Senate Democrats plan on increasing education aid despite revenue shortfall

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s conservative revenue forecast hasn’t altered Senate Democrats’ plan to increase education aid.

“No, no, no, no,” said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Wednesday, when asked if the state’s bleak revenue outlook will mean decreasing state education aid, which is one of the largest areas of spending in the budget each year.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo initially proposed increasing education aid by about $1 billion, a 3.6 percent increase from last year, which wasn’t enough for most education advocates and Democratic lawmakers. Education funding remained steady in his amended budget last month, which took steps to close a developing $2.6 billion revenue shortfall for the coming fiscal year.

David Friedfel, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, had hoped the state’s revenue predicament would lead to an examination of the annual investment in education. “We would advocate for cutting some education aid, especially for the richer districts, but the legislature hasn’t indicated any support for that yet,” he said on Tuesday.

Read more: https://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/286078/senate-dems-plan-on-increasing-education-aid-despite-revenue-shortfall/