Tagged: New York State School Boards Association

The Ulster County executive is behind a statewide tour to learn how municipalities in New York are best coping with fiscal challenges. This comes during an era of unfunded mandates and a two-percent property tax cap. He says the idea is to prevent communities from becoming distressed or on the brink of bankruptcy.

The initiative is called PAYGo NY. Ulster County Executive Michael Hein says it harkens back to a philosophy of pay as you go. Hein is also president of the New York State County Executives Association.

More than 95 percent of the school budgets that went before the voters in New York on Tuesday were approved but, those that exceeded the two percent property tax cap did not fare as well. Only about 30 percent of those spending plans were approved. 

The executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, Tim Kremer, tells WAMC's Brian Shields the initial results show 630 school districts budgets were approved with 30 rejected.

New York residents are voting on their school districts' proposed budgets for next year.

Authorities say the average proposed tax levy increase is 2.8 percent, with school spending rising about the same amount, driven by increases in contributions to employee retirement systems.

This is the second year school districts are working under New York's tax cap law, which generally limits tax levy increases to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Budget proposals that exceed the cap need a 60 percent supermajority of votes to pass.

School enrollment is declining in New York’s Hudson Valley. A new report shows projections through 2020, and already has three years of numbers demonstrating the downward trend.

The report, entitled “The Empty Classroom Syndrome,” looks at enrollment projections for 114 public school districts across nine Hudson Valley counties – Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. Newburgh-based non-profit planning and policy organization Pattern for Progress released the report. Here’s Pattern’s President and CEO Jonathan Drapkin.