Dear Commons Community,

Unlike last year when New York State was facing a $10 billion deficit, there are no draconian budget cuts in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget for New York State next year.  That is good.

As reported in the New York Times, Mr. Cuomo proposed a $132.5 billion state budget  for the fiscal year that begins April 1. That would be $225 million less than what the state is spending this year — a cut of 0.2 percent. The budget would be balanced in part by a revision of the state income tax, approved last month by the Legislature, that created a higher tax bracket for individuals who earn more than $1 million and married couples earning more than $2 million.

The part of  his budget that will receive the most scrutiny is that which would add about $800 million to education financing, with most of that increase aimed at poor school districts, which suffered cuts last year and are especially dependent on state aid. He has also said that the promise depends on local districts and teachers’ unions agreeing to teacher evaluations. That’s crucial because the failure to move forward on evaluation systems means that New York could lose more than $700 million in federal education assistance.   This is particularly important for New York City.

A lawsuit by teachers fighting a statewide evaluation system is in negotiations and a settlement is said to be close. But Mr. Cuomo added a shove, threatening to propose his own evaluation system if they don’t agree within 30 days from Tuesday. He wants school districts to be using these evaluations by January 2013 or they will lose their increase in state money.

“No evaluation, no money. Period,” he said.

The governor’s budget, which must be passed by the Legislature before April 1, is only a framework.  As the Times article concluded:  “Now comes the hard part: getting the Legislature and the unions to go along”.

Tony