts state aid payments to the Salamanca City Central School District.

Chapter 350 (A.5069, Sullivan, F.) Ratifies and validates actions taken by the Central Square School District relating to transportation contracts.

Chapter 354 (A.6631-A, Parment) Authorizes the payment of school building aid to the Forestville Central School District.

Chapter 363 (A.7917, Thiele) Legalizes, validates, and confirms actions taken by the East Quogue Union Free School District relating to transportation contracts.

Chapter 390 (A.8670, Lentol) Authorizes the creation of certain union free school districts by municipalities situated within a central or union free school district.

Chapter 402 (A.2785-A, Sanders) Creates a task force on school-community collaboration.

Chapter 425 (S.5579, Saland) Authorizes the city school district of the city of Hudson to issue serial bonds to liquidate the deficit in the district's general fund.

Chapter 448 (A.8343, Hill) Authorizes the payment of transportation aid to the Baldwin Union Free School District for 1994-95 contracts.

Chapter 450 (A.1296-A, Sullivan, F.) Legalizes, ratifies and confirms actions taken by the Mexico Central School District relating to the construction of a septic system.

Chapter 456 (A.8361, Ortloff) Legalizes and validates actions taken by the Saranac Central School District relating to the expenditure of a bond anticipation note and serial bond proceeds.

Chapter 464 (A.5435-A, Bragman) Allows school districts to contract for mobile instructional units.

Chapter 485 (A.8033, Gunther) Legalizes, validates and confirms actions taken by the enlarged city school district of Middletown relating to contracts for asbestos abatement.

Chapter 487 (A.8379, Faso) Authorizes the payment of transportation aid to the Greenville Central School District.

Chapter 491 (A.8402-A, Herbst) Validates certain transportation contracts of the Hicksville Union Free School District.

Chapter 492 (A.7752-A, Bragman) Authorizes the payment of transportation aid to the Lyncourt Union Free School District for 1994-95 and 1995-96 school year contracts.

Chapter 495 (A.8631, Tonko) Legalizes and validates actions taken by the Fonda-Fultonville Central School District relating to certain transportation contracts.

Chapter 500 (A.7691-B, Luster) Enacts the "Ithaca City School District public construction flexibility demonstration project act".

Chapter 521 (A.7661, Acampora) Legalizes, certifies, and confirms actions taken by the Eastport Union Free School District relating to transportation contracts from the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years.

Chapter 532 (A.8552, Sanders) Authorizes the apportionment of state aid to the Salmon River and Massena Central School Districts for the enrollment and attendance of such Native American students who live on a reservation in Canada.

Chapter 536 (A.8155, Clark) Prohibits a school district from charging a fee for testing gifted students.

Chapter 564 (A.6002-A, Wirth) Legalizes, ratifies and confirms actions taken by the West Seneca Central School District for the purchase of eight school buses.

Chapter 570 (A.8003-B, Gantt) Authorizes the superintendent of the Rochester City School District to make certain staff appointments, within budgeted amounts.

Chapter 671 (A.8601, Pillittere) Authorizes the Niagara City School District to sell district real property which is no longer needed due to the construction of a new school building facility.

$2.4 Billion School Health and Safety Bond Act: Authorizes the bonding of $2.4 billion for the purpose of funding critical projects related to the construction, expansion and modernization of public school buildings for grades k-12. This proposal was presented before the voters of New York State, but failed by a 2% margin.

Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program: Beginning in 1998-99, $50 million will be provided for the program. Over a four-year period, funding will increase to $500 million for universal pre-kindergarten across New York State.

Full-Day Kindergarten: Beginning in 1998-99, aid is provided to fund the costs of transition from half-day kindergarten to full-day kindergarten.

Class Size Reduction: Beginning in 1999-2000, a first year grant of $75 million, which grows to $225 million, over three years, is added to reduce to the average class size for grades kindergarten through third grade to twenty students.

Extended School Day/School Violence Prevention: Rejected the Governor's proposed Targeted Needs Block Grant. Beginning in 1998-1999 with $15.2 million, these funds will grow to $50 million in 2001-2002.

Minor Maintenance and Repair Aid: Beginning in 1998-99, a first year grant of $50 million, which is increased to $80 million by the year 2001-2002, will be provided to fund important minor maintenance and repair projects of school districts.

Building Aid: All districts receive an additive increase of 10% to their building aid ratio. Further, a 10% building aid ratio minimum for all districts is implemented. An adjustment is made to the Governor's proposed regional cost factor for building projects approved on or after July 1, 1998, which ensures that no district loses aid as a result of the adjustment. The Governor's proposed elimination of the choice in building aid ratio was rejected.

Textbooks, Software and Hardware Aid: Beginning in 1998-99 with $3 million, additional aid is provided which will increase to $120 million by 2001-2002.

Instructional Technology Aid: Big Five and other non-component districts will now be able to access BOCES for instructional technology purposes only. Also, all districts will now be able to purchase instructional technology independently or through BOCES and receive the same level of reimbursement. These provisions take effect in 1998.

Professional Development: Beginning in 1998-99, a grant and formula of $5 million, which will increase to $35 million in 2001-2002, is provided for professional development. Further, the Mentor-Intern program is funded at $10 million.

Operating and Transition Aids: Increased by $230 million over 1996-97. Greater aid is generated by raising the transition caps to 4.5% of the annual increase and 17.6% of the amount withheld by the cap.

Extraordinary Needs Aid: Increased by $84.45 million, which represents an 18.35% increase over 1996-97 in order to assist districts with high concentrations of at risk pupils. A save-harmless provision guarantees districts no less aid than in the base year. This drives additional aid to districts with high concentrations of poverty.

ERSSA: Increased by $8.1 million to $48.3 million, which represents a 20.21% increase over last year. The formula drives additional aid to districts with high concentrations of poverty. This program forestalls placement in special education by providing support services.

Public and Private Excess Cost Aid: Increased by $95.08 million. Greater aid is generated by increasing Declassification Aid, to maintain support services for children formerly in special education.

Occupational Eduction and Computer Administration Special Services: Increased by $13.27 million, which represents a 10.54% increase.

Textbooks: Increased by $12.71 million over present law to $127.4 million. The general fund portion of the Textbook Aid ceiling increases from $21 to $25 (the $15 lottery grant remains the same) per pupil.

Computer Software: Increased by $1.08 million to $11.02 million, which represents a 10.90% increase over 1996-97. The maximum aid reimbursement increased from $4 to $4.58 per pupil.

Computer Hardware: Increased by $2.58 million to $13.35 million, which represents a 23.96% increase over last year.

Growth Aid: Present law is preserved. This formula provides additional, current year, aid to school districts with enrollment growth in excess of 4%.

Transportation Aid: Present law is preserved, which provides a $25.4 million increase over 1996-97.

BOCES Aid: Present law is preserved. This generates and increase of $42.96 million over the Governor's proposal and over last year. Beginning in 1997-98, BOCES districts will be required to prepare an annual report card measuring the academic and financial performance of the district.

Occupational Eduction and Computer Administration Special Services: Increased by $13.27 million, which represents a 10.54% increase.

Summer Food: Restored Federal cuts to the program at a cost of $3.3 million.

Community Schools: Removed from Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $6 million.

Youth-at-Risk: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $5.4 million.

Missing Children Prevention: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $900,000.

Parenting Education: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $506,400.

Primary Mental Health Project: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $570,000.

Comprehensive School Health Demonstration: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $525,000.

Effective Schools: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $1.889 million.

Transferring Success: Removed from the Governor's proposed targeted needs block grant and restored to $629,800.

AIDS Education: The Governor's proposal to transfer funding to the Department of Health is rejected and funding is maintained at $990,000.

School Health Demonstration Projects: The Governor's proposal to transfer funding to the Department of Health is rejected and funding is maintained at $150,000.

Workplace Literacy: Removed from the Governor's proposed workforce development grant and restored to $1.376 million.

Welfare Education Program: Removed from the Governor's proposed workforce development grant and restored to $5 million.

Adult Literacy Education: Removed from the Governor's proposed workforce development grant and restored to $3.324 million.

Summer School Disabled Children's Program: The Legislature rejects the Governor's proposed changes in State, county and school district fiscal responsibilities for summer programs for disabled pupils by restoring $9.3 million to this program.

Cost Shifts: Funding changes proposed by the Governor for preschool and summer special education programs which would have resulted in a cost shift to localities of more than $70 million was rejected and present law is maintained.

Prior Year Claims: Provides an additional $18 million for prior year adjustments.

I.	INTRODUCTION
II.	COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
	A. State Budget Highlights
	B. LADDER
	C. State Aid for Elementary and Secondary Education
	D. Preparing for the Post-Secondary Years
	E. School Safety
	F. Curriculum
	G. School and Community Collaboration
	H. Transportation
	I. Special Education/Special Needs
	J. Big Five City School Districts
	K. Miscellaneous
III.	PUBLIC HEARINGS
	A. BOCES Reform
	B. Reform of Special Edcuation Funding in New York State
	C. The LADDER Plan
IV.	APPENDICES
	A. Summary of the Laws of 1997
	B. 1997 Budget in Brief
	C. 1997 Summary of Action on All Bills Referred to the Committee on Education

Final Action		Assembly Bills	Senate Bills	Total Bills
Bills Reported With or Without Amendment
	To Floor; not returning to Committee	7	0	7
	To Floor; recommitted and died	72	0	72
	To Ways and Means Committee	2	1	72
	To Codes Committee	12	0	2
	To Rules Committee	0	0	12
	To Judiciary Committee	0	0	0
	Total	93	1	93
Bills Having Committee Reference Changed
	To Higher Education Committee	2	0	2
	To Libraries Committee	3	0	3
	To Governmental Operations Committee	1	0	0
	To Housing Committee	1	0	1
	Total	4	0	6
Senate Bills Substituted or Recalled
	Substituted	0	19	19
	Recalled	0	3	3
	Total	0	22	22
Bills Defeated in Committee		0	0	0
Bills Never Reported, Held in Committee		286	10	296
Bills Never Reported, Died in Committee		0	0	0
Bills Having Enacting Clauses Stricken		0	0	0
Motion to Discharge Lost		0	0	0
	Total Bills in Committee	386	33	419
TOTAL NUMBER OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS HELD		16