Shorter school days don’t cut aid
  Many schools in the state cut short their days today because of bad weather. But the shortened days won’t mean curtailed state aid.    The state requires schools to hold at least...
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Counties want the state to take over the cost of providing special-education services to 3- and 4-year-olds, a $432 million annual expense for counties. Upstate tracks are pushing the state to let...
View ArticleTeachers’ union criticizes charter school lawsuit
New York State United Teachers wants to enter the fray over whether state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli should have the authority to perform so-called performance audits—anything that falls outside a...
View ArticleLawmakers want to crack down on textbook costs
$754 at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Suffolk County, $450 at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and $318 at SUNY New Paltz in Ulster County. Those are some of...
View ArticleEducation commissioner asks for an end to salary cap
  State Education Commissioner Richard Mills told Assembly Education Committee members this morning that they should reconsider a state law that caps the Boards of Cooperative Education...
View ArticleState education officials fight BOCES changes
    State Education Commissioner Richard Mills asked members of the Assembly Education Committee Wednesday to reject Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposal to give the Boards of Cooperative Educational...
View ArticleGov. rallies education troops on endowment plan
  Gov. Eliot Spitzer led what was essentially a cheerleading session to get leaders of the State University of New York, City University of New York and other schools revved up about his plan to...
View ArticleSubpoenas for everyone
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced this afternoon that he is expanding his pension-fraud investigation to include all 37 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services in the state. He is...
View ArticleCourt says “hands off” to comptroller
The New York Charter Schools Association has won a double victory in a court battle with state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office. The ruling said the comptroller does not have the authority to...
View ArticleAdvocates make arguments against bus idling
On World Asthma Day today, several legislators, experts and elementary school students urged the state Board of Regents to ban school-bus idling on school grounds. The board, which makes state...
View ArticleMom, apple pie and school budgets
  As voters prepare to cast ballots on school budgets and board members Tuesday, New York State United Teachers has launched a $1 million ad campaign urging them “to remember that opportunity for...
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Sex-ed advocates hope this will be the year
  Clergy members, teens and other advocates for what’s become known as the Healthy Teens Act were at the Capitol Monday to lobby for the bill. It has passed the Assembly for the past four years but...
View ArticleComptroller nabs four Southern Tier attorneys
  The flap over service credits for the New York State and Local Retirement System has hit the southern tier, with Thomas DiNapoli announcing that he revoked membership in the plan for three...
View ArticleThanks for not smoking
  College dormitories will go smoke-free if Gov. David Paterson signs legislation that was passed by the Senate last night and the Assembly in January. The bill would amend the state’s Clean Indoor...
View ArticleGov spends time in the “Cowboy State”
  Gov. David Paterson is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, today to attend a “strategy retreat” of the Alliance for School Choice, which bills itself as the nation’s largest organization promoting school...
View ArticleA hunger for information
  The Empire Center for New York State Policy’s new www.SeeThroughNY.net Web site received more than 40,000 unique “hits” in its first day, which was more traffic than expected and bogged the site...
View ArticleUnion: cuts may force SUNY to turn away students
  United University Professions, a union of 35,000 professional and academic faculty, says Gov. David Paterson’s call for more state-budget cuts will take another $96 million away from the State...
View ArticleTeachers union: cuts would have “devastating toll”
  New York State United Teachers is trying to push back against Gov. David Paterson’s proposed cuts to the State University of New York and the City University of New York, saying they would take a...
View ArticleNew law requires more training on autism
  A new state law requires all special-education teachers and administrators to be trained in the needs of children with autism, the fastest-growing developmental disability in the country. Gov....
View ArticleSchool boards worried about economic downturn
  School board members from around New York who were polled by the state School Boards Association said their top concerns for the year included adequate state school aid (37 percent), the rising...
View ArticleAbout 225 NY districts don’t have teacher contracts
Forty-seven districts will begin the new school year at impasse with teacher unions, 13 percent lower than last year, according to the state Public Employment Relations Board. About 175 other...
View ArticleNo more MYOB (Mind your own business) on BMI
  Selected schools will begin reporting body mass index (BMI) data to the state Health Department this year, information that will be used to guide obesity prevention efforts in New York. To...
View ArticleMore details on SUNY budget cuts Sept. 29
  At a meeting scheduled for Sept. 29, the State University of New York’s Finance and Administration Committee expects to receive reports on how its campuses will implement $40 million in...
View ArticleGroup hires former lawmaker to lobby on school control
  One of the big tasks for an ex-assemblyman just hired by the state School Boards Association for government relations work will be to keep the Big 4 city school districts—Yonkers, Rochester,...
View ArticleState expenses being revised up in many cases
The mid-year update to the state budget makes some changes in estimated costs for 2009-10. In most cases, programs will be more expensive to operate, according to the financial plan. Examples...
View ArticleIt’s official again — state’s economic outlook is bleak
  The Assembly just released its take on New York’s budget crisis. Like the report issued earlier today by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, it doesn’t contain good news. Employment and wages are...
View ArticleEducation cut could affect CFE resolution
The Campaign for Fiscal Equity could pursue reopening its court case or new litigation if state lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson implement the governor’s $836 million in cuts this school year to...
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Clark plans exit as interim chancellor
After 18 months of serving in a post that was supposed to last six or eight months, State University of New York Interim Vice Chancellor John Clark announced today that he is resigning Dec. 31....
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Gov.: reprieve for education ends in 2009-10
Lawmakers did not take action last week on a budget-cutting measure that would have made mid-year education reductions of $836 million this school year, as Gov. David Paterson had recommended. The...
View ArticleDem. leader takes shots at GOP counterpart
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, took some jabs at his Senate counterpart this morning on Talk 1300 Radio in Albany. Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, have...
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