NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10315A
SPONSOR: Rules (Shimsky) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to reserved funds for
special educational services for certain children with disabilities
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To ensure reserve funds of special act school districts, 4410 programs,
and 853 schools are not treated as offsetting revenue for purposes of
determining their tuition rate.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (k) of subdivision 4
of section 4405 of the education law to ensure that funds held by
special act school districts, 4410 programs, and 853 schools in reserve,
as allowed by the statute, are not counted against future disbursements
from the State.
Section two provides for the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Chapter 56 of the laws of 2021 and Chapter 56 of the laws of 2022
authorized special act school districts, 853 schools, and 4410 programs,
respectively, to establish reserve funds, correcting decades of differ-
ential treatment between special education schools and traditional
school districts. However, these schools and programs have been docked
for carrying reserve funds and interest those funds earn when the state
calculates future aid disbursements. The state has treated funds held in
reserves as offsetting revenue for purposes of calculating their,
tuition rate for the following year.
Special education schools are funded through the state via a tuition
methodology. Reserve funds are a critical tool to allow for unexpected
adjustments and budgetary surprises, however, as currently applied, they
are of little use to special education schools and programs. This legis-
lation would correct this error, allowing our special education schools
and programs to keep a modest percentage in reserve year to year without
jeopardizing their tuition rate.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10315--A
IN ASSEMBLY
May 17, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Shimsky) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Education -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to reserved funds for
special educational services for certain children with disabilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph (ii) of paragraph k of subdivision 4 of
2 section 4405 of the education law, as amended by section 19-a of part A
3 of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
4 (ii) The tuition methodology established pursuant to this subdivision
5 for the two thousand twenty-two--two thousand twenty-three school year
6 and annually thereafter shall authorize approved providers to retain
7 funds in excess of their allowable and reimbursable costs incurred for
8 services and programs provided to school-age and preschool students. The
9 amount of funds that may be annually retained shall not exceed the
10 allowable surplus percentage of the approved provider's total allowable
11 and reimbursable costs for services and programs provided to school-age
12 and preschool students for the school year from which the funds are to
13 be retained, as defined in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph;
14 provided that such funds shall not be recoverable on reconciliation of
15 tuition rates and provided further that any interest earned or invest-
16 ments realized on such funds shall supplement and not supplant any funds
17 provided by the tuition methodology once retained. For purposes of this
18 subparagraph, "approved providers" shall mean private residential or
19 non-residential schools for the education of students with disabilities
20 that are located within the state, special act school districts, and
21 programs approved pursuant to section forty-four hundred ten of this
22 article that are subject to tuition rate reconciliation.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to
24 have been in full force and effect on and after April 1, 2021.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15092-02-4
