Lawmakers applaud education funding in state budget

By MARTIN WILBUR

Local state legislators mostly enthusiastically supported New York state’s $254 billion fiscal year 2026 budget that was approved May 8, adding millions of dollars for Westchester school districts and increased spending for roads and child care.

Despite being completed about five weeks after the April 1 deadline, state Sens. Pete Harckham (D-Lewisboro) and Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers), and Assemblymember Chris Burdick (D-Bedford) were pleased with the emphasis placed on helping residents, including statewide eligibility for all school districts to provide free breakfast, lunch and snacks and a continued reduction of the middle-class state income.

“The governor was touting other things that she thought were important but we always focus on the bread and butter for our constituents, and that was a number of them,” Harckham said.

All three lawmakers applauded a notable increase in education funding for the 2025-26 school year. That includes a guaranteed 2 percent increase in Foundation Aid, preservation of the “hold harmless provision” that ensures that annual assistance will not decrease and the beginning of a phased recalculation of the Regional Cost Index for Westchester schools that will bring the county’s districts closer in line to the aid doled out to New York City and Long Island.

“We were able to get that changed, and for many districts in Westchester that was a substantial increase to their Foundation Aid formula,” said Mayer, chair of the Senate Committee on Education. 

For example, the Bedford Central School District will receive the 2 percent hike in Foundation Aid and 9.18 percent in total aid in the new fiscal year.

Overall, the state is increasing the General Support for Public Schools fund by $1.7 billion to $37.6 billion and a $1.4 billion increase in Foundation Aid to $26.4 billion for next year. Harckham said in the 40th Senate District that he represents, which comprises much of northern Westchester and Putnam counties, there will be a combined $40 million more for education.

“I’m delighted with funding that was provided for public education, which was a real battle last year,” Burdick said. “I’m very happy with the budget. I think it serves my district very well, as well as the state very well.”

Another education-related issue in the budget is the statewide cellphone ban in schools starting in September. Mayer said that over the next few months all districts must devise a policy that addresses the ban. While she hoped that there would be more flexibility for districts to pass policies to meet their unique needs, what was approved was widely supported, she said.

There are exceptions for cellphone use, such as when a student has a health issue, if it’s needed for instruction or during non-instructional periods.

“I think this cellphone ban had a lot of support in northern Westchester from parents who want to see the addiction that both adults and children have … and is not really improving their ability to be really concentrating in schools,” Mayer said.

Other key funding increases include an extra $800 million for the New York State Department of Transportation capital plan, bringing that sum to $34.1 billion, and an additional $50 million in Consolidated Local Highway Improvement Program spending for local municipalities to improve their roads. There is now $648 million in CHIPS money this year.

Burdick said the budget provides $2.2 billion in child care spending, including $400 million to ensure that localities have the resources to keep child care subsidy enrollment open and $110 million in capital funding to build or renovate child care facilities, particularly in underserved areas. There is also $9 million to provide free diapers and postpartum supplies to low-income families, he said.

Another $15 million was budgeted to help individual homeowners receive assistance for PFAS contamination in their wells, an important step to help residents, Harckham said. Previously, there have only been funds available to help municipalities pay for contamination in public water systems.

“Up until now, if you have a private well, as many of our residents do, you were out of luck,” Harckham said.

New Yorkers who earn up to $323,000 a year also will receive a rebate check of $150 to $400 depending on their income and income tax filing status.

The five-week delay in a new budget agreement mainly centered on four contentious issues that needed to be resolved, Burdick said. Those were the school cellphone ban; the inclusion of involuntary commitment for those people suffering from mental health issues that are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others; an additional charge for suspects using face masks to conceal their identity in committing a crime; and revisions in pre-trial criminal procedures.

Despite the passage of the budget, the three local legislators are wary of the anticipated federal cuts that might impact the state. Burdick said the plan would be to use some of the state’s reserves, then see where cuts can be made. 

Harckham said if some of the threatened cuts, whether it be for environmental programs, Medicaid or education, become reality, there will have to be some difficult choices made later this year. The Legislature would likely be called back to Albany in the late summer or early fall, he said.

“It’s important for folks to know that the state can’t backfill this,” Harckham said. “The magnitude of the cuts will be too severe. It’s not something we can tax our way out of, and so there’s going to be real pain.”