Agency Mission

The State Education Department (SED) is the administrative agency of the State Board of Regents. The Department's core mission is to oversee State educational programs from pre-kindergarten to graduate and professional programs. In addition, SED is responsible for vocational and educational services provided to individuals with disabilities. The Department also operates the State Library and State Museum and administers the State Archives.

Currently, SED employs the equivalent of 3,147 full-time employees (FTEs) to carry out its mission.

Year-to-Year Change

The Executive proposes to increase State aid to schools by $269,000,000 over 1998-99 levels. This represents a $598,000,000 or 5.1 percent reduction in State support for public schools that school districts would have received under present law.

Legislative Changes

Funding for charter schools is provided in article 56 of the Education Law, the Assembly rejects the Governor's proposal to provide additional resources beyond that which is enumerated in current law.

The Assembly rejects the Governor's proposal to transfer funding for collaborative programs from the City University of New York to the State Education Department.

State Aid to schools is sufficient to cover the costs of school districts that had seen an increase in enrollment as a result of an influx of military personnel at the Fort Drum military reservation.

Funding for charter schools is provided in article 56 of the Education Law. The Assembly rejects the Governor's proposal to provide additional resources beyond that which is enumerated in current law.

The Assembly rejects the Governor's proposal to add new monies for State operations purposes related to the administration of charter schools.

The Assembly recognizes that in order to provide a more coordinated delivery of service between State higher education programs for academic support and financial aid, that these services should be merged. The State Education Department (SED) has historically provided oversight on higher education programs across the State and continues to be successful in doing so. The Assembly recommends merging the programs in the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) within SED.

The Assembly recognizes that in order to provide a more coordinated delivery of service between State higher education programs for academic support and financial aid, that these services should be merged. The State Education Department (SED) has historically provided oversight on higher education programs across the State and continues to be successful in doing so. The Assembly recommends merging the programs in the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) within SED.

The Assembly recognizes that in order to provide a more coordinated delivery of service between State higher education programs for academic support and financial aid, that these services should be merged. The State Education Department (SED) has historically provided oversight on higher education programs across the State and continues to be successful in doing so. The Assembly recommends merging the programs in the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) within SED.

The Assembly recognizes that in order to provide a more coordinated delivery of service between State higher education programs for academic support and financial aid, that these services should be merged. The State Education Department (SED) has historically provided oversight on higher education programs across the State and continues to be successful in doing so. The Assembly recommends merging the programs in the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) within SED.

The Assembly recognizes that in order to provide a more coordinated delivery of service between State higher education programs for academic support and financial aid, that these services should be merged. The State Education Department (SED) has historically provided oversight on higher education programs across the State and continues to be successful in doing so. The Assembly recommends merging the programs in the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) within SED.

Legislative Proposals

Computerized Aids

For school year 1999-2000 the Assembly provides an increase of $917,000,000 or 8.25 percent in computerized aids over school year 1998-99. This is an increase of $641.9 million in State Fiscal Year 1999-2000.

The following are included in this $917,000,000 increase:

-- A $424,800,000 or 6.93 percent increase in Operating and Transition Aids to school districts. A $20,000,000 portion of this increase shall be set aside and specifically directed to schools under registration review.

-- A $21,000,000 or 35 percent increase in Educationally Related Support Services Aid (ERSSA) over 1998-99, to provide support services which enable students to maintain their placement in general education classes.

-- An increase of $29,000,000 or 35.54 percent for Operating Standards Aid over 1998-99. This aid will be used to help school districts prepare students and teachers for meeting higher academic performance standards.

-- A $67,150,000 or 8.87 percent increase in Transportation Aid over 1998-99.

-- A $12,423,025 or 1.90 percent increase in Extraordinary Needs Aid over 1998-99, for school districts with high concentrations of at-risk students.

-- A $231,007,898 or 26.46 percent increase in Building Aid over 1998-99.

-- A $1,895,188 or 3.23 percent increase in aid to Limited English Proficiency Programs in 1999-2000.

-- A $2,619,132 or 20.73 percent increase in Library Materials Aid over 1998-99.

-- A $2,960,571 or 19.53 percent increase in Hardware Aid over 1998-99.

-- A $4,319,129 or 30.51 percent increase in Software Aid over 1998-99.

-- A $18,504,256 or 13.93 percent increase in Textbook Aid over 1998-99.

-- A $68,069,371 or 3.98 percent increase in Private and Public Excess Cost Aids over 1998-99.

-- A $36,181,101 or 9.30 percent increase in BOCES Aid over 1998-99.

-- $143,934,295 for Special Services Aid in 1999-2000.

-- $42,607,355 for Reorganization Building and Operating Aids in 1999-2000.

-- $26,904,719 for Growth Aid in 1999-2000.

The Assembly LADDER Program

The Assembly also maintains its commitment to fully restore funding for the LADDER program and provides funding for the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program at a $2,700 per pupil minimum. Provided below is a summary of provisions included within the LADDER program:

-- $173,400,000 in funding for the Universal Pre-K program.

-- $75,000,000 to fund the Class Size Reduction program for grades Kindergarten through three.

-- $50,000,000 to fund Minor Maintenance and Repair Aid at the same level as 1998-99.

-- $8,300,000 to fund aid for the conversion to Full-Day Kindergarten.

-- $25,000,000 to fund Instructional Technology Incentive Aid. This represents a $16,000,000 increase over 1998-99 levels.

-- $10,000,000 to fund Shared Services Aid for school districts that are not component districts of BOCES. This represents a $6,500,000 increase over 1998-99 levels.

-- $30,200,000 to fund the Extended School Day/School Violence Prevention programs. This represents a $15,000,000 increase over 1998-99.

-- $5,000,000 to fund the Professional Development Grants Program. This represents a $3,500,000 increase over 1998-99 levels.

Assembly Teacher Development Programs

The Assembly provides funding for programs to assist in the development of a highly trained teaching force across the State. Included are resources for the following programs:

-- $68,700,000 for Teacher Support Aid.

-- $22,000,000 for Teacher Resource and Training Centers.

-- $10,000,000 for the Mentor Teacher-Intern Program.

-- $2,000,000 for a Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program.

Education Programs Within General Support for Public Schools

The Assembly fully funds all programs within General Support for Public Schools. This includes funding for the following education programs which were eliminated by the Governor:

-- $63,950,000 for Categorical Reading Programs.

-- $66,350,000 for Improving Pupil Performance Programs.

-- $11,200,000 for Bilingual Education Programs.

-- $2,500,000 for Comprehensive Information Management Systems.

-- $990,000 for Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention Programs.

-- $1,280,000 for Reorganization Study Grants.

-- An additional $6,040,000 for Aid to Small City School Districts.

School Construction/STAR/Debt Reduction Reserve Fund

The Assembly creates the School Construction/STAR/Debt Reduction Reserve Fund to be comprised of surplus revenues from each fiscal year starting in the State Fiscal Year 1999-2000. This fund will have the following purposes:

The remaining surplus funds shall be directed for the following purposes:

-- 40 percent shall also be provided for school construction purposes pursuant to RESCUE;

-- Up to 30 percent shall be made available for the increase in obligations for the STAR provisions for each year succeeding the base year amount as currently required; and

-- The remainder shall be directed to reduce the outstanding debt of the State.

Acceleration of STAR Payment Schedule

In order to ensure that school districts are not affected by deferred receipt of resources resulting from the current STAR payment schedule, the Assembly proposes to accelerate the payment schedule in order to ensure that districts receive funds from the program in a timely manner. This will protect school districts from the need to borrow in order to meet resulting cashflow problems and would also preserve any investment income that could be jeopardized by delayed receipt of resources in support of education.

The Higher Education Services Corporation Program

The Assembly provides $134,000,000 to the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). This funding will prevent tuition increases for middle income families and keep college affordable for New York's working families.

The Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) provides valuable academic assistance to economically and academically disadvantaged students in their pursuit of college degrees. The Assembly proposes an additional $5,600,000 for this program which represents a restoration to its 1994-95 level of funding.

The Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) and Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) provides valuable academic assistance to high school/college students in their pursuit of college degrees in the science or technology fields. The Assembly proposes an additional $3,500,000 for this program which represents a restoration to its 1994-95 level of funding.

The Summer Opportunity program provides academic support for incoming freshmen in institutions statewide who are academically disadvantaged. The Assembly proposes $4,000,000 for this program which represents a restoration of this program to its 1997-98 level of funding.

The Assembly rejects the Executive's recommendation to amend Education Law to eliminate SED's mandate to develop statewide Regents Master Plans for higher education and the related requirement for colleges and universities to obtain approval for Regents Master Plans and Master Plan Amendments for new educational programs. In addition, the Assembly rejects all recommendations that would accomplish the transfer of responsibility for administering higher education financial aid programs from SED to HESC.

The Assembly proposes adding $1,000,000 for a Business Assistance Teams (BATS) initiative to provide small businesses with vital operational and administrative support.

The Assembly proposes $5,576,500 for miscellaneous higher education programs for the continued support and enhancement of various higher education programs including Aid to Native Americans.

The Assembly proposes to prevent privatization of any functions related to the processing of TAP payments to students.

The Assembly proposes to transfer all authority currently held by the President of HESC to the Commissioner of SED for the purpose of administering all higher education programs.

Other Education Initiatives

Also included within the Assembly plan are the following programs: