2020-21 budget information
A record number of voters gave near-record approval to the City School District of Albany’s budget proposal for the 2020-21 year in an historic and challenging vote conducted entirely by absentee ballot.
“We are grateful to our community for providing this overwhelming support for our students and our school district during these very challenging times,” said Board of Education President Anne Savage. “We know that this budget was hard to swallow – every board member shared that feeling.
“But we believe it truly is the best we could make of a very difficult situation given the intense fiscal pressures we and all New York school districts are facing. We are glad that our community agreed.”
The $261.6 million budget for 2020-21 passed with 74% approval in unofficial returns. That would be the second-highest approval percentage in the district’s history, behind only the 75% approval for the 2017-18 budget, and the fifth time in six years that approval has topped 70%.
The district received 10,695 ballots and hand-counted them Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. It was by far the highest participation ever for the district, which held its first budget vote in 1997.
“As we move forward, it is important to note that we will continue to be focused on how we can make difficult decisions in the best interest of our students and remain fiscally responsible,” said Superintendent Kaweeda G. Adams.
“These are challenging times; however, we have worked collaboratively and within our means to support instructional programs and look at creative ways to adjust the delivery of our programs and services for our students and families.”
Voters also passed Proposition #2 with 85% approval. That proposal allows the district to purchase a small piece of property adjacent to Delaware Community School for $13,300. The property will be used to create additional recreational space for students. The purchase will have no impact on taxes.
Board of Education member Hassan Elminyawi won a full four-year term, earning 49% of the vote in a three-person race with Victor Cain (25%) and Edith Leet (26%). Elminyawi, who the board appointed last year to fill the final months of a vacant position, will begin his first full term on the board July 1.
The budget approval provided a positive end to a difficult budget cycle.
The proposal that the board approved unanimously in May included the elimination of 142.6 positions, about 8% of the current workforce. Those reductions will return district staffing to the levels of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years, when district-wide enrollment was about 5% higher than it is today.
The district began the budget-development process in January with a $15 million gap, which was exacerbated by the severe fiscal challenges that the COVID-19 crisis has presented for the state.
The district lost nearly $2 million in state aid revenue – and potentially more – following the onset of the pandemic in March. The potential for additional cuts to school aid for all districts statewide remains a possibility this summer and during the 2020-21 school year.
The 2020-21 budget represents an increase of less than half a percent – 0.47% -- over the current year. It includes a 1.96% tax-levy increase, which is equal to the district’s tax cap. This is the seventh consecutive year that the district’s tax-levy increase has been less than 2%.
The budget will maintain most of the district’s current programs and services for the 2020-21 school year. However, there will be reductions due to the staffing adjustments.
These include larger class size caps at the elementary level, reductions in supports to general education classrooms, reductions in instructional coaches and elimination of the district-wide second-grade swimming program.
Elementary instrumental music lessons, which currently begin in third grade, will begin in fourth grade in 2020-21. The boys’ and girls’ freshman basketball teams at Albany High School will be eliminated, along with the boys’ modified-9 soccer team.
For more information about the budget, please read our “Capital Education” budget edition.
The 10,695 ballots received surpassed the previous high vote count of 8,392 in 2003. The average for the last five years was 3,109.
It was the first time that the budget vote was conducted entirely by absentee ballot following Governor Cuomo’s order in May that all New York school districts would conduct their budget votes that way due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Like all districts statewide, the district is planning for 2020-21 in an uncertain environment due to the continued COVID-19 crisis. As it does every year, the budget represents a spending cap for the school year ahead. Districts have flexibility to allocate funds within that amount depending on student needs.
That flexibility could be more important than ever for school districts in 2020-21 if the state announces more funding cuts, or if COVID-19 continues to limit a full return to school buildings.
Regardless of these uncertainties, the district remains committed to the academic and social-emotional well-being of all students.
Budget timeline and events
The Board of Education approved the 2020-21 budget-development process and calendar at its Dec. 5 meeting.
Additional events related to the budget-development process were made available through our online calendar.
You can also download this document which outlines the budget timeline.
Legislative priorities
At the start of each school year, the Board of Education’s Government Relations Committee takes the lead in shaping the district’s top legislative priorities for the next fiscal year in partnership with the superintendent and staff.
Committee members then engage in an active cycle of legislative advocacy throughout the fall, winter and spring to educate state leaders on the district’s top priorities and the related benefits for students and families.
These are the district’s top legislative priorities for the 2020-21 school year:
The focus that Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature have placed in recent years on providing additional assistance to high-needs districts is the right thing to do for students and families statewide. Our district receives only about 75% of our Foundation Aid funding, and only 45% of our total budget comes from state aid. This is a significantly lower percentage than other similar Upstate New York school districts – for example, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Schenectady, Troy and Utica all receive 58% to 81% of their funding through state aid. We are requesting an increase in our state aid to 55% for 2020-21. We also urge our state leaders to continue to focus on funding equity by re-evaluating the formula without consolidating or capping certain aid categories.
In Albany, this inequity is exacerbated by the fact that more than 60% of our city’s property is tax-exempt, much of it due to our role as New York’s Capital City. In re-evaluating the Foundation Aid formula, we ask that the state build in a new factor that considers the percentage of tax-exempt property within a community.
To learn more about this legislative priority, you can view the following document(s):
Transportation is a critical tool for addressing chronic absenteeism, which is a leading indicator of low student performance. The state’s transportation law currently limits our ability to provide bus service for many children who do not have a safe route to walk to school because the criteria for Child Safety Zones does not account for crime rates and the density of vacant buildings. The Assembly and Senate have legislation pending that would address this matter (A7242/S5719). We are asking for support in passing this legislation and adopting the necessary regulatory changes.
To learn more about this legislative priority, you can view the following document(s):
We offer 1,025 prekindergarten seats for 3-year-old and 4-year-olds. However, the pre-K funding formula penalizes districts like Albany that were early implementers of full-day pre-K more than a decade ago. More than half of our seats (552) continue to be funded at the old UPK base allocation of $4,105, less than half of some current pre-K streams. We strongly advocate raising our funding for those 552 seats to be equitable with more recent funding streams, such as EPK ($7,882). This would provide our district with an additional $2.1 million. That would offset our own annual General Fund investment ($1.3 million in the current year), which is necessary to sustain our pre-K offerings. It also would support investments to attract and retain high-quality, certified pre-K teachers, offering our youngest learners an even stronger foundation as they begin their academic journey.
To learn more about this legislative priority, you can view the following document(s):
We fully support raising the age of criminal responsibility. The state’s efforts to raise the age and implement other measures including Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS), Bail and Discovery reforms are the right thing to do. However, as an unintended consequence, school districts like ours have had a dramatic increase in justice-involved students. Those students need additional services, and our district needs support to provide those services so that we can do our part to ensure that these reforms will have a positive impact on our students and families. For 2020-21, we are requesting an additional $500,000 to fund positions that are critical to providing the supports our justice-involved students need, including social workers, behavior specialists, guidance counselors and school psychologists.
To learn more about this legislative priority, you can view the following document(s):
Our ENL enrollment has more than tripled in the past six years to nearly 1,300, about 11% of total enrollment. Our students represent more than 55 countries and speak 49 languages, and we are deeply committed to our English-language learners (ELLs) and their families. In recent years we have invested more than $2.2 million to address these needs and meet the mandated requirements of CR Part 154. We urge the state to provide additional support for districts like ours that have large ENL and refugee enrollments, and have demonstrated the initiative to invest in unique supports for this often-fragile student population.
To learn more about this legislative priority, you can view the following document(s):
Our district is a strong advocate for sustained Community Schools funding, and we are grateful to Governor Cuomo for proposing an increase in our Community Schools aid for 2020-21. With the support of Community Schools funding, we have been more able to engage students and families in meaningful ways. Together with our community partners we are expanding afterschool academic and enrichment programs, as well as medical, dental, mental health and social services. We are advocating that Community Schools funding be considered categorical aid separate from our Foundation Aid. We appreciate the state’s continued support for Community Schools investments.
To learn more about this legislative priority, you can view the following document(s):
