Education Department, State

Agency Web Site: http://www.nysed.gov/

Mission

The State Education Department (SED) is the administrative agency of the Board of Regents. The Department's primary mission is to raise the knowledge, skill, and opportunity of all the people in New York.

Budget Highlights

The State Education Department administers school aid, regulates school operations, maintains a performance accountability system, certifies teachers and administers a host of other educational programs. These include special education services, cultural education programs, such as the State Museum and the State Archives, higher and professional education programs, vocational rehabilitation and adult career and continuing education services.

The FY 2017 Executive Budget recommends $58.6 billion for the State Education Department. This is an increase of $721.2 million from the previous year, and reflects an increase in appropriations necessary to support additional funding for School Aid and other education programs recommended in the Executive Budget. The Executive Budget recommends a workforce of 2,692 FTEs for the State Education Department.

Major budget actions include:

• School Aid Increase: The Executive Budget provides a $2.1 billion increase in education aid over the next two years, including a $991 million (4.3 percent) increase for the 2016-17 school year (SY 2017). This SY 2017 increase includes a Foundation Aid increase of $266 million and a $189 million Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) restoration, including fully restoring the GEA for approximately 200 higher need districts. The Budget also commits to fully restoring the GEA for every district by SY 2018.
• Empire State Pre-kindergarten: The Budget includes an additional $22 million investment to expand high quality half-day and full-day programs to three-year-olds in the highest need school districts. This funding builds upon the State’s first investment in full-day pre-kindergarten for three-year-olds included in the FY 2016 Enacted Budget.
• Community Schools: The FY 2017 Executive Budget provides $100 million to further support the transformation of school buildings into community hubs for all high-needs school districts. Of the $100 million, $75 million will be specifically allocated amongst 17 school districts which house a failing or persistently failing school. The remaining $25 million will be available to other high-need school districts statewide that do not have a failing or persistently failing school.
• Establish Education Tax Credit Programs: The Executive Budget promotes educational choice and philanthropy, and provides support for teachers in recognition of their personal spending for their classrooms by creating three new tax credit programs totaling $150 million under a Parental Choice in Education Act. Specifically, these programs include:

o Education Scholarship and Program Tax Credit. This program provides $50 million in credits to support scholarships for low- and middle- income students to attend a non-public school or a public school outside of their district, and $20 million in credits to support public school educational improvement programs.

o Family Choice Education Tax Credit. This credit provides $70 million in reimbursements to families with incomes below $60,000 per year for eligible tuition expenses paid to elementary and secondary schools in New York State. Families would be eligible to claim a credit of up to $500 per student.

o Instructional Materials and Supplies Credit. This credit creates a refundable credit equal to the cost of instructional supplies purchases by a public, charter, or private school educator, up to a maximum of $200, with an aggregate cap of $10 million.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Education and Arts (PDF)

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/13/2016

Click for additional detailed appropriation tables