With budget season underway, CCC is advocating for New York’s students, urging the Governor to invest in quality education for all. While we are concerned about potential federal funding cuts for critical programs, we are also confident in our collective ability to keep New York students protected regardless, and we are committed to promoting and protecting equity.

On Wednesday, January 29, Policy and Advocacy Associates Caitlyn Passaretti and Jenny Veloz submitted testimony to the New York State Joint Legislative Executive Budget Hearing on Elementary Education and Secondary Education. During the hearing, CCC responded to Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget by sharing our key policy recommendations around education that benefit New York students.

Updating the State’s Formula for School Funding

New York State’s Foundation Aid formula is used to determine how to distribute the majority of state education funding across more than 700 school districts each year. Alongside coalition members from the Coalition for Equitable Education Funding (CEEF), CCC is pushing leaders to ensure the formula reflects the true cost of providing a sound basic education and accounts for the tremendous variation in the cost of living across different regions of the state. Right now, Governor Hochul is proposing changes based on two recommendations from the Rockefeller Institute’s comprehensive review of the formula. The changes she would like to implement are:

1. 📝 Replace the flawed “free and reduced-price lunch” metric with a broader measure of “economically disadvantaged students”
2. 📝 Replace the formula’s current poverty metric with the most recent three-year average Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)

CCC supports replacing the metric on free and reduced-price lunches, since many districts offer free lunch regardless of income eligibility, including all NYC schools. Combined with her proposal to implement universal school meals statewide, this change is a step toward increasing equity.

However, CCC opposes replacing the current poverty metric with the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) metric. SAIPE is based on the federal poverty threshold, which is currently only $32,150 for a family of four. This change would significantly impact NYC school funding—reducing it by $392 million—without considering the large cost-of-living differences between the five boroughs and upstate communities. To better handle these differences, the State could consider analyzing community poverty through regional costs of living and expenses, localized median income, and more.

Additionally, the formula needs many more changes to accurately support schools and students adequately. In the face of federal changes around education funding, we are adamantly urging our state leaders to also update the formula around special needs students, students in temporary housing and foster care, and more  Check out CEEF’s Collective Call for an Equitable Foundation Aid Formula that Meets Students’ Needs here.

Universal School Meals

According to the State Comptroller’s May 2024 report on food insecurity, from 2020-2022, 11.3% households in New York experienced food insecurity, an increase from 10.3% during the period of 2019-2021. On top of this, the federal administration appears poised to cut funding for vital nutrition programs such as SNAP and federally funded free school meals. As anti-poverty and anti-hunger child advocates, CCC supports Governor Hochul’s proposal to implement universal school meals statewide and we are actively working to ensure this historic investment is fully funded in the FY2026 Enacted Budget. It has never been more important for to support programs that help families combat hunger and we stand with members of several food security coalitions to fight for all programs that increase food security across New York, including free in-school meals for all students. Read more about how universal school meals supports students, families, and communities here.

Pre-School Special Education 

New York continues to face a shortage of pre-school special education seats, in violation of the legal rights of young children with disabilities. As with other programs providing supportive services to children and families, low provider rates are impacting the workforce, and therefore timely services for children in need. CCC supports the Board of Regents recommendation to temporarily use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to update provider rates annually until an ongoing study determines a new way to do so. We view this as a temporary solution to help address the significant wait times that delay access to critical services for children and families, noting that a stronger, permanent solution must be worked out.

Moving Forward

Our commitment to education equity in New York remains unwavering—every child deserves the same opportunity to learn, thrive, and succeed. We will continue to focus on education funding as part of our state budget advocacy and will keep our network updated on impactful changes.  Right now, our coalition partners at CEEF are hosting a take action campaign to help push for the formula changes we outlined above that will truly help students in the city and across the state.