Provides that the Yonkers city school district shall be eligible to receive an apportionment of funds to be used for services and expenses; directs certain reports to be submitted.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3493A
SPONSOR: Pretlow TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to apportioning funds to the Yonkers city school
district for services and expenses
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to provide the Yonkers City School District
with a portion of the annual State funding they receive earlier in the
fiscal year, for the next 30 years.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill states that, beginning in the 2024-2025 school
year and ending in the 20532054 school year, the Yonkers City School
District may apply annually to receive a portion of the State aid that
they will receive during the fiscal year earlier in the year. The
amount of advanced funding the school district can receive will start at
$5 million for the 2024-2025 school year, and will decrease by one thir-
tieth every year that the school district has this opportunity.
To receive this advanced funding, the Yonkers City School District will
have to submit an application to the Commissioner of the Department of
Education every year between the second Monday in May and four days
after the third Monday in May of the school year in which the school
district will receive the aid. If the Commissioner approves the applica-
tion, the school district will receive the advanced funding on or before
May 31 of that same school year.
The Yonkers City School District may only use this advanced funding to
support its educational programs and to pay for any services, expenses,
or liabilities the school district takes on while performing its educa-
tional work.
The chief fiscal officer and the superintendent of the Yonkers City
School District will be required to provide a monthly fiscal report to
the Commissioner on the first of each month from July 2025 to June 2055.
Additionally, the chief fiscal officer of the school district will be
required to monitor all school district budgets and provide a quarterly
report to the Commissioner, the State Comptroller, the State Division of
Budget, the Chair of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, and the
Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, within sixty days of the end of
each quarter from the 2024-2025 school year through the 2053-2054 school
year.
Section 2 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Yonkers City School District has experienced significant fiscal
challenges in recent years. This bill would help alleviate these chal-
lenges by providing a portion of the annual funding that the school
district will already receive in a year earlier in the year. The amount
of this advanced funding will start at $5 million for the 2024-2025
school year and will decrease annually through the 2053-2054 school year
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022 01/05/22 A3943 referred to education
2019-2020 A1909 referred to Education
2017-2018 A2644 referred to education
2010 - S.7189 (Passed Senate)
01/12/15 referred to education
01/06/16 referred to education
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
$3.98 million for the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3493--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 3, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education -- recommitted to the Committee on Education in
accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT in relation to apportioning funds to the Yonkers city school
district for services and expenses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The Yonkers city school district shall be paid on an accel-
2 erated schedule as follows:
3 (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, for aid payable
4 in the school years 2024-2025 through 2053-2054 upon application to the
5 commissioner of education submitted not sooner than the second Monday in
6 May of the school year in which such aid is payable and not later than
7 the Friday following the third Monday in May of the school year in which
8 such aid is payable, or ten days after the effective date of this act,
9 whichever shall be later, the Yonkers city school district shall be
10 eligible to receive an apportionment pursuant to this act in an amount
11 equal to the product of five million dollars ($5,000,000) and the
12 quotient of the positive difference of thirty minus the number of school
13 years elapsed since the 2024-2025 school year divided by thirty.
14 (2) Funds apportioned pursuant to this subdivision shall be used for
15 services and expenses of the Yonkers city school district and shall be
16 applied to support of its educational programs and any liability
17 incurred by such city school district in carrying out its functions and
18 responsibilities under the education law.
19 (b) The claim for an apportionment to be paid to the Yonkers city
20 school district pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section shall be
21 submitted to the commissioner of education on a form prescribed for such
22 purpose and shall be payable upon determination by such commissioner
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08314-02-4
A. 3493--A 2
1 that the form has been submitted as prescribed and that the school
2 district has complied with the reporting requirements of this act. For
3 each school year in which application is made pursuant to subdivision
4 (a) of this section, such approved amount shall be payable on or before
5 May thirty-first of such school year upon the audit and warrant of the
6 state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by the commissioner
7 of education in the manner prescribed by law from moneys in the state
8 lottery fund appropriated for general support of public schools and from
9 the general fund to the extent that the amount paid to the Yonkers city
10 school district pursuant to this subdivision and subdivision (a) of this
11 section exceeds the amount of the moneys apportioned, if any, for gener-
12 al support for public schools due such school district pursuant to
13 section 3609-a of the education law on or before September first of such
14 school year.
15 (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3609-a of the education
16 law, an amount equal to the amount paid to the Yonkers city school
17 district during the base year pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of
18 this section shall first be deducted from payments due during the
19 current school year pursuant to subparagraphs (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5)
20 of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of the education law
21 in the following order: the lottery apportionment payable pursuant to
22 subparagraph (2) of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of
23 the education law followed by the fixed fall payments payable pursuant
24 to subparagraph (4) of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of
25 the education law, and any remainder to be deducted from the individual-
26 ized payments due to the district pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision
27 1 of section 3609-a of the education law shall be deducted on a chrono-
28 logical basis starting with the earliest payment due the district.
29 (d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the sum of payments
30 made to the Yonkers city school district during the base year pursuant
31 to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section plus payments made to such
32 school district during the current year pursuant to section 3609-a of
33 the education law shall be deemed to truly represent all aids paid to
34 such school district during the current school year pursuant to section
35 3609-a of the education law for the purposes of computing any adjust-
36 ments to such aids that may occur in a subsequent school year.
37 (e) (1) On or before the first day of each month beginning in July
38 2025 and ending in June 2055, the chief fiscal officer and the super-
39 intendent of schools of the Yonkers city school district shall prepare
40 and submit to the board of education a report of the fiscal condition of
41 the school district, including but not limited to the most current
42 available data on fund balances on funds maintained by the school
43 district and the district's use of the apportionments provided pursuant
44 to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section.
45 (2) Such monthly report shall be in a format prescribed by the commis-
46 sioner of education. The board of education shall either reject and
47 return the report to the chief fiscal officer and the superintendent of
48 schools for appropriate revisions and resubmittal or shall approve the
49 report and submit copies to the commissioner of education and the state
50 comptroller of such approved report as submitted or resubmitted.
51 (3) In the 2024-2025 through 2053-2054 school years, the chief fiscal
52 officer of the Yonkers city school district shall monitor all budgets
53 and for each budget, shall prepare a quarterly report of summarized
54 budget data depicting overall trends of actual revenues and budget
55 expenditures for the entire budget as well as individual line items.
56 Such report shall compare revenue estimates and appropriations as set
A. 3493--A 3
1 forth in such budget with the actual revenues and expenditures made to
2 date. All quarterly reports shall be accompanied by a recommendation
3 from the superintendent of schools or chief fiscal officer to the board
4 of education setting forth any remedial actions necessary to resolve any
5 unfavorable budget variance including the overestimation of revenue and
6 underestimation of appropriations. The chief fiscal officer shall also
7 prepare, as part of such report, a quarterly trial balance of general
8 ledger accounts in accordance with generally accepted accounting princi-
9 ples as prescribed by the state comptroller. All reports shall be
10 completed within sixty days after the end of each quarter and shall be
11 submitted to the chief fiscal officer and the board of education of the
12 Yonkers city school district, the state division of budget, the office
13 of the state comptroller, the commissioner of education, the chair of
14 the assembly ways and means committee and the chair of the senate
15 finance committee.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
