As the new year begins, the state legislature will be back in session in Albany. Aside from a myriad of bills lawmakers will consider, their most crucial task will be approving a budget—how taxpayer dollars are spent. A critical part of that will be the distribution of education aid since funding schools is the largest part, by far, of a property owner’s tax bill. Incredibly, New York spends an average of $30,000 per pupil, twice the national average, and doesn’t show anywhere near the performance to back up that kind of spending.
A hot topic in the school spending debate will be the Foundation Aid formula used to estimate how much each district should receive. Given the age-old pull between the urban and suburban parts of the state, city legislators want the formula skewed toward their interests. Bending to the urban Democrats who control the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed the elimination of the “Save Harmless” provision, which ensures that no district gets less in state education aid than the year before.
Doing away with Save Harmless would penalize Long Island school districts, which rely on state dollars to keep taxes in check. Districts wanting to maintain staffing and program levels in the face of less aid from Albany can pierce the state-mandated 2% tax cap, which requires approval by at least 60% of district voters. If budget votes fail on subsequent ballots, districts can adopt contingency plans that keep taxes at the previous year’s level, a dilemma if state dollars drop. District budgets and local control of schools are hampered by state mandates on everything from bussing, reporting, standardized testing, data protection, and health, career, and special education.
Worried about her 2026 reelection prospects as her approval rating tanks, Hochul has softened her stance on Save Harmless, suggesting that she will keep it for districts with declining enrollment. This is particularly important for suburban areas where people are fleeing in record numbers, a nation-leading trend eliciting fears among those who stay that they will lose representation in Albany and Washington just when they need it the most. The state did post a paltry net gain in population primarily due to illegal immigrants into New York City, a situation that may further impact the distribution of school aid. According to a recent U.S. Census report, 121,000 people left New York last year while 251,000 entered the state, a net gain of 130,000 residents not nearly at the economic status of the retirees and locally educated young people who left. In this year’s budget, Hochul set aside $2 billion in direct aid to the migrants while at the same time, local costs to educate them and provide services soared. Total aid to schools reached nearly $40 billion this fiscal year, while the state Department of Education chewed up a huge chunk of taxpayer dollars for operational costs.
Long Island taxpayers pay significantly more to the state than they get back. They ponied up approximately $13.6 billion of the $70.7 billion the state collected in personal income taxes in 2022, for example. Compared to other states, New York’s tax and spend problem is out of control. This year, its $229 billion budget is twice that of Florida, which has a larger population and no sales tax—quite an incentive for people to bail out when you consider Suffolk’s sales tax will go from 8.625% to 8.75% next year. The increase is due to an initiative approved by voters to fund sewers and private cesspool upgrades. Local taxpayers are on the hook to help fund the state’s $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act but don’t expect nearly enough back from it to cover their sewerage needs.
Recognizing the pinch the state puts on the pocketbooks of its people, Gov. Hochul and her Progressive colleagues are planning to refund each taxpayer $300, a logistically expensive ploy to buy votes. Residents and business owners alike would rather the state cut its wasteful spending, taxes, fees, and onerous regulations that make New York the most expensive state to live in the union.
In addition to funding Albany’s largesse, New Yorkers also pay into the bloated U.S. Department of Education. This $238 billion black hole does little to foster the education needs of New Yorkers and doesn’t even come close to justifying the money local taxpayers are forced to put into it. This Washington monstrosity is so wasteful President Trump has proposed eliminating it altogether as he cites the poor performance of America’s schools compared to other countries, which spend much less. His idea is to give the money back to the states, a move that will put even more emphasis on New York’s urban-suburban aid conundrum.