STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3493--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 3, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education -- recommitted to the Committee on Education in
accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT in relation to apportioning funds to the Yonkers city school
district for services and expenses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The Yonkers city school district shall be paid on an accel-
2 erated schedule as follows:
3 (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, for aid payable
4 in the school years 2024-2025 through 2053-2054 upon application to the
5 commissioner of education submitted not sooner than the second Monday in
6 May of the school year in which such aid is payable and not later than
7 the Friday following the third Monday in May of the school year in which
8 such aid is payable, or ten days after the effective date of this act,
9 whichever shall be later, the Yonkers city school district shall be
10 eligible to receive an apportionment pursuant to this act in an amount
11 equal to the product of five million dollars ($5,000,000) and the
12 quotient of the positive difference of thirty minus the number of school
13 years elapsed since the 2024-2025 school year divided by thirty.
14 (2) Funds apportioned pursuant to this subdivision shall be used for
15 services and expenses of the Yonkers city school district and shall be
16 applied to support of its educational programs and any liability
17 incurred by such city school district in carrying out its functions and
18 responsibilities under the education law.
19 (b) The claim for an apportionment to be paid to the Yonkers city
20 school district pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section shall be
21 submitted to the commissioner of education on a form prescribed for such
22 purpose and shall be payable upon determination by such commissioner
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08314-02-4
A. 3493--A 2
1 that the form has been submitted as prescribed and that the school
2 district has complied with the reporting requirements of this act. For
3 each school year in which application is made pursuant to subdivision
4 (a) of this section, such approved amount shall be payable on or before
5 May thirty-first of such school year upon the audit and warrant of the
6 state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by the commissioner
7 of education in the manner prescribed by law from moneys in the state
8 lottery fund appropriated for general support of public schools and from
9 the general fund to the extent that the amount paid to the Yonkers city
10 school district pursuant to this subdivision and subdivision (a) of this
11 section exceeds the amount of the moneys apportioned, if any, for gener-
12 al support for public schools due such school district pursuant to
13 section 3609-a of the education law on or before September first of such
14 school year.
15 (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3609-a of the education
16 law, an amount equal to the amount paid to the Yonkers city school
17 district during the base year pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of
18 this section shall first be deducted from payments due during the
19 current school year pursuant to subparagraphs (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5)
20 of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of the education law
21 in the following order: the lottery apportionment payable pursuant to
22 subparagraph (2) of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of
23 the education law followed by the fixed fall payments payable pursuant
24 to subparagraph (4) of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3609-a of
25 the education law, and any remainder to be deducted from the individual-
26 ized payments due to the district pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision
27 1 of section 3609-a of the education law shall be deducted on a chrono-
28 logical basis starting with the earliest payment due the district.
29 (d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the sum of payments
30 made to the Yonkers city school district during the base year pursuant
31 to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section plus payments made to such
32 school district during the current year pursuant to section 3609-a of
33 the education law shall be deemed to truly represent all aids paid to
34 such school district during the current school year pursuant to section
35 3609-a of the education law for the purposes of computing any adjust-
36 ments to such aids that may occur in a subsequent school year.
37 (e) (1) On or before the first day of each month beginning in July
38 2025 and ending in June 2055, the chief fiscal officer and the super-
39 intendent of schools of the Yonkers city school district shall prepare
40 and submit to the board of education a report of the fiscal condition of
41 the school district, including but not limited to the most current
42 available data on fund balances on funds maintained by the school
43 district and the district's use of the apportionments provided pursuant
44 to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section.
45 (2) Such monthly report shall be in a format prescribed by the commis-
46 sioner of education. The board of education shall either reject and
47 return the report to the chief fiscal officer and the superintendent of
48 schools for appropriate revisions and resubmittal or shall approve the
49 report and submit copies to the commissioner of education and the state
50 comptroller of such approved report as submitted or resubmitted.
51 (3) In the 2024-2025 through 2053-2054 school years, the chief fiscal
52 officer of the Yonkers city school district shall monitor all budgets
53 and for each budget, shall prepare a quarterly report of summarized
54 budget data depicting overall trends of actual revenues and budget
55 expenditures for the entire budget as well as individual line items.
56 Such report shall compare revenue estimates and appropriations as set
A. 3493--A 3
1 forth in such budget with the actual revenues and expenditures made to
2 date. All quarterly reports shall be accompanied by a recommendation
3 from the superintendent of schools or chief fiscal officer to the board
4 of education setting forth any remedial actions necessary to resolve any
5 unfavorable budget variance including the overestimation of revenue and
6 underestimation of appropriations. The chief fiscal officer shall also
7 prepare, as part of such report, a quarterly trial balance of general
8 ledger accounts in accordance with generally accepted accounting princi-
9 ples as prescribed by the state comptroller. All reports shall be
10 completed within sixty days after the end of each quarter and shall be
11 submitted to the chief fiscal officer and the board of education of the
12 Yonkers city school district, the state division of budget, the office
13 of the state comptroller, the commissioner of education, the chair of
14 the assembly ways and means committee and the chair of the senate
15 finance committee.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.