Schenectady schools get $10M in aid
A $10 million state aid payment is headed to the Schenectady City School District this week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office said Wednesday — confirming that school districts across New York can expect payments for December to be paid in full despite ongoing uncertainty about the federal stimulus package.
The information emerged as state officials met with attorneys representing Schenectady public school students and parents Wednesday to discuss their recent legal action to prevent cuts to state aid at Schenectady schools.
In August, the district laid off hundreds of teachers and staff and slashed programs under the threat of a 20 per
cent reduction in state funds.
The Schenectady plaintiffs met attorneys for the state in a closed-door pre-hearing conference about the Dec. 11 motion in a New York Supreme Court to block the potential aid reductions, which they say would cause educational devastation in the 9,000-student district. State officials informed the plaintiffs’ attorneys of the $10 million payment for December and they agreed to continue the negotiations at a later date.
“It is a very positive development. We are continuing to assess the long-term impact of those payments and future payments on the ability of Schenectady schools to rehire staff,” said Gregory G. Little, an attorney for Education Law Center and co-counsel on the case.
The Schenectady parents are part of the New York Students for Education Rights lawsuit filed in 2014, which argues the state has failed to adequately fund public education. New York City and Syracuse families are also part of the litigation.
The December motion, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court as part of the pending NYSER litigation, argues that any further cuts to the Schenectady district will cause irreparable harm.
In August, the state announced that it had begun withholding 20 percent of aid payments and warned that those cuts could become permanent if the federal government did not pass a stimulus package.
The Schenectady district has laid off more than 400 teachers and staff and eliminated inperson instruction for grades 7-12 in anticipation of the cuts.
The threat amounts to an estimated $29 million cut to Schenectady ’s school budget.
The state Division of Budget has since walked back the plan. They committed to pay New York’s more than 700 school districts the full aid amounts for September, October and November.
The state argued that schools’ cuts to staff and programs were premature and any local decisions the school districts made with respect to their finances were unrelated to the uncertainty around state aid.
“As there were no cuts in the first place, I don’t see the point,” Cuomo adviser Rich Azzopardi said of the Schenectady court filing. “We remain focused on seeking muchneeded state and local aid from Washington.”
The state, which is facing a fiscal crisis, has begun to reduce school aid levels in the amount equivalent to the district’s allocation of federal emergency funds under the CARES Act, school officials confirm. The state provided guidance to districts on how to get reimbursed for these deductions later in the year.
The first stimulus deal would have provided another $5.7 million to Schenectady schools for pandemic-related expenses.
“We were already not receiving the full amount of aid owed to us under the foundation formula. Then the state used our CARES Act funds, which were meant to be an addition to education funding, to instead fill a state budget hole they created. And now on top of all that, the state has threatened us with a 20 percent state aid cut,” said Jamaica Miles, a Schenectady parent and NYSER plaintiff in a statement last week. “We’re doing everything we can to stop the state from causing any further harm to our children by bankrupting our schools.”
The court filing also details how the pandemic has created a need for additional resources to ensure Schenectady students have access to remote instruction, school buildings can be safely reopened, as well as additional social services.
School districts note the state did reduce August aid associated with the past fiscal year — while warning that further cuts could follow — and that the bulk of their state aid is scheduled to arrive in the spring.
It’s also good news for other districts hit hard by the pandemic, such as Albany city schools, which laid off more than 200 and cut programs in anticipation of aid reductions. The December aid for Albany is about $13.5 million, the district confirmed.
Albany schools spokesman Ron Lesko said the bulk of school aid comes during the last quarter of the current school year into the first quarter of the next year — from March through September.
“We’re scheduled to receive 66 percent of our total 2020-21 state aid in that period of time,” he said.