New Laws 2009

Editor’s Note: Each year prior to NYSSBA’s Annual Business Meeting, we provide readers with a compendium of state legislation passed and signed into law this year that significantly affects public education. This special section contains almost all such legislation; a few bills were still awaiting gubernatorial action when On Board went to press. They are listed at the end of the section. This listing does not, of course, include any legislation that might be passed at a special session of the Legislature anticipated for later this month. This report was compiled by Governmental Relations Representative Quinn Morris.

2009-10 STATE BUDGET

Includes:
Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2009 – Article VII Language Bill
Chapter 53 of the Laws of 2009 - Appropriations Bill

Deficit Reduction Assessment (DRA)

The Legislature eliminated the planned $1.1 billion Deficit Reduction Assessment through the use of federal economic recovery funding. As a result, foundation (operating) aid remains the same during the 2009-10 school year.

Foundation Aid Phase-in

Foundation aid was maintained at 2008-09 levels ($14.8 billion) in both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. School districts will be forced to absorb the full cost of inflationary increases both this year and next, resulting in higher local property taxes and in some cases, staff layoffs. State leaders say they intend to fully phase-in foundation aid, but not until 2013-14 due to the state’s deteriorating fiscal condition. The original schedule would have fully phased-in this formula in 2010-11. This amounts to a three-year delay in promised resources.

Expense-Based (Reimbursable) Aids

The Legislature fully funded all expense-based aids, including transportation aid (up $103 million), building aid (up $204 million), BOCES aid (up $47 million) and aid for special education students who require specialized school placements (Private Excess Cost Aid, up $24 million). As a result, districts that have spent funds in anticipation of state reimbursement will receive the amount they expected in state aid.

Special Act School Districts

Special act school districts received a one-time appropriation of $1.3 million to address annual shortfalls in funding.

Pre-school Special Education

Federal economic stimulus funding allowed the Legislature to reject the governor’s proposal to have school districts pay 15 percent of preschool special education costs, which will save school districts an additional $185 million in 2009-10.

Contract for Excellence

The Legislature continued the Contract for Excellence Program (C4E) for 2009-10. This program requires 32 school districts with academic shortcomings (including all of the Big 5 city school districts) to maintain funding levels on specific proven education programs (such as class size reduction) to assist in improving student performance levels. However, school districts that are no longer C4E schools will have their C4E funding eliminated, leaving districts with unfunded programs that were recently required by the state.

Charter Schools

Tuition payments made by school districts to charter schools was frozen at 2008-09 levels for the upcoming school year, reflecting that Foundation Aid is also being maintained at 2008-09 levels. Charter schools that experience enrollment increases will receive funding for those additional pupils.

Teacher Centers

Funding was maintained for this $40 million discretionary grant program that offers both online and classroom-based professional development activities for teachers.

STAR

The Legislature eliminated the STAR rebate program as well as the corresponding enhanced New York City STAR tax credit, producing savings of $1.5 billion. After this action, the basic STAR exemption program and New York City STAR credit continue to provide $3.3 billion in property tax relief. Also, the Legislature did not include executive budget proposal to change the “floor” reduction – the maximum reduction in STAR benefits that can occur as a result of changes in assessed value or market value. The governor had proposed dropping the maximum adjustment from 18 percent to 11 percent.

SIGNIFICANT CHAPTERS OF 2009

Labor and Labor Relations

Improper Labor Practices
Chapter 29 of the Laws of 2009
Extends until 2010 the right of parties to a collective bargaining agreement to seek injunctive relief if there is reasonable cause to believe that an improper practice has occurred and that irreparable harm would occur unless a court or the Public Employment Relations Board intervenes. This legislation has been enacted on an annual basis for the past 25 years.

Benefits to Retirees
Chapter 30 of the Laws of 2009
Extends the effectiveness of chapter 729 of the laws of 1994, prohibiting a school district, BOCES, or vocational education and extension board from diminishing the health insurance benefits provided to, or the contributions made for, health insurance coverage for retirees and their dependents unless the reduction applies equally to active employees. This legislation has also passed annually for the past 25 years and is based on a judicial determination.

Increased Take Home Pay
Chapter 41 of the Laws of 2009
Provides the mechanism needed to implement the creation of the supplemental pension reserve, known as the Increased Take Home Pay (ITHP). When originally enacted, the provisions contained language that essentially voided the ITHP. The amended law allows the ITHP to be paid out and corrects situations in which calculations and payouts of the benefits were interrupted due to an accidental repeal of the plan in 2004. This chapter took effective immediately and is retroactive to Oct. 26, 2004.

Public Retirement System
Chapter 79 of the Laws of 2009
Extends for an additional two years a moratorium on negotiating retirement benefits for public employees and allows for increased take-home pay via the employer assuming, in whole or in part, employee contributions for retirement. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on July 1, 2009.

Conditional Appointments by Districts and BOCES
Chapter 179 of the Laws of 2009
Allows school districts, charter schools, and BOCES to continue to hire staff prior to receiving criminal background clearance from state and federal authorities. This chapter took retroactive effect and is deemed to have been in full force and effect on July 1, 2009.

Teachers’ Retirement System
Chapter 220 of the Laws of 2009
Authorizes the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) to make distributions to individuals who left TRS at least seven years earlier, have not claimed the funds, and have accounts worth $1,000 or less. Such distributions are intended to relieve an administrative burden of managing small accounts and will not occur if the former TRS member has died or retired. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on July 14, 2009.

Heath Insurance
Chapter 240 of the Laws of 2009
Expands access to health insurance by allowing unmarried children through age 29 who reside or work in New York State to be covered under a parent’s group health insurance policy regardless of whether the child is financially independent. This chapter took effect Sept. 1, 2009 and applies only to contracts issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended on or after that date.

School Health and Safety

Emergency Alerts
Chapter 31 of the Laws of 2009
Enacts the “public schools emergency alert act,” which applies only to New York City public schools. The act requires an emergency alert notification system to be created using a combination of text messages, e-mails and phone calls in order to notify and instruct staff, parents and the community during emergency situations within public school buildings. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on May 19, 2009; however, the city has until Jan. 1, 2010 to implement such emergency alert notification system.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Chapter 158 of the Laws of 2009
Extends provisions of the state Education Law to comply with multiple federal laws including the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The state’s continued compliance with these sections of law is necessary to maintain federal funding. This chapter took effective immediately upon the governor’s signature and is retroactive to June 30, 2009.

Swine Flu
Chapter 194 of the Laws of 2009
Directs the commissioner of education to disregard school closings due to the H1N1 (swine flu) virus epidemic when assessing whether schools held classes for 180 days – the minimum needed to be awarded the full amount of state aid. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on July 11, 2009.

School District Operations

Municipalities Serial Bond Issuance
Chapter 186 of the Laws of 2009
Extends provisions authorizing municipalities (including school districts) to pay the first installment on an issue of serial bonds two years after the date of issuance of such bonds or two years after the date of the first bond anticipation note or notes issued in anticipation of such bonds, whichever is sooner. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on July 11, 2009.

Federal Medicaid

Compliance with Federal Requirements
Chapter 205 of the Laws of 2009
Ensures compliance with federal requirements that only the state Medicaid agency may make Medicaid payments for school supportive health services to school districts and municipalities. This chapter took effect on July 1, 2009.

Special Education

Compliance with Federal IDEA
Chapter 206 of the Laws of 2009
Assures that New York State will continue to be in compliance with the requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. As a condition of federal funding under Part B of IDEA, the U.S. Department of Education has required that the state provide an assurance that the state and its local educational agencies (i.e., school districts) will, by July 1, 2009, be in compliance with the requirements of federal law as amended in 2004. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on July 11, 2009 and is retroactive to June 30, 2009.

Local Bills

Bus Repair and Maintenance (Madison-Oneida BOCES and Madison-Cortland ARC)
Chapter 47 of the Laws of 2009
Extends by two years the authorization of the Madison-Oneida BOCES to provide repair and maintenance services on the fleet of buses owned and operated by the Madison-Cortland ARC previously set to expire on July 26, 2011. This chapter took effective immediately upon the ggovernor’s signature on May 29, 2009 and will expire on July 26, 2013.

School Reconstruction Project (City of Buffalo)
Chapter 209 of the Laws of 2009
Authorizes the fifth phase of school reconstruction projects in the city of Buffalo by the Joint Schools Construction Board (JSCB). This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on July 11, 2009.

Mayoral Control (New York City)
Chapter 345 of the Laws of 2009
Reorganizes the New York City school construction authority, board of education and community boards to follow a plan of mayoral control in line with such previous control which had lapsed in June 2009 upon the Legislature’s failure to renew. The new law enhances and clarifies the authority of the board of education. This act took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on Aug. 10, 2009 and is retroactive to have been in full force and effect on and after June 30, 2009.

Parkland Transfer (Union-Endicott school district)
Chapter 460 of the laws of 2009
Authorizes the Union-Endicott school district to discontinue use of certain parklands in exchange for the dedication of other lands as parklands.

Real Property Tax
Chapter 382 of the Laws of 2009
Allows special assessing units in the county of Nassau to adjust and limit the current base proportions to be determined by taxes based on such unit’s 2009 assessment roll. The limit caps the maximum class growth rate at 1 percent. The law prevents an overly harsh shift of the property tax burden onto residential homeowners. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on Aug. 26, 2009 and applies to the levy of taxes based on the 2009 assessment roll.

Real Property Tax (cont.)
Chapter 384 of the Laws of 2009
Allows special assessing units besides cities to adjust their current base proportions based on such special assessing unit’s 2009 assessment roll. The limit caps the maximum class growth at 1 percent. This chapter took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on Aug. 26, 2009 and applies to the levy of taxes based on the 2009 assessment roll.

Chapter 410 of the Laws of 2009
Expands the authority of the Office of General Services (OGS) to purchase and deliver electricity and renewable energy as centralized services to state agencies, public authorities and public benefit corporations. This authority would allow OGS to leverage the value of aggregated purchasing and increase the state’s use of renewable energy. Additionally OGS will be able to supply alternative fuels for state agencies’ motor vehicle fleets. The law’s support of aggregate purchasing and renewable energy, resulting in large scale savings is seen as a precursor to similar authority for school districts. This act took effect immediately upon the governor’s signature on Aug. 26, 2009 and shall remain in effect until its expiration and repeal on July 31, 2011.

SIGNIFICANT VETOES OF 2009

Transportation

A number of individual school districts were the subject of legislation that would have legalized, validated, ratified and confirmed certain transportation contracts for such districts. All of the legislation passed both houses of the Legislature but were vetoed by the governor as follows:
Veto Memo 16 of 2009 – Whitehall school district (transportation to state school for the blind in Batavia)
Veto Memo 19 of 2009 – Eden school district
Veto Memo 25 of 2009 – South Colonie school district
Veto Memo 54 of 2009 – Canaseraga school district
Veto Memo 56 of 2009 – Hamburg school district
Veto Memo 58 of 2009 – Salem school district

Building Aid

A number of individual school districts were the subject of legislation to legalize actions with respect to certain building aid contracts for such districts. All of the legislation passed both houses of the Legislature but was vetoed by the governor as follows:
Veto Memo 11 of 2009 – Port Washington school district
Veto Memo 15 of 2009 – Rocky Point school district
Veto Memo 52 of 2009 – Dundee school district
Veto Memo 67 of 2009 – Fredonia school district

Overpayments

A number of individual school districts were the subject of legislation that would have provided for an extension for the repayment of certain excess state aid payments made to such school districts. All of the legislation passed both houses of the Legislature but were vetoed by the governor as follows:
Veto Memo 22 of 2009 – Highland Falls school district
Veto Memo 45 of 2009 – North Bellmore school district
Veto Memo 51 of 2009 – Southern Cayuga school district
Veto Memo 53 of 2009 – Copiague school district
Veto Memo 55 of 2009 – Brocton school district
Veto Memo 74 of 2009 – Bolivar-Richburg school district

Real Property Tax

Veto Memo 17
This legislation would have provided for limiting the base proportion for the 2009-10 assessment roll in Suffolk County.

Accelerated Payments

Veto Memo 20 of 2009
This legislation would have provided for a schedule of accelerated payments of state education aid to the of Mount Vernon school district in order to provide financial stability.

Tax Certiorari

Veto Memo 70 of 2009
This legislation would have provided for the recalculation of school aid payments to the Marlboro school district as a result of certain tax certiorari proceedings and would have provided for a 30-year period of probable usefulness for the payment of judgments by such school district related to such tax certiorari proceedings.

Special Act District

Veto Memo 75 of 2009
Defines tuition for the 2010-11 school year. This bill would have increased the undesignated fund balance of special act school districts from 2 percent to 4 percent to correspond with those of other school districts.

PASSED LEGISLATION – AWAITING ACTION

At presstime, 20 bills remain which have been passed by both houses and not delivered to the governor’s office. There were no bills within this group of significant importance to NYSSBA.