1 1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE FINANCE AND ASSEMBLY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEES 2 ------------------------------------------------------ 3 JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING 4 In the Matter of the 2017-2018 EXECUTIVE BUDGET ON 5 ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 6 ------------------------------------------------------ 7 Hearing Room B Legislative Office Building 8 Albany, New York 9 February 14, 2017 9:39 a.m. 10 11 PRESIDING: 12 Senator Catharine M. Young Chair, Senate Finance Committee 13 Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell, Jr. 14 Chair, Assembly Ways & Means Committee 15 PRESENT: 16 Senator Liz Krueger Senate Finance Committee (RM) 17 Assemblyman Bob Oaks 18 Assembly Ways & Means Committee (RM) 19 Assemblywoman Catherine T. Nolan Chair, Assembly Education Committee 20 Senator Carl L. Marcellino 21 Chair, Senate Education Committee 22 Senator Diane J. Savino Vice Chair, Senate Finance Committee 23 Assemblyman Peter D. Lopez 24 2 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Elementary & Secondary Education 2 2-14-17 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Senator George S. Latimer 5 Assemblyman Steven F. McLaughlin 6 Senator Simcha Felder 7 Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer 8 Assemblyman Edward P. Ra 9 Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon 10 Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer 11 Assemblyman Al Graf 12 Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee 13 Assemblyman Matthew Titone 14 Senator Velmanette Montgomery 15 Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton 16 Assemblyman Steven Otis 17 Assemblyman Anthony J. Brindisi 18 Senator Todd Kaminsky 19 Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis 20 Senator Gustavo Rivera 21 Assemblyman L. Dean Murray 22 Senator Patrick M. Gallivan 23 Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh 24 Senator Elizabeth O'C. Little 3 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Elementary & Secondary Education 2 2-14-17 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblywoman Rebecca A. Seawright 5 Senator Leroy Comrie 6 Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy 7 Assemblyman Carmen E. Arroyo 8 Senator Elaine Phillips 9 10 11 LIST OF SPEAKERS 12 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 13 MaryEllen Elia Commissioner 14 NYS Education Department 10 23 15 Carmen Fariña Chancellor 16 NYC Department of Education 151 173 17 Andy Pallotta Executive Vice President 18 Christopher Black Director of Legislation 19 New York State United Teachers -and- 20 Michael Mulgrew President 21 Cassie Prugh Assistant to President 22 United Federation of Teachers 245 261 23 24 4 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Elementary & Secondary Education 2 2-14-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Dr. Kriner Cash Superintendent 6 Buffalo School District Dr. Edwin M. Quezada 7 Superintendent Yonkers City School District 8 Ms. Barbara Deane-Williams Superintendent 9 Rochester City School District Mr. Jaime Alicea 10 Interim Superintendent Syracuse City School District 11 Mr. Bruce Karam Superintendent 12 Utica City School District -for- 13 Conference of Big 5 School Districts 286 311 14 Jasmine Gripper 15 Legislative Director Alliance for Quality Education 324 329 16 Robert Lowry 17 Deputy Director New York State Council of 18 School Superintendents 334 339 19 Mark Cannizzaro Executive Vice President 20 Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) 344 21 Cynthia E. Gallgher 22 Director, Government Relations School Administrators Association 23 of New York State (SAANYS) 351 24 5 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Elementary & Secondary Education 2 2-14-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Bernadette Kappen Executive Director and Chair 6 4201 Schools Association 356 363 7 Julie Marlette Director, Governmental Relations 8 NYS School Boards Association 366 9 Michael Borges Executive Director 10 NYS Association of School Business Officials 372 377 11 Fred Koelbel 12 Chair, Legislative Committee NYS School Facilities Assn. 382 388 13 Dan White 14 District Superintendent Monroe #1 BOCES 15 -for- BOCES Educational Consortium 391 16 David A. Little 17 Executive Director Rural Schools Association 18 of New York State 394 402 19 James D. Cultrara Director for Education 20 New York State Catholic Conference 410 416 21 Jake Adler 22 Director of Government Affairs 23 Teach NYS Orthodox Union 423 425 24 6 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Elementary & Secondary Education 2 2-14-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Steven Sanders Executive Director 6 Agencies for Children's Therapy Services (ACTS) 430 7 Michael Martucci 8 President New York School Bus 9 Contractors Association -and- 10 Michael Cordiello President 11 ATU Local 1181 435 12 Peter F. Mannella Executive Director 13 New York Association for Pupil Transportation 444 14 Randi Levine 15 Policy Director Advocates for Children of NY 450 456 16 Todd Vaarwerk 17 Director, Advocacy & Public Policy 18 WNY Independent Living New York Association on 19 Independent Living 459 463 20 Dr. Mary Lagnado Superintendent 21 Westbury Union Free School District 469 476 22 Kyle McCauley Belokopitsky 23 Executive Director NYS Congress of Parents & 24 Teachers (NYS PTA) 479 7 1 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: Good morning. Good 2 morning -- it's not a good morning. 3 Today we begin the 10th in the series 4 of hearings conducted by the joint fiscal 5 committees of the Legislature regarding the 6 Governor's proposed budget for fiscal year 7 2017-2018. The hearings are conducted 8 pursuant to Article VII, Section 3 of the 9 Constitution, and Article 2, Sections 31 and 10 32A of the Legislative Law. 11 Today the Assembly Ways and Means 12 Committee and the Senate Finance Committee 13 will hear testimony concerning the budget 14 proposals for elementary and secondary 15 education. 16 I will now introduce members from the 17 Assembly, and Senator Young, chair of the 18 Senate Finance Committee, will give us her 19 members. 20 I have with us the chair of the 21 Education Committee, Cathy Nolan, and Rebecca 22 Seawright is with us. 23 Mr. Oaks. 24 ASSEMBLYMAN OAKS: Yes, we've been 8 1 joined by Assemblymembers Nicole Malliotakis, 2 Al Graf, Steve McLaughlin, and Peter Lopez. 3 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: But before I 4 introduce the first witness, I would like 5 to -- 6 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Wait, don't forget 7 about the Senate. 8 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, 9 my God, what did I do? 10 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Don't forget about 11 the Senate. 12 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: The bright red got 13 my mind -- yes, Senator. 14 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Thank you very 15 much. 16 Good morning, and Happy Valentine's 17 Day. I'm Senator Catharine Young, and I'm 18 chair of the Senate Standing Committee on 19 Finance. 20 And I'm joined by my colleagues from 21 the Senate. We have Senator Diane Savino, 22 who is vice chair of the Senate Finance 23 Committee. We have Senator Liz Krueger, who 24 is ranking member. We have Senator Carl 9 1 Marcellino, who is chair of the Senate 2 Standing Committee on Education. And we also 3 have Senator George Latimer, who is ranking 4 member on the Education Committee. 5 So thank you, Mr. Chairman. 6 Oh, and Senator Michael Ranzenhofer, 7 who is a great Senator who hails from Western 8 New York. There's a little plug there, 9 Michael. 10 Thank you. 11 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: And we've been 12 joined also by Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee and 13 Assemblyman Otis. 14 But before introducing the first 15 witness, I would like to remind all of the 16 witnesses testifying today to keep your 17 statements within your allotted time limit so 18 that everyone is afforded the opportunity to 19 speak. And the clocks are on the side. And 20 if you can keep your eyes on that, it will 21 help. 22 I will now call the first witness, 23 which is MaryEllen Elia, commissioner of the 24 New York State Education Department. 10 1 Good morning. 2 COMMISSIONER ELIA: Good morning, 3 Chairs Young, Farrell, Nolan and Marcellino, 4 and members of the Senate and Assembly here 5 today. 6 My name is MaryEllen Elia, and I am 7 the Commissioner of Education. I am joined 8 by Executive Deputy Commissioner Beth Berlin 9 and Senior Deputy Commissioner for Education 10 Policy Jhone Ebert. 11 You have my full testimony before you. 12 I'll speak to a few slides, and then we'll be 13 happy to address your questions. 14 Before I begin, I also want to welcome 15 several members of the Board of Regents who 16 are in the audience with us today, including 17 Chancellor Betty Rosa and Regents Young, 18 Cashin and Mead. Our board members are 19 dedicated people who care deeply about 20 creating and sustaining an education system 21 that works for all New Yorkers. I want to 22 thank them all for the work they do and for 23 being here today. 24 Our first priority in this budget is 11 1 to ensure that our schools are fairly funded 2 through significant investments in Foundation 3 Aid. As you can see on Slides 2 and 3, the 4 Regents have proposed a 2.1 billion increase 5 in school aid, consisting of a $1.4 billion 6 increase in Foundation Aid, $335 million to 7 cover formula-based expenses, and 8 $290 million in investments that we believe 9 are critical to address areas where gaps 10 exist and where educational resources need to 11 make a difference for our students. 12 Furthermore, the Regents and I urge 13 you to sustain the Foundation Aid phase-in. 14 We recommend a three year phase-in of the 15 full amount. 16 Slides 4 through 9 highlight the 17 investments we recommend. We urge you to 18 make a significant down payment on universal 19 pre-kindergarten by investing $100 million 20 for full-day seats. 21 By just about every measure, we know 22 that high-quality early childhood education 23 opportunities put students on a path to 24 educational success, reduce special education 12 1 placements, and even increase the chances of 2 a student eventually attending college.