NEW YORK – EdTrust-New York believes the state has not invested enough in an equitable, student-centered education system, despite some positive developments in the recently released One House Budget Bills. The organization urges state leaders to prioritize policies and funding in the upcoming weeks that directly address disparities faced by students of color, including Black, Latinx, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native American students, as well as those from low-income backgrounds, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities.
Below are EdTrust-New York’s reactions and recommendations for state leaders as they finalize the budget.
Early Childhood Education
Child Care
After the Executive Budget release in January, the Administration for Children’s Services revealed a $2.08 billion funding shortfall for child care subsidies in New York City, caused by expanding eligibility and increasing the market rate. We are deeply concerned that neither one-house bill addresses this shortfall and urge the State to help New York City address what will be the first of several county shortfalls.
We are encouraged that the Assembly one-house bill includes $2 billion for child care subsidies statewide, an increase of $212.5 million over the Executive proposal. The Assembly one-house bill also eliminates minimum earnings requirements for families seeking child care assistance, ensuring that those with the lowest incomes can access financial support. This critical change will help families pursue employment and educational goals.
We are concerned that the Assembly one-house bill does not include any funding for the child care workforce. While New York has expanded eligibility for child care over the past few years, it has not meaningfully expanded the number of families benefiting due to a shortage of providers and educators. To address this, EdTrust-New York encourages the Legislature to establish a $1.2 billion permanent state child care fund dedicated to increasing worker compensation. This fund should be modeled on existing frameworks that reflect the actual cost of care and should explore a career lattice system based on education and experience.
Cost Model
The Assembly bill includes $250,000 for a child care cost estimation model. However, EdTrust-New York, in partnership with Raising NY coalition partners, national experts Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies, and the NYS Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), created a cost model in 2023 that incorporates cost drivers from QUALITYstarsNY, which supports high-quality care. Our model also incorporates input from early childhood providers and program owners from various modalities across the State. As requested in the Assembly bill, it already includes cost data for each setting, age, and geographic location based on the market rate groups. We encourage the Llegislature to use our cost model tool and invest this funding in other child care priorities.
The Assembly bill also requests cost estimates for child care for children with special needs. Given the variability of costs based on staffing requirements, we recommend using cost estimates from Early Intervention and Preschool Special Education Services to inform that data and guide cost recommendations.
Substitute Pool
We applaud the inclusion of a child care provider substitute pool in both the Senate and Assembly one-house bills. This pool will increase flexibility for child care providers and help address workforce shortages by offering staffing options for programs in need. While this substitute pool will not fully address widespread staffing shortages due to decades of unsustainably low wages, it will offer flexibility to providers and early childhood programs, helping them meet staffing needs more easily.
While the Assembly one-house bill suggests a child care support center be the employer for all substitute caregivers, we recommend that OCFS serve as the employer for all substitute caregivers. OCFS should also be responsible for maintaining insurance coverage, including workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and disability coverage for these workers. Providers—particularly those who run small programs—have long faced the financial burden of providing benefits to their staff. By maintaining these employment benefits for substitutes, OCFS can ensure that child care programs will not face additional financial strain under this new policy.
New York Coalition for Child Care
The Assembly one-house bill includes funding for the New York Coalition for Child Care, a group of business stakeholders, government agencies, and child care partners tasked with researching revenue-generating policies and developing recommendations for universal child care implementation. We strongly encourage the new Coalition to build on the recommendations from the Child Care Availability Task Force (CCATF) over the next year, enabling the State to address those recommendations in next year’s budget.
We are thrilled that the Senate one-house bill includes $500M for a Worker Retention Grant Program, providing child care employees with an annual salary enhancement. We look forward to working with the Senate and Assembly on the details of this proposal. The Senate bill also includes $25M to decouple parents’ work hours from subsidies.
Tax Credits
We are pleased that both the Assembly and Senate one-house bills include support for the Working Families Tax Credit.
The Assembly bill proposes a $1,000 credit for children ages three and under, and a $500 credit for children ages four through 16. The Senate bill proposes that credits apply through age 17 and gradually increases the tax credit for each eligible child from $550 in 2025 to $1,600 in 2029 and beyond.
We look forward to working with policymakers on a final, permanent expanded tax credit that best supports children and families.
Early Intervention
Both one-house bills increased funding for Early Intervention (EI) programs. The Assembly bill proposes an investment of $22M for EI, consisting of $12M in state funding and $10M in revenue from the new Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax.
We recommend the state adopt the Senate’s one-house bill proposal which includes a $90M increase in funding, with $45M from the MCO tax proceeds and another $45M from the federal share. It also includes a $250,000 investment for a comprehensive study and review of service delivery models and reimbursement rates. We recommend building on the Senate investment to ensure that the study thoroughly reviews and revises outdated rates and methodologies to determine the actual costs of evaluations, service delivery, and case management.
EdTrust-New York was disappointed that neither one-house bill included a loan forgiveness program to attract new providers into the EI system and require new providers to serve at least 30% of Medicaid/uninsured children. We encourage the Legislature to consider adding such a program to the final budget.
Home Visiting
We are disappointed that both one-house bills merely restored funding for critical home visiting programs. The Assembly one-house bill restored funding for ParentChild+ and proposed $4M for Nurse Family Partnership, while the Senate one-house bill proposed $4.7M for Nurse Family Partnership.
EdTrust-New York looks forward to working with the Legislature to expand access to existing home visiting programs by increasing funding for ParentChild+ by $300,000, bringing the total to $500,000.
Child and Family Wellbeing Fund
We are pleased that the Assembly provides $50M for the Communities Helping Improve Lives Daily Program to support at-risk youth in high-need communities in their one-house bill. This new initiative, housed in the Department of State, prioritizes zip codes with the highest systems involvement and could include programs such as home visiting. It also includes $30M in capital funding. We encourage the legislature to include this initiative in their final budget.
Infant and Maternal Health
Basic Income Pilot
We are pleased that the Assembly bill includes $200M for the Increasing Nutrition Support for Prenatal and Infant Resiliency Program (INSPIRE), an income program for pregnant individuals and families with a child under the age of one. Universal basic income programs have proven effective in improving economic stability and mitigating the damaging effects of poverty on the health and development of young children. We recommend that the final budget include the Senate one-house proposal, which includes $247M for the Birth Allowance for Beginning Year (BABY) Benefit. This program would provide higher monthly payments over a longer duration, offering crucial economic support during a critical period of growth in a child’s life and setting families up for more positive outcomes throughout their lives.
PreK-12 Education
PreK Funding
After years of stagnation, we are thrilled that both the Assembly and Senate have proposed increases in per-pupil Pre–K funding. The Assembly bill proposes $10,000 per student, while the Senate bill increases per-pupil funding to $6,700. EdTrust-New York urges state leaders to adopt the Assembly’s per-student funding level in the final budget, as we believe it more accurately reflects the actual cost of Pre–K education.
Foundation Aid
Both bills include some positive policy changes related to the state’s Foundation Aid formula. These changes include:
- An increase in the Regional Cost Index for some regions. While we are still analyzing the financial impact of these proposed changes, we have a preference for the Senate version that separates New York City and Long Island and provides a higher cost index for New York City and Hudson Valley.
- The Assembly bill increases the weight for English Language Learners/Multilingual Learners from .5 to .65 to meet their unique needs more accurately. We urge the legislature to include this increased in their final budget.
- Updates to the state’s Poverty Count to identify students living more accurately in poverty. We support this update but were disappointed there was not an increased weight for poverty, particularly the new SAIPE poverty count which is identifying students living in extreme poverty. We were also disappointed that both bills did not include a scaled weight to increase the weight for concentrations of poverty, as proposed by the Rockefeller study.
- The Assembly bill phases out the floor of the income wealth index, so that low-income districts do not appear wealthier than they are, which in turn increases the amount of state funding to those districts. We encourage the legislature to include this their final budget. We also encourage both the Assembly and the Senate to increase the ceiling of the income wealth index (from 2 to 3 as proposed in the Rockefeller study), so that wealthier districts do not appear less wealthy.
While we welcome these tweaks to the formula, both bills do not go far enough in comprehensively addressing the outdated formula. We urge the state to establish a fund a new School Funding Advisory Council to fully update and fix the formula.
Literacy
EdTrust-New York is deeply disappointed that both budgets did not include new funding for literacy. The recently released report from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) revealed that more than half of Black and Latinx students in New York scored Below Basic in fourth-grade reading. Below Basic is the lowest performance level on NAEP and indicates that students lack even partial mastery of the essential knowledge and skills needed for future success.
While last year’s Back to Basics literacy initiative took an important first step in ensuring all students and educators receive instruction and training aligned with the science of reading, it will only impact a small number of current educators. Significant questions remain about how the state will enforce new evidence-based curriculum requirements. Much more needs to be done to improve reading outcomes across the state and support students and educators.
State leaders must address these unsatisfactory outcomes by treating literacy as a multi-year investment. This investment should incentivize districts to align instruction and professional learning with the science of reading.
To tackle our reading crisis, we urge state leaders to build on last year’s efforts to include the following targeted literacy support in this year’s budget:
- Professional Learning: We propose $15 million for grants to districts to ensure all K-8 educators have the opportunity to earn a micro-credential in the science of reading.
- Curricula Aligned with the Science of Reading: We propose a $10 million investment to provide grants to districts the New York State Education Department (NYSED) identifies as “high-needs” for purchasing K-5 literacy curricula and instructional resources aligned with the science of reading, prioritizing districts replacing balanced literacy programs.
- Increase NYSED Literacy Capacity: We request a $1 million investment to increase NYSED staffing to support districts, educators, and teacher preparation programs in transitioning to science of reading-aligned programs and policies.
High-Impact Tutoring
Students in all grades continue to face the effects of pandemic-related unfinished learning, as recent state assessment data shows that less than half of all New York students are proficient in reading. High-impact tutoring is a proven strategy to address unfinished learning and improve student outcomes. We propose a $10 million investment for schools and community-based organizations to provide this critical support.
EdTrust-New York is disappointed that the budget did not include funding for high-impact tutoring, which would offer extra support in reading and math for students still affected by pandemic-related unfinished learning.
Reach Out and Read
The early years of a child’s life are critical for reading and brain development. These complementary programs provide access to books and support for families to boost reading skills and enhance Kindergarten readiness. EdTrust-New York is disappointed that neither one-house budget included $3 million for Reach Out and Read to build on the Executive’s welcome investment in emerging literacy.
FAFSA Completion
New York took a major step forward in improving FAFSA completion rates by passing a Universal FAFSA law last year. Districts and community partners need significant support, however, to increase outreach and meet the law’s requirements. We propose a $3 million new investment that would allow grants to community-based organizations to support outreach to students and provide funding to NYSED to meaningfully collect data on the law’s implementation, particularly around student waivers. Additionally, the state should assess the gap in school counselors needed to support Universal FAFSA completion and provide additional funding for districts to hire school counselors.
EdTrust-New York is disappointed that the budget did not allocate funding for Universal FAFSA implementation, especially since early data from SUNY shows that FAFSA completion rates are lower than last year’s rates.
College in High School
Research shows that students who take college courses while in high school are more likely to attend and complete college. EdTrust-New York conducted an analysis using our To and Through data tool to study New York State students who graduated from a New York high school, are Tuition Assistance Program recipients, attended a New York State college or university, and were enrolled in college less than half-time while in high school. We tracked six years of data for these students who enrolled in college in the fall of 2017, allowing us to follow their progress through spring 2024. Our analysis found that:
- Students were more likely to persist in college.
- Students were more likely to earn their degrees “on time.”
- Students were more likely to receive a degree.
While we are pleased that both bills included new policy provisions for dual enrollment (also known as college in high school and early college), EdTrust-New York is concerned that the budget did not allocate additional funding to support these changes. The Executive Budget included only a $12 million investment in a new College in High School Opportunity Fund. We urge the legislature to provide at least $20 million for this new fund in the final budget.
###
About EdTrust-New York:
EdTrust-New York is dedicated to eliminating equity and opportunity gaps that hinder students from reaching their full potential. We focus on ensuring that all students, especially Black, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students and those from low-income backgrounds achieve high levels of success from early childhood through college. For more information, visit EdTrustNY.org.