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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9887
IN SENATE
August 2, 2024
___________
Introduced by Sen. WEBER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
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 2024-2025 through 2053-2054 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 2024-2025 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-
26 ity incurred by such central school district in carrying out its func-
27 tions and responsibilities under the education law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15912-01-4
S. 9887 2
1 (b) The claim for an apportionment to be paid to the East Ramapo
2 central school district pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section
3 shall be submitted to the commissioner of education on a form prescribed
4 for such purpose, and shall be payable upon determination by such
5 commissioner that the form has been submitted as prescribed and that the
6 school district has complied with the reporting requirements of this
7 act. For each school year in which application is made pursuant to
8 subdivision (a) of this section, such approved amount shall be payable
9 on or before July thirty-first of such school year upon the audit and
10 warrant of the state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by
11 the commissioner of education in the manner prescribed by law from
12 moneys appropriated from the general fund for general support for public
13 schools due such school district pursuant to section 3609-a of the
14 education law.
15 (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3609-a of the education
16 law, an amount equal to the amount paid to the East Ramapo central
17 school district during the current year pursuant to subdivisions (a) and
18 (b) of this section shall first be deducted from payments due during the
19 current school year pursuant to subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph a of
20 subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of the education law in the following
21 order: the fixed fall payments payable pursuant to subparagraph 4 of
22 paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of the education law, and
23 any remainder to be deducted from the individualized payments due to the
24 district pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of
25 the education law shall be deducted on a chronological basis starting
26 with the earliest payment due the district.
27 (d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the sum of payments
28 made to the East Ramapo central school district during the base year
29 pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section plus payments made
30 to such school district during the current year pursuant to section
31 3609-a of the education law shall be deemed to truly represent all aids
32 paid to such school district during the current school year pursuant to
33 section 3609-a of the education law for the purposes of computing any
34 adjustments to such aids that may occur in a subsequent school year.
35 (e) (1) On or before the first day of each month beginning in July
36 2024 and ending in June 2054, the chief fiscal officer and the super-
37 intendent of schools of the district shall prepare and submit to the
38 board of education and monitors, so long as these roles are filled, a
39 report of the fiscal condition of the school district, including but not
40 limited to the most current available data on fund balances on funds
41 maintained by the school district and the district's use of the appor-
42 tionments provided pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section.
43 (2) Such monthly report shall be in a format prescribed by the commis-
44 sioner of education. The board of education and monitors shall either
45 reject and return the report to the chief fiscal officer and the super-
46 intendent for appropriate revisions and resubmittal or shall approve the
47 report and submit copies to the commissioner of education and the state
48 comptroller of such approved report as submitted or resubmitted.
49 (3) In the 2024-2025 through 2053-2054 school years, the chief fiscal
50 officer of the district shall monitor all budgets and for each budget,
51 prepare a quarterly report of summarized budget data depicting overall
52 trends of actual revenues and budget expenditures for the entire budget
53 as well as individual line items. Such report shall compare revenue
54 estimates and appropriations as set forth in such budget with the actual
55 revenues and expenditures made to date. All quarterly reports shall be
56 accompanied by a recommendation from the superintendent or chief fiscal
S. 9887 3
1 officer to the board of education setting forth any remedial actions
2 necessary to resolve any unfavorable budget variance including the over-
3 estimation of revenue and underestimation of appropriations. The chief
4 fiscal officer shall also prepare, as part of such report, a quarterly
5 trial balance of general ledger accounts in accordance with generally
6 accepted accounting principles as prescribed by the state comptroller.
7 All reports shall be completed within sixty days after the end of each
8 quarter and shall be submitted to the chief fiscal officer and the board
9 of education, the state division of budget, the office of the state
10 comptroller, the commissioner of education, the chair of the assembly
11 ways and means committee, and the chair of the senate finance committee.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
