S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8879
I N S E N A T E
May 31, 2018
___________
Introduced by Sen. BROOKS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
AN ACT to establish the residential real property tax relief for public
education task force
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that the
current primary and secondary education funding system, which is based
largely upon real property taxation, is antiquated and creates serious
disparities in educational opportunity and inequities with regard to
distribution of the system's financial burden. The quality of education
that children receive varies widely by geographic region, as does the
opportunity for children to participate in extracurricular activities.
In addition, taxpayers throughout the state receive real property tax
bills from their local school districts based on the value of their
homes, which is subject to multiple factors beyond their control, rather
than their financial ability to pay, creating serious regional
distortions in the relative cost of living. The legislature finds that
these distortions are greatly exacerbated by the recent enactment of the
federal tax cuts and jobs act of 2017, which will limit the deductibili-
ty of state and local taxes to 10,000 dollars beginning in the next
fiscal year, effectively eliminating one of the few mitigating factors
against high property taxes for homeowners in certain regions of the
state, and creating undue hardship for families throughout the state.
The legislature further finds that our children should not be penalized
based upon the geographic location of their home, nor should financial
support for the educational system fall more heavily on those who are
less able to bear the burden. The legislature therefore orders that a
task force be created to conduct a comprehensive examination of the
current funding system, and to make recommendations for a long-term,
statewide solution that will shift the base resource of primary and
secondary education funding from real property taxes to the state
personal income tax. Such new funding methodology must be flexible
enough to ensure efficient responsiveness to certain dynamic factors
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16008-01-8
S. 8879 2
with regard to school aid from the state of New York, including but not
limited to the changing demographic profile of the student body of indi-
vidual schools; technology advancements and requirements; school safety
and security; mandated educational programs; staff development; programs
regarding drugs, bullying, social media, gang violence and other similar
programs that emerge in response to salient issues; and changing federal
policies that directly impact all New Yorkers.
§ 2. Residential real property tax relief for public education task
force. There is hereby created the residential real property tax relief
for public education task force that shall consist of 43 members.
Members serving in ex-officio capacity shall include: the commissioner
of the education department or his or her designee; the chair of the
state board of regents, or his or her designee; the commissioner of the
department of taxation and finance or his or her designee; the commis-
sioner of the department of homeland security and emergency services or
his or her designee; and the director of budget or his or her designee.
Appointed members shall be appointed as follows: ten members appointed
by the governor; six members shall be appointed by the temporary presi-
dent of the senate; six members shall be appointed by the speaker of the
assembly; four members shall be appointed by the minority leader of the
senate; four members shall be appointed by the minority leader of the
assembly; two members shall be appointed by New York state united teach-
ers; two members shall be appointed by the New York state school boards
association; two members shall be appointed by the association of school
superintendents; and two members shall be appointed by the business
council of New York state.
§ 3. Qualifications of appointed members. (1) Of the ten members
appointed by the governor, four shall have been certified by the depart-
ment of education and have at least ten years of classroom teaching
experience at the primary or secondary levels, one of whom shall have
such experience in a small city school system; one of whom shall have
such experience in a school system located within a county having a
population between 1,300,000 and 1,650,000 as determined by the latest
available census estimate by the United States bureau of the census that
is not wholly within a city; one of whom shall have such experience in a
school district that is not a small city school district, located in a
county not wholly contained within a city with a population between
300,000 and 1,000,000 as determined by the latest available census esti-
mate by the United States bureau of the census; and one of whom shall
have such experience in a school district located in a county with a
population of less than two hundred thousand, as determined by the
latest available census estimate by the United States bureau of the
census; four shall have at least ten years experience in a school fiscal
or budgetary capacity, one of whom shall have such experience in a small
city school system, one of whom shall have such experience in a school
system located within a county having a population between 1,300,000 and
1,650,000 as determined by the latest available census estimate by the
United States bureau of the census that is not wholly within a city; one
of whom shall have such experience in a school district that is not a
small city school district, located in a county not wholly contained
within a city with a population between 300,000 and 1,000,000, as deter-
mined by the latest available census estimate by the United States
bureau of the census, and one of whom shall have such experience in a
school district located in a county with a population of less than
200,000, as determined by the latest available census estimate by the
United States bureau of the census; and two shall be parents of students
S. 8879 3
in the state's public education system, one of whom shall be the parent
of a student at the primary school level at the time of appointment, and
one of whom shall be the parent of a student at the secondary school
level at the time of appointment;
(2) Of the six members appointed by the temporary president of the
senate, three shall have been certified by the department of education
and have at least ten years of classroom teaching experience in the
state's public school system, at least one of whom shall have such expe-
rience at the primary level, one of whom shall have such experience at
the secondary level, and one of whom shall have gained such experience,
or be currently teaching in a small city public school system, one shall
have at least ten years experience in a school fiscal or budgetary
capacity, one shall have at least ten years experience in a school
administrative capacity, and one shall be the parent of a student in the
public primary or secondary school system;
(3) Of the six members appointed by the speaker of the assembly, three
shall have been certified by the department of education and have at
least ten years of classroom teaching experience in the state's public
school system, at least one of whom shall have such experience at the
primary level, one of whom shall have such experience at the secondary
level, and one of whom shall have gained such experience, or be current-
ly teaching in a small city public school system, one shall have experi-
ence in a school fiscal or budgetary capacity, one shall have at least
ten years experience in a school administrative capacity, and one shall
be the parent of a student in the primary or secondary public school
system at the time of appointment;
(4) Of the four members appointed by the minority leader of the
senate, two shall have been certified by the department of education and
have at least ten years of classroom teaching experience at the primary
or secondary level, one shall be the parent of a student in the public
school system, and one shall have at least ten years experience in a
school fiscal or budgetary capacity; and
(5) Of the four members appointed by the minority leader of the
senate, two shall have been certified by the department of education and
have at least ten years of classroom teaching experience at the primary
or secondary level, one shall be the parent of a student in the public
school system, and one shall have at least ten years experience in a
school fiscal or budgetary capacity.
§ 4. Powers and duties. (1) The residential real property tax relief
for public education task force shall, over the course of the three
years subsequent to this section having become law, conduct an in-depth
analysis of the funding system for primary and secondary education that
will make recommendations on the implementation of a new methodology
that will change the current system paradigm from one highly dependent
on local property taxes to one that is largely state-funded through
personal income taxes. Such analysis shall include, but not be limited
to (i) a historical examination of the current system, demonstrating the
etymology of the current funding system; (ii) an examination of regional
cost factors and their relation to regional student opportunity dispari-
ties; (iii) the establishment of educational economic development zones,
as defined in section five of this act; (iv) the development of a
revised school funding program for all special needs and special educa-
tion students based on the regional cost factors within respective
educational economic development zones; (v) the establishment of best
practices programs purchasing, budget and fiscal plan development, bene-
fits management and the management of reserves for each educational
S. 8879 4
economic zone; (vi) the development of a new methodology that will shift
the fundamental funding source for primary and secondary education from
real property taxation to the state personal income tax, such methodol-
ogy shall take the conditional variables of each educational economic
zone into account in its determination of the distribution of state
funds; (vii) the development of best practice objectives in aid distrib-
ution to ensure that funding in all districts is put to the best and
most efficient use; and (viii) the provision of an implementation strat-
egy for the new methodology that will limit as much as feasibly possible
any disruption during the transition.
(2) The commissioner of education shall serve as the chair of the task
force. The task force is authorized to consult with education and taxa-
tion and academic professionals in addition to its members, and to
compensate such expert participation for actual incurred expenses. The
task force may utilize agency staff, space and equipment as necessary.
Task force members shall receive no compensation for their partic-
ipation, other than for actual incurred expenses.
(3) The task force shall meet in its entirety in July and December
each year at a single physical location, and the chair shall have the
power to call additional meetings as he or she deems necessary and
appropriate. Electronic participation shall be permitted for those
members who are unable to attend in person. An agenda for each meeting
shall be made public at least two days prior to the meeting date; meet-
ings shall be visually recorded; and meeting minutes shall be kept.
(4) The task force shall publish a report containing all research
findings and recommendations, three years after the date on which this
act shall have become law. Such report shall outline and provide crit-
ical detail of each task force recommendation, and a comprehensive tran-
sition and implementation strategy. The task force shall transmit the
report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the
speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the senate and the
minority leader of the assembly no later than three years after the date
that this act shall have become a law.
(5) The task force shall establish a website on the internet, on which
it shall save and make available all documentation, provide a venue for
public comment, provide visual access to its meetings, meeting agendas,
minutes, and provide a copy of its report.
§ 5. Educational economic zones. Educational economic zones shall mean
geographical regions determined by unique variables including, but not
limited to (i) individual and cumulative personal income; (ii) the level
of employment as determined by the United States department of commerce,
bureau of labor statistics for the twelve-month period prior to January
first of the calendar year in which the school budget begins; (iii)
local industry, as identified by the United States bureau of the census
through the North American industry classification system; (iv) infras-
tructure construction and maintenance costs; (v) educational support
services; and (vi) student demographics, including special education
students and those with special needs.
§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
