Senate Bill S4183

                                BILL NUMBER:S4183

TITLE OF BILL:
An  act  to amend the education law, in relation to disregarding certain
payments required to be made  by  a  board  of  cooperative  educational
services  from  the  calculation  of  total spending for the purposes of
adopting contingency budgets

PURPOSE:
This bill permits school districts that are operating on  a  contingency
budget  to  exclude  the expenditure for BOCES capital projects from the
statutory cap on contingency budgets.

SUMMARY:
Subdivision 4 of Section 2023 of the Education law  is  amended  in  the
following ways:

Section  1.  amends  the  final  subparagraph (vii) of paragraph b which
outlines the types of expenditures which are to be disregarded in deter-
mining total spending when factoring a  levy  under  contingency  budget
circumstances to add "; and".

Section  2. renumbers the last subparagraph (vii) of paragraph b because
of a redundancy in numbering in the current law. It corrects the  number
to  read "viii" and adds "; and" to the end of the subparagraph to allow
for an additional subparagraph.
              

Section 2. also amends paragraph b to include an additional subparagraph
"ix". The new subparagraph adds BOCES capital projects as,  outlined  in
the  BOCES  law, to the list of expenditures which are to be disregarded
in determining total spending when factoring a  levy  under  contingency
budget circumstances.

Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

JUSTIFICATION:
In  difficult  financial  times  school  districts  find it increasingly
common to see the qualified voters of their district reject  a  proposed
school  budget. Protections in Section 2023 of the Education Law author-
ize the school district to create a contingency budget.   Districts  can
increase  the  contingency  budget over the prior year's budget to cover
regularly increasing costs by 120% of the Consumer Price  Index  or  4%,
whichever is less.

Paragraph  b  of Subdivision 4 of the same section outlines the types of
expenditures which are to be disregarded in determining  total  spending
when factoring an allowable levy under contingency budget circumstances.
Current  law  provides  the  exclusion of capital expenditures resulting
from the construction, acquisition,  reconstruction,  rehabilitation  or
improvement  of  school  facilities,  including  debt  service and lease

expenditures, subject to the approval  of  the  qualified  voters  where
required by law.

However,  the  law  doesn't currently provide the same exclusion for the
same capital expenditures when they are part of a BOCES capital project.

This bill allows BOCES capital expenses to be excluded from the types of
expenditures which determine total spending  in  a  contingency  budget;
therefore  excluding  the expenses from the statutory cap on contingency
budgets.

It is clear and reasonable that the intent of Section 2023 of the Educa-
tion Law was to exclude capital projects from the types of  expenditures
which  determine  total  spending in a contingency budget.  Without this
exclusion in law, school districts which are hurting the most are forced
to payout of their administrative budget for BOCES capital projects.

It's important to consider the mandates each  piece  of  legislation  we
pass  imposes on our schools especially as they may relate to budgeting.
By enacting this legislation, we provide school districts which  are  in
some  of  the  most  desperate need, a necessary tool for survival under
contingency budgets.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S4400-A of 2010 - Reported to Finance

FISCAL IMPACT:
None to State.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.