The 2008-09 New York State budget, adopted last week by Governor David Paterson and the State legislature — headed by Senate Majority leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — includes $53.8 million to cover costs incurred by nonpublic schools in complying with the state’s Comprehensive Attendance Policy (CAP) during the 2006-2007 school year. CAP stipulates the number of times a school must take attendance and requires that a principal or administrator review the attendance records so that appropriate action can be taken regarding unexcused absence, lateness or early departure. (Under New York law, nonpublic schools are entitled to reimbursement for their costs in carrying out a wide array of state mandates.)
Last year, the amount allocated by Assembly Speaker Sheldon to cover the CAP reimbursement to nonpublic schools for school year 2005-2006 was $39.9 million — a figure arrived at by the State Education Department (SED) through a formula it developed for that purpose. However, several months ago, SED recognized that its calculations were erroneous, and that the correct figure based on its own formula should have been $15 million higher. In an effort to avoid having to pay the additional $15 million, some state officials insisted that the CAP formula be “recalibrated” to yield the original lower figure of $39.9 million.
Agudath Israel of America protested what it called “ a fundamentally dishonest approach toward making good on the state’s statutory obligation to nonpublic schools,” and as a result, the $54.9 figure was proposed for the fiscal year 2008-2009 — a number 2% higher than what was finally adopted in the budget.
The CAP budgetary allocation is in addition to an allocated $85.75 million reimbursement for other mandated services performed by nonpublic schools – a figure that also falls 2% short of the initial allocation proposal — bringing the total allocation for mandated services aid to $139.5 million; with Jewish schools – whose student population comprises some 20-25% of the total state nonpublic school population – to receive approximately $32 million.
“This year’s mandated services payment to the New York State yeshiva community will be higher than ever before,” said Agudath Israel’s Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel. “While we hope, in better budgetary times, to recoup the two percent that was cut from the initial mandated services proposal, the bottom line remains that the increased funding is something to celebrate.”
Other items in the budget that will benefit nonpublic schools include funding for computer hardware, which continues at an average of just over $12 per student in most districts across the state; textbook aid, which continues at $58.25 per pupil, software aid, which continues at $14.98 per pupil; and library materials aid, which continues at $6.25 per pupil.
Additional allocations included $980,000 for Academic Intervention Services, $3.29 million for Learning Technology Grants, $40 million for teacher centers, $450 million for universal pre-kindergarten programs, and $400,000 for school bus driver training.
Allocations unrelated to education included a $9.8 million grant to pay for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for needy couples whose medical insurance does not cover this procedure.
In a non-budgetary development, new regulations — scheduled to go into effect this fall — that would have imposed onerous burdens on yeshivos and other community-based organizations that run universal pre-kindergarten programs were canceled thanks to the efforts of Agudath Israel and other advocates for the yeshiva community.
“This year’s budget reflected the recognition that non-public school children are entitled to state aid,” said Agudath Israel vice president for community services Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz. “This awareness is especially welcome at a time when costs are rising and the average income is hovering at the same level, at best.”
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How about if we reimburse nonpublic schools for students who do not take drugs? For example: we give a drug test to all the students in schools and those who do not take drugs we increase their budget. After all attendance means absolutely nothing if the child in public school (I teach in public school) comes in high. Look at all we will save in the future. Those who take drugs will end up on our court system or on our unemployment office. I say lets save the money now so we can pay for them in the future to go to jail or get training. Why spend it on education based on student attendance?