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BILL NUMBER:S570

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to limiting the contingency budget of a school district

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: This legislation would prevent school districts from proposing a contingency budget that is greater than the lowest proposed budget defeated by the voters of that district.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: This bill amends subdivision 4 of section 2023 of the Education Law, adding a new criterion for school districts to follow when proposing a contingency budget.

JUSTIFICATION: Every year, school districts across the state (with the exception of large city and special act school districts) put forth budgets for voter approval for the following school year. Should a proposed budget be rejected by voters, the school district may put forth a second budget for voter approval or adopt a contingency budget not subject to voter approval. A district whose second proposed budget is rejected also revert to a contingency budget.

Section 2023 of the Education Law requires that contingency budgets conform to certain limitations. Among those limitations are that any spending increase under a contingency budget not exceed the lesser of 4% or the Consumer Price Index x 120 percent. Despite these limitations, it is unclear whether a school district could propose a contingency budget that is greater than a proposed budget rejected by the voters. This situation appeared to be developing in the Schenectady school district during the 2009 school budget voting process, but was averted after a canvas of the voting machines revealed a narrow victory on the second school budget vote by the district's voters.

This bill will prevent situations like the one in Schenectady from arising again by clarifying that a contingency budget can't be greater than the lowest school budget proposed by the district and defeated by the voters.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2010 - S.6144 - Referred to Education

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the first of May next succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________

570

2011-2012 Regular Sessions

IN SENATE

(PREFILED)

January 5, 2011
___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  KLEIN  -- 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 limiting  the  contin-
  gency budget of a school district

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

  Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section 2023 of the  educa-
tion law, as added by section 24 of part A of chapter 436 of the laws of
1997, is amended to read as follows:
  a. The contingency budget shall not result in a percentage increase in
total  spending  over  the  district's  total  spending under the school
district budget for the prior school year that exceeds  the  lesser  of:
(i) the result obtained when one hundred twenty percent is multiplied by
the  percentage  increase  in  the consumer price index, with the result
rounded to two decimal places; [or] (ii)  four  percent;  OR  (III)  THE
DOLLAR  AMOUNT OF THE LOWEST, PROPOSED, DEFEATED BUDGET FOR THE APPLICA-
BLE SCHOOL YEAR. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS PARAGRAPH, THE SAME  TYPES  OF
EXPENDITURES  EXCLUDED  FROM  THE  CALCULATION OF TOTAL SPENDING FOR THE
PROPOSED BUDGET SHALL BE EXCLUDED WHEN CALCULATING THE TOTAL SPENDING IN
THE CONTINGENCY BUDGET.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of  May  next  succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD04849-01-1