Assembly SFY 2024-25 Proposed Budget Includes $36.4 Billion in School Aid

Speaker Carl Heastie, Education Committee Chair Michael Benedetto and Libraries and Educational Technology Chair Angelo Santabarbara today announced the Assembly’s State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024-25 Proposed Budget provides $36.4 billion in funding to the General Support for Public Schools (GSPS), and $1.8 billion over the 2023-24 school year (SY).

“The Assembly Majority remains committed to ensuring our schools have the resources they need to provide every student access to a high-quality education,” said Speaker Heastie. “Our proposed budget reflects our unwavering commitment to our public schools and their students.”

“As a former educator, I understand the cost of providing students a world class education,” said Assemblymember Benedetto. “Our proposed budget invests in the future of our children by prioritizing the needs of schools across the state.”

"Libraries have become an essential service in our communities, and it is important that we continue to highlight their significant role statewide," stated Assemblymember Santabarbara. "I am fully committed to working with my colleagues to ensure that these programs receive the funding and resources necessary to continue serving the diverse needs of all New Yorkers."

The Assembly rejects the executive’s proposal to eliminate the “Hold Harmless” provision within Foundation Aid, which keeps school districts from receiving a cut in Foundation Aid. The Assembly also rejects the executive’s proposal to lower the inflation rate formula used to calculate Foundation Aid by returning the factor to a one-year calculation.

Instead, the Assembly’s proposed spending plan provides $25.3 billion to Foundation Aid, a $1.3 billion increase over SY 2023-24 when Foundation Aid was fully funded for the first time since the formula was created in 2007. The Assembly’s plan also provides a minimum increase of three percent. In addition, the Assembly would provide the State Education Department (SED) with $1 million to conduct a study on modernizing the Foundation Aid formula.

The Assembly’s proposal also provides $2 billion for educational technology and infrastructure under a new Smart Schools Bond Act. This funding builds upon the Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014 to provide schools the critical investment needed to expand technology in the classroom, train school staff to ensure successful technological integration and connect every school to high-speed broadband. The new act also expands on the Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014 by providing new funding for zero-emission school buses and giving schools the capital needed to better their energy efficiency.

The Assembly’s proposed budget also includes:

• $125 million in funding for prekindergarten programs with $62.5 million allocated for the Statewide Universal Full Day Prekindergarten grant program;
• $120 million to provide free school meals to all students;
• An additional $4.6 million in funding for Schools for the Blind and Deaf (4201 schools), for a total of $116.5 million;
• $31.1 million to increase the aidable salary cap aid for Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) instructors from $30,000 to $40,000;
• $20.5 million to phase in support for Special Services Aids for ninth graders;
• $14.3 million to restore funding for Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers;
• $13.4 million in School Library Materials Aid to increase the reimbursement for school library materials; and
• $500,000 for SED to provide recommended updates and changes to Holocaust curriculum.

Eight years ago, New York became the first state in the nation to fund the My Brother's Keeper initiative. The initiative focuses on family and community engagement, professional development, the expansion and development of exemplary school practices and models and addresses issues related to restorative justice and racial disparities in education. The SFY 2024-25 Assembly Budget includes $30 million, which is a $12 million increase from previous years, for the My Brother’s Keeper Programs for a total of $174 million in funding since the program’s creation.

The Assembly’s budget proposal also makes critical investments in library services across the state by increasing funding for libraries to the statutory level of $104.6 million and providing an additional $34 million in Library Capital, for a total of $68 million.