Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF, REF - Sag Harbor) announced that he helped pass the Assembly’s 2019-20 state budget proposal, which increases funding for public schools by $1.6 billion over last year and makes higher education a reality for more New Yorkers.

“School is more than just the place our kids go to learn,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “It’s where they grow, develop their interests and hopefully discover a passion that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. So our schools have to be more than classrooms. They need to be welcoming environments with resources and opportunities that open up new worlds. The Assembly’s budget proposal helps make that a reality so we can level the playing field for our youngest New Yorkers and give each of them an equal chance to reach for the stars.”

Investing in public schools and our kids’ futures

The Assembly plan provides a total of $28.4 billion in education funding, an increase of $1.6 billion – or 6 percent – over the previous year and $644 million more than the executive proposal. Foundation Aid would be increased by $1.16 billion for the 2019-20 school year for a total of $18.9 billion, which is $823 million more than the executive proposal. The Assembly budget proposal would also fully phase in Foundation Aid over the next three years. The Assembly rejects an executive proposal requiring certain districts to distribute a percentage of their Foundation Aid increase to specific schools. Assemblyman Thiele noted that local districts know their schools best and they should be the ones to determine how to distribute resources.

“The fight for fair and fully funded schools is one we’re never going to let up from,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “A student’s background or zip code should never stand in the way of a world-class education that nurtures them, teaches them how to think both critically and creatively and prepares them for the real world.”

Prekindergarten programs give our children a strong foundation for the rest of their academic lives, helping them develop critical learning, social and emotional skills, noted Assemblyman Thiele. To ensure more kids get started on the right foot, the Assembly budget proposal adds $15 million for pre-K programs, bringing the increase to $30 million, for a total funding level of $863 million. Further, the Assembly plan would make pre-K transportation reimbursable through transportation aid.

Ensuring a well-rounded education

To further strengthen education services, the Assembly budget proposal includes:

• $14.3 million in restorations for Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers;
• a $5 million increase in funding for nonpublic Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teachers, for a total of $25 million, which is $10 million more than last year;
• $4.34 million for the development and implementation of the translation of Regents exams, as well as the grades 3-8 Math and ELA state assessments;
• a $3.7 million increase in funding for 4201 schools, which serve blind and deaf students;
• $1.5 million in restorations for the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE), for a total of $13 million, to provide career training and job placement services;
• a $1.5 million increase over last year for adult literacy education, for a total of $9.3 million; and
• a $1 million increase for independent living centers, which operate on a self-help model and promote inclusion and integration of New Yorkers with disabilities and their families in all aspects of community life.

Making higher education a reality for more New Yorkers

Assemblyman Thiele has always believed that cost should never be a roadblock on a student’s educational journey. Year after year, the Assembly has fought to make college more affordable and accessible to give every student a fair shot at a degree without forcing families to take on insurmountable debt. And the Assembly knows that a critical part of that is supporting and strengthening the state’s public and community colleges. Therefore, the Assembly budget proposal includes $12.8 million for SUNY and $14.8 million for CUNY in increased operating support to help offset the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) gap.

The TAP gap is the difference between TAP funding for students and actual tuition costs. Since 2011, New York’s public colleges have had to cover this difference for students who qualify for the maximum TAP award, forcing them to dip into their operating budgets. The disparity currently stands at $64 million for SUNY and $74 million for CUNY. And for students who don’t qualify for the maximum TAP award, they’re saddled with that difference themselves and pushed further into debt, especially as tuition continues to rise.

To help close the TAP gap for those students, the Assembly budget proposal includes $15 million for a new “Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship” to cover non-tuition expenses such as housing, meal plans and books and help close the affordability gap for even more families across the state.

“Closing the TAP gap is critical to ensuring no New Yorker is priced out of getting a college degree and making a life for themselves. It’s also critical to ensuring our public universities remain world-class institutions that can upgrade their facilities, hire highly qualified staff and provide the best programs and resources for their students,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “We can’t keep expecting the students and schools to do more and more with less – it’s just not realistic or fair.”

Additionally, the Assembly increases funding for a college scholarship for students taking between six and 11 credits a semester at a community college by $2 million, and restores funding for the STEM scholarship for nonpublic colleges and makes it an entitlement program.

To further bolster the state’s public colleges, the Assembly budget:

• provides $500 million for SUNY and $400 million for CUNY for expansion projects;
• allocates $12.1 million to SUNY, and $6.9 million to CUNY, for community college base aid, bringing the total rate to $2,947 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student, and ensures no college loses more than 2 percent of its state support in a given year;
• provides $1.3 million to SUNY and $1.2 million for CUNY for Child Care Centers;
• restores $2.5 million in funding for the CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP);
• provides an additional $6 million over the executive proposal for Educational Opportunity Centers (EOCs), for a total of $61 million, and provides $30 million in capital funding; and
• restores $1 million to Advanced Technology Training Information Networking (ATTAIN) labs for a total of $5.5 million.

The proposal also provides $30 million for the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program (HECap), which helps finance capital projects and equipment purchases by independent higher education institutions in New York State.

Additionally, the Assembly budget:

• restores $4.5 million for the Foster Youth College Success Initiative to support foster students on their path to higher education;
• allocates $2 million in additional support for students with disabilities;
• restores $750,000 for Small Business Development Centers, which offer business counseling and entrepreneurial training;
• restores $250,000 to support the CUNY Pipeline Program at the Graduate Center;
• restores $600,000 for Graduate Diversity Fellowships, for a total of $6.6 million; and
• restores $600,000 for mental health services at SUNY and provides $2.5 million for mental health counseling services at CUNY and $500,000 to support homeless students at CUNY.

Expanding college opportunity programs and scholarships

The Assembly Majority continues investing in college opportunity programs with a $23.8 million – or 20 percent – increase in funding, including:

• $41.4 million for the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), which is $5.9 million more than the executive budget proposal;
• $37.5 million for the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which is $5.4 million more than the executive proposal;
• $32.8 million for Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK), which is $4.7 million more than the executive proposal;
• $21.4 million for Liberty Partnerships, which is $3.1 million more than the executive proposal;
• $18.4 million for the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP), which is $2.6 million more than the executive proposal;
• $13.9 million for the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (C-STEP), which is $2 million more than the executive proposal; and
• $1.6 million for College Discovery, which is $225,000 more than the executive proposal.

“Opportunity programs help ensure disadvantaged students are not overlooked or left behind,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “They offer these deserving students a fair shot at making their college dreams come true by providing crucial programs like counseling, tutoring and workshops. These initiatives let students know that their life circumstances don’t define them.”

The proposal also continues the Excelsior Scholarship, which was established in 2017 and makes SUNY and CUNY schools tuition-free for New Yorkers who earn less than $125,000 this year. Students who attend a private college in New York and earn less than $125,000 this year would also be eligible for a scholarship award of $6,000.

Strengthening public libraries

The Assembly budget proposal restores $5 million in aid to public libraries, for a total of $96.6 million, as well as $20 million in construction grants for libraries, for a total of $34 million. The proposal also allows certain high-need libraries to receive capital grants for up to 90 percent of project costs and makes permanent provisions that allow all high-need libraries to receive capital grants for up to 75 percent of project costs.

“Today’s public libraries are so much more than just places to borrow books,” said Assemblyman Thiele. “Story hours open up new worlds and start a lifetime of learning for our youngest New Yorkers; access to computers and technology help job seekers find employment and families get tax help; and comprehensive programming brings community members together and gives them an outlet to learn new skills. We need to take care of and protect these invaluable institutions.”

Further, the Assembly proposal restores $250,000 for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and $75,000 for the Langston Hughes Library, vital resources for African-American history and culture in New York State.