Excludes the adjusted gross incomes of the upper and lower 1/2 of 1% of taxpayers in a school district from the calculation of the adjusted gross income of such district for the purposes of the alternative pupil wealth ratio and the combined wealth ratio relating to the provision of state aid to school districts.

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S1552-2013 Actions

• Jan 9, 2013: REFERRED TO EDUCATION

S1552-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S1552

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the education law, in relation to school district adjusted
gross income for purposes of determining the alternative pupil wealth
ratio and combined wealth ratio

PURPOSE:
Excludes the adjusted gross income of the upper and lower 1/2% of
taxpayers in a school district from the calculation of the adjusted
gross income of such district.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The calculation of the adjusted gross income of a school district
shall not include the adjusted gross income of the one-half of one
percent of the taxpayers in such a school district who have the
greatest adjusted gross incomes and shall not include the adjusted gross
income of the one-half percent of the taxpayers in such school
district who have the lowest adjusted gross income.

JUSTIFICATION:
The State Aid formula was established to help provide an objective
method to fairly allocate our State's limited education dollars. It
attempts to identify, in a fair manner, each district's ability to
fund education by measuring wealth. To help assure that goal, the
formula has been modified numerous times since its inception.

Unfortunately, due to an existing quirk in the formula, districts with
h one or more atypical high earning individuals can find their average
income radically skewed. Their higher perceived wealth leads to
lower State aid and the unfair result of higher property taxes for
everyone in the district. This is not in keeping with the intent
of the formula.

In a district not currently affected by this quirk, if a single very
wealthy individual moved into the district or even if a resident
won a lottery jackpot, State aid to the district could be drastically
reduced, unfairly raising, the property taxes of the typical
resident. This is neither logical nor fair.

By basing school aid formulas on total wealth in given districts
without understanding the income distribution within these districts
current state aid formulas penalize the majority of residents in
so-called high wealth districts. This legislation seeks to remedy
this inequity by removing the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of both the
top and bottom one-half of one percent of taxpayers in a school
district. By removing these statistical outliers from a school
district's
wealth equations, a more accurate wealth picture is presented for the
purposes of calculating state school aid.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2011-12 S.3800; 2009-10 S.2728/A.3275.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.


EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

S1552-2013 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                    1552

                         2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                                 (PREFILED)

                               January 9, 2013
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by  Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
    printed to be committed to the Committee on Education

  AN ACT to amend the  education  law,  in  relation  to  school  district
    adjusted  gross  income  for  purposes  of determining the alternative
    pupil wealth ratio and combined wealth ratio

    THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section  1.  Subparagraph 1 of paragraph b of subdivision 3 of section
  3602 of the education law, as amended by section 13 of part B of chapter
  57 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:

    (1) "Alternate pupil wealth ratio" shall mean the number  computed  to
  three  decimals without rounding obtained when the adjusted gross income
  of a school district for the calendar year two years prior to the calen-
  dar year in which the base year began divided by the total wealth  pupil
  units of such district is divided by the statewide adjusted gross income
  per  total  wealth  pupil  unit. Such statewide average gross income per
  pupil shall be established each year by the commissioner  and  shall  be
  transmitted to school districts. Such statewide average shall be rounded
  to the nearest hundredth and shall include the adjusted gross income and
  total wealth pupil units of all school districts eligible for aid pursu-
  ant  to  this  section  except  central  high  school districts. For the
  purposes of calculating such statewide average the  data  for  the  city
  school  district  of  the  city of New York shall be citywide data.  THE
  CALCULATION OF THE ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL  NOT
  INCLUDE  THE ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME OF THE ONE-HALF OF ONE PERCENT OF THE
  TAXPAYERS IN SUCH SCHOOL DISTRICT WHO HAVE THE GREATEST  ADJUSTED  GROSS
  INCOMES, AND SHALL NOT INCLUDE THE ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME OF THE ONE-HALF
  OF  ONE  PERCENT  OF  THE TAXPAYERS IN SUCH SCHOOL DISTRICT WHO HAVE THE
  LOWEST ADJUSTED GROSS INCOMES.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD06174-01-3