New York State School Boards Association 2010 Position Statements

I. School Board Governance and Authority

1. NYSSBA opposes charter schools that are not authorized or requested by local school districts. (2007)
2. A school district should be able to continue or modify the suspension of a student transferred from another district. (2006)
3. NYSSBA opposes state and/or federal legislation that would provide tuition tax credits or educational vouchers for private or parochial schools. (2006)
4. The Education Law should be amended to enable school districts to make determinations concerning student residency, notwithstanding previously rendered judicial determinations. The board’s residency determination would be able to be appealed to the commissioner of education, who will not be bound by any prior court order.  (2007)
5. The requirement for holding a special election to fill a vacancy on a BOCES board should be eliminated (Educ. Law §1950 (2-a)(f)). (2008)
6. Public school districts should have the same access to tuition-paying international (F-1 visa) students as private schools have, and to enable these students to remain in the district for their entire secondary school experience. (2008)  
7. Special act school district boards of education should be able to participate in the process of determining two-person public member criteria selection of school board members. (2005)

II. State Aid

1. The governor and state Legislature should reform the state education funding system in a manner that provides for:

• Adequacy – sufficient resources should be provided to assure the opportunity for a sound basic education for all students.
• Equity – a foundation level of state aid should be distributed for every student that is based on the actual cost of providing a sound basic education that fairly compensates for differences in community costs, needs and resources. The legislature should preclude municipalities from using state aid to replace local education resources.
• Flexibility – the percentage of operating aid should be increased and boards of education should retain the discretion to determine what educational programs best address local needs. Local communities should not be restrained from determining the level of funding they will expend to support educational programs.
• Predictability – timely passage of the state budget and stable funding distributed through a consistent, uniformly applied formula that would not require annual manipulation by the governor and Legislature and that would facilitate long-term planning by school districts should be provided.
• Clarity – a funding formula that is easily explained and understood should be established. (2006)

1. NYSSBA should support the creation, continuation and expansion of energy efficiency and green schools financial incentives for public schools. (2007)

III. Mandate Relief

1. There should be no new unfunded and under-funded state mandates on local school districts. (2008) 
2. Full funding of state mandates should be provided in law. (2005)
3. School districts should be exempted from the Wicks Law (Gen. Mun. Law §101). (2009)
4.  NYSSBA should continue its efforts to prevent the reduction of federal Medicaid reimbursements to school districts providing school-based medical services to Medicaid eligible, disabled students. (2007)
5. New York State should fully fund the writing and scoring of all mandatory state tests for grades 3-8.  In the event that the state should pass this cost back to the federal government, NYSSBA will support that decision and advocate on behalf of the state’s action. (2007)
6. State law should be amended to permit public scrutiny of charter school financial operations by ensuring disclosure of expenditure of public funds by either the charter school or its education management company. (2006)
7. New York State should sue the federal government over its failure to fulfill funding requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, including the act's overbearing requirements, its focus on standardized testing rather than quality instruction, and other appropriate issues. (2005)

IV. Real Property Taxes

1. NYSSBA will seek legislation to relieve New York State’s excessive reliance on the real property tax to fund public education. The legislation must address:

• Fairness in generating appropriate federal and state revenue levels
• Stability to ensure the fiscal viability of school districts and predict funding levels
• Integrity of the real property tax. (2006)

1. NYSSBA will oppose any effort, attempt, or action by New York State or any other agencies or authorities to fund state interests by shifting the cost to school districts, and seek repeal of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) payroll tax passed during the 2009 legislation session. (2009)
2. NYSSBA will seek legislation to repeal a school district’s obligation to refund taxes levied on behalf of a school district public library or a free public library to property owners as a result of an administrative correction on a tax roll, or a court-ordered assessment reduction. (2008)

V. Pension Reform

1. Legislation to reform the current state retirement system should be based on the following
   Principles of 21st Century Retirement Benefits:
   a. Portability. Given the current mobility of the workforce, employees must have ownership of their retirement plans and the ability to elect a retirement option that allows benefits to accrue across multiple employment opportunities both within and outside of the state retirement system.
   b. Predictability. Employees and employers should have the ability to predict the cost of retirement benefits, resulting in a greater ability to make appropriate planning decisions.
   c. Affordability. As stewards of public funds and public education, school districts must balance the need to sustain viable retirement benefits with the ability of a community to provide continued support of the educational program.
   d. Flexibility. The needs of the current generation of employees demand greater employee choice in the selection of an appropriate retirement plan.
   e. Acceptable Risk. Both the current (defined benefit) retirement system and defined contribution retirement plans carry risks.  The current system provides an insufficient death benefit and an inability to transfer accumulated assets at death. The success of defined contribution plans rests more heavily on market success, offering the possibility of greater or lesser return for employees.  Retirement benefits should present an acceptable level of risk to both employees and the employer.  (2006)
2. Boards of education and boards of cooperative educational services should be allowed to establish pension contribution reserve funds for all employees and be able to deposit surplus monies into such funds. (2006)
3. School district employees should be able to select enrollment in either an existing defined benefit retirement system or a defined contribution retirement plan currently offered to employees of the State University of New York and the City University of New York. Employees currently vested in a defined benefit retirement system who elect transfer to a defined contribution plan would retain credit and enrollment rights up to the date of making the election. Contributions after the date of transfer would be made to the defined contribution plan.  Non-vested employees would be allowed to transfer employer and employee contributions made up to the date of election to the defined contribution plan. (2006)

VI. School Safety

1. NYSSBA supports the maintenance of rigorous and consistently enforceable immunization standards, with exceptions for medical contra-indication or sincere religious objections only, and opposes the expansion of exemptions to include general philosophical objections. (2006)
2. There should be a predator-free zone around schools, and Level 3 (high-risk) sex offenders should be required by law to keep at least 1,000 feet from school property. (2005)

VII. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

1. The State Education Department should be required to adopt a procedure to respond to weather or other emergency-related cancellations of Regents examinations. (2009)
2. The commissioner of education should be required to provide school districts with test score reports at least two weeks prior to lifting the press embargo on the release of the reports in the media. (2008)
3. The Board of Regents should be required to restructure the timing and eligibility requirements for component retests to better serve students in pursuit of the state’s more rigorous graduation requirements. (2007)
4. The State Education Department should restore its past practice of waiving ELA (English as a second language) testing for students with limited proficiency in English who have received less than three years of ELA instruction until such time as the federal No Child Left Behind law is reauthorized with modified testing requirements for students with limited English proficiency.  (2007)
5. The State Education Department should return to its past practice of providing testing modifications for such students with disabilities whose IEPs (individualized education programs) are not congruent with the materials being tested until such time as the federal No Child Left Behind law is reauthorized with modified testing requirements for students with disabilities. (2007)
6. The Board of Regents should adopt a pre-equating test development model to ensure that students get the results of their Regents examination in a timely manner. (2007)
7. Pilot alternative assessment programs should be created for districts whose performance has exceeded state standards for at least two consecutive years. These programs should include cooperative, meaningful, disaggregated assessment procedures devised in concert with the State Education Department. (2006)
8. Alternative assessments for the state learning standards should be established, subject to reasonable state review, with an appeals process. (2005)

VIII. Special Education

1. Certified special educators who teach core academic subjects to students with disabilities should not be required to demonstrate that they are “highly qualified” in every core subject they teach (federal No Child Left Behind Act). (2009)
2. School districts and BOCES should be reimbursed within the next school year for the full cost of providing approved preschool programs for students with disabilities. (2005)
3. Federal law should be changed to preclude an administrative or court order of reimbursement to a parent for their child’s tuition for a non-approved private school from becoming the student’s current placement which automatically obligates the district to pay the student’s tuition in such facilities as long as the litigation continues. (2007)
4. Payment of tuition and fees for students attending the state schools for the blind and deaf should be the responsibility of the school district in which the family of the student resides. (2006)
5. NYSSBA seeks legislation to restore the burden of proof in special education impartial due process hearings by placing such burden on the party which initiates the proceeding. (2009)
6. NYSSBA seeks legislation to restore the one-year statute of limitation to special education impartial due process hearings. (2009)

IX. Local Management and Budget

1. NYSSBA shall support efforts to ensure fiscal oversight of charter schools by the state. (2008)
2. NYSSBA seeks legislation permitting school districts to establish, fund, and use an energy reserve fund subject to the passage of a resolution by a board of education. (2008)
3. A school district under a contingency budget should be allowed to purchase capital equipment in those instances when the district can demonstrate that replacing it is more cost-effective than repairing the current equipment. (2009)
4. NYSSBA supportsthe continued, increased appropriation of the state share of the district superintendent's salary. (2006)
5. School districts should be able to create a new reserve fund to finance other post-employment benefits (OPEB) as envisioned under GASB 45 (Government Accounting Standards Board). (2006)
6. The BOCES district superintendent's salary cap should be repealed (Educ Law § 1950 (4)(a)). (2006)

X. Employee Relations

1. School districts should not be required to pay increments on salary schedules after the expiration of those agreements, as currently stipulated under the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law. (2007)
2. The governor and state Legislature should reform the system of teacher discipline in a manner that:

1. Establishes a state hearing panel to hear and decide 3020-a cases;
2. Authorizes school districts to terminate a tenured teacher without a 3020-a hearing if:
   1. they have been convicted of child abuse in an educational setting, or
   2. their teaching certificate has been revoked by the State Education Department, or
   3. they have failed to obtain permanent certification in the requisite time period;
3. Clarifies that teachers must cooperate in the school district investigation of 3020-a charges;
4. Either eliminates paid suspension for teachers awaiting 3020-a proceedings, or caps the length of time they are paid; and
5. Requires teachers facing 3020-a hearings to disclose the nature of their defense prior to the hearing. (2007)

XI. NYSSBA Leadership Responsibilities

1. NYSSBA strives to uphold a code of conduct consistent with its dedication to children, learning, community, members of NYSSBA, and representatives of school districts and BOCES in order to promote public confidence in schools and advance the attainment of district goals. This code of conduct is on the NYSSBA website at www.nyssba.org. (2008)
2. To ensure a viable State Education Department that is able to provide services and promote the effective use of technology and other strategies, NYSSBA will advocate for the improved effectiveness of the department’s operations, including increasing funding and maintaining appropriate staffing levels. (2006)
3. NYSSBA shall take a leadership role in encouraging school boards to develop successful strategies for integrating respect for cultural differences into the educational experience. In carrying out this mission, NYSSBA shall:
   • Encourage school boards to ensure that the importance of acceptance of others who are unique and different because of racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, disability and religiously related reasons is part of the curriculum.
   • Encourage school boards to invite discussion among students, parents, staff and the community regarding how hatred and bigotry based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability and religion endanger the pluralistic and diversity principles for which this nation stands.
   • Encourage school boards to involve students, parents, staff and the community in developing and supporting education which invites understanding and acceptance of others' differences and which aims to eradicate hatred and bigotry. (2009)