The Education Trust–New York:
Governor Hochul’s 2024 State of the State includes several important proposals that will advance educational equity for New York children and families. The Education Trust–New York looks forward to working with the Governor and Legislature to ensure the following proposals are included in the enacted 2024 State Budget.
K-12 Education
Early Literacy
We applaud the Governor’s proposed state investment in early literacy aligned with the science of reading. This proposal would help to ensure that districts across the state are providing evidence-based literacy instruction to all students, while also supporting up to 20,000 educators with the training and resources to implement these changes in the classroom. While the proposal is an important first step, more needs to be done to ensure that all New York students are reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade, and we look forward to working with state and local leaders to support a coherent and comprehensive approach to literacy instruction that builds on the Governor’s proposal.
Universal FAFSA Completion
We support the Governor’s proposal to require school districts to ensure all high school seniors complete the FAFSA or NYS Dream Act application, to help provide the financial support necessary to make a college education possible and affordable, particularly for students of color and from low-income backgrounds.
Additional Proposals
We look forward to learning more about the Governor’s proposals to:
- Provide automatic admission to SUNY for high-achieving students
- Support youth mental health
- Increase access to summer meals for youth
Early Childhood
Maternal and Infant Health
We support the Governor’s six-point plan to address the maternal and infant mortality crisis, particularly for Black infants who are almost three times as likely to die as White infants and Black women are nine times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than White women. We look forward to working with the Executive, state agencies, and the Legislature on this important issue. Communities that have been historically underserved face several barriers to accessing care and this plan is a step forward.
We also support the Executive’s waiver request to the federal government to provide continuous Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for eligible children between 0-6.
Additional Proposals
We look forward to learning more about the Governor’s proposals to:
- Provide much-needed additional support to providers of Early Intervention (EI) services; and
- Implement poverty reduction initiatives in certain Upstate cities.
Other Educational Equity Priorities
While not included in the Governor’s State of the State address, The Education Trust–New York looks forward to working with state and local leaders on the following educational equity priorities during the legislative session:
- Dual Enrollment: Ed Trust–NY supports policies that provide equitable access to college programs in high school for students across New York by ensuring that these programs center equity, provide intentional experiences, and are accountable to both student performance and student success in college and career.
- Teacher Diversity: Ed Trust–NY supports policies that advance the recruitment and retention of educators of color to ensure that New York’s educator workforce matches the rich diversity of our state’s students.
- High-Impact Tutoring: Ed Trust–NY supports policies that provide targeted, evidence-based tutoring in reading and math to help students continue to recover from the impact of pandemic-related interrupted instruction.
- B-20 Statewide Longitudinal Data System: Ed Trust–NY supports the adoption of a Birth-age 20 cross-agency data governance system that would help leaders answer policy challenges, target resources, and better support families and students on their educational journey.
- Permanent Line of Funding for the Child Care Workforce: Ed Trust–NY supports the creation and implementation of a permanent line of funding for the child care workforce. This will curtail the flight of providers/educators from the field and encourage others to enter the field. The workforce supplement program must be permanent – offering the promise of ongoing wage supplements, so that child care programs will be able to recruit and retain.