Governor Proposes 2025-26 Executive Budget 

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered a presentation in support of her 2025-26 executive budget proposal. A budget briefing book, with additional proposal details, was released during her presentation. Budget bills were also released during the presentation. 

Based on those materials, initial notable highlights include:

• $1.69 billion increase in formula-based school aid (+4.8%)
  • $1.46 billion increase (+5.9%) in Foundation Aid
    • All districts guaranteed a minimum 2% increase (approximately 375 districts)
    • Replaces outdated 2000 Census Poverty data with up-to-date Small Area Income Poverty Estimate (SAIPE) data, and replaces unreliable Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) data with ‘economically disadvantaged’ data
  • Full funding of expense-based aids, generating a $230 million increase (2.2%) over current funding levels
• Provides for a full universal school meals program by increasing annual funding to $340 million (+$160 million)
• Requires all school districts and BOCES to adopt a local policy, by August 1, 2025, prohibiting student use of internet-enabled devices during the school day 
  • Allocates $13.5 million in potential funding to help offset costs

The state Division of Budget has also posted traditional school aid runs, showing how these proposals impact state aid at a district-specific level. The runs can be viewed below.

2025-26 Executive Budget School Aid Runs

A comprehensive summary of the executive budget proposal will be produced in the days to come. Further, the NYSSBA Governmental Relations team will host a webinar reviewing the executive budget proposal during our Capital Conference the morning of Friday, February 7.

2025 Capital Conference and Lobby Day

February 7, 2025 – NYSSBA Annual Capital Conference (Virtual)

This half-day morning virtual advocacy conference will feature conversations with state policymakers, a review of the executive budget proposal and other important information to support your local advocacy efforts. As we have done in the past, the event will be recorded and shared with our members. You can find registration details here. 

February 12, 2025 – NYSSBA Annual Lobby Day (Albany, NY)

Join us for our annual Lobby Day at the NYS Capitol. We will provide a light breakfast, coffee, and talking points.  Scheduling of legislative meetings is done by attendees. Registration for NYSSBA Lobby Day here.