2019 New York Laws
EDN - Education
Title 2 - School District Organization
Article 53 - School Elections in City School Districts of Cities With Less Than One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Inhabitants
2601-A - Procedures for Adoption of School Budgets in Small City School Districts.

§  2601-a.  Procedures  for  adoption  of school budgets in small city
school districts. 1. The board of education of each city school district
subject to this article shall provide for the submission of a budget for
approval of the voters pursuant to the provisions of this section and in
accordance with the requirements  set  forth  in  section  two  thousand
twenty-three-a of this title.
  2.  The board of education shall conduct all annual and special school
district meetings for the purpose of adopting a school  district  budget
in  the  same  manner as a union free school district in accordance with
the provisions of article forty-one of this title, except  as  otherwise
provided  by  this section. The annual meeting and election of each such
city school district shall be held on the third Tuesday of May  in  each
year,  provided,  however that such annual meeting and election shall be
held on the second Tuesday in May if the commissioner at the request  of
a  local  school  board  certifies  no  later than March first that such
election would conflict  with  religious  observances,  and  any  school
budget revote shall be held on the date and in the same manner specified
in  subdivision  three  of section two thousand seven of this title. The
provisions of this article, and where applicable subdivision  nine-a  of
section   twenty-five   hundred   two   of  this  title,  governing  the
qualification  and  registration  of  voters,  and  procedures  for  the
nomination  and  election  of  members  of  the board of education shall
continue to apply, and shall govern the qualification  and  registration
of voters and voting procedures with respect to the adoption of a school
district budget.
  3.  The  board  of  education shall prepare a proposed school district
budget for the ensuing year in accordance with the provisions of section
seventeen hundred sixteen of  this  chapter,  including  all  provisions
relating  to  required  notices  and  appendices  to  the  statement  of
expenditures. No board  of  education  shall  incur  a  school  district
liability  except  as  authorized by the provisions of section seventeen
hundred  eighteen  of  this  chapter.  Such  proposed  budget  shall  be
presented  in three components: a program component, a capital component
and an administrative component which shall be separately delineated  in
accordance  with regulations of the commissioner after consultation with
local school district  officials.  The  administrative  component  shall
include,  but  need not be limited to, office and central administrative
expenses, traveling expenses and all compensation, salaries and benefits
of  all  school  administrators  and  supervisors,  including   business
administrators,   superintendents  of  schools  and  deputy,  assistant,
associate  or  other  superintendents  under  all  existing   employment
contracts  or collective bargaining agreements, any and all expenditures
associated with the operation of the board of education, the  office  of
the  superintendent  of  schools,  general  administration,  the  school
business office, consulting costs not directly related to direct student
services and programs, planning and all other administrative activities.
The program component shall include, but need not  be  limited  to,  all
program  expenditures of the school district, including the salaries and
benefits of teachers and any school administrators  or  supervisors  who
spend  a  majority  of  their  time  performing teaching duties, and all
transportation operating expenses. The capital component shall  include,
but  need  not  be limited to, all transportation capital, debt service,
and lease expenditures; costs resulting from judgments in tax certiorari
proceedings  or  the   payment   of   awards   from   court   judgments,
administrative   orders  or  settled  or  compromised  claims;  and  all
facilities costs of the  school  district,  including  facilities  lease
expenditures,  the annual debt service and total debt for all facilities
financed by bonds and notes of the school district,  and  the  costs  of

construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement
of  school  buildings, provided that such budget shall include a rental,
operations and maintenance section that includes base rent costs,  total
rent  costs, operation and maintenance charges, cost per square foot for
each  facility  leased  by  the  school  district,  and  any   and   all
expenditures  associated  with  custodial salaries and benefits, service
contracts, supplies, utilities, and maintenance and  repairs  of  school
facilities.  For  the  purposes  of  the development of a budget for the
nineteen hundred ninety-seven--ninety-eight school year,  the  board  of
education  shall  separate its program, capital and administrative costs
for the nineteen hundred ninety-six--ninety-seven  school  year  in  the
manner  as  if  the  budget  for  such  year had been presented in three
components. Except as provided in  subdivision  four  of  this  section,
nothing  in  this  section  shall preclude the board, in its discretion,
from submitting additional  items  of  expenditure  to  the  voters  for
approval   as  separate  propositions  or  the  voters  from  submitting
propositions pursuant to sections two thousand eight  and  two  thousand
thirty-five  of  this  chapter  subject to the requirements set forth in
subdivision nine of section two thousand twenty-three-a of this part.
  4. The budget adoption process shall conform to the  requirements  set
forth in section two thousand twenty-three-a of this title. In the event
the qualified voters of the district reject the budget proposed pursuant
to  subdivision  three  of  this  section,  the board may propose to the
voters a revised budget pursuant to subdivision  three  of  section  two
thousand  seven of this title or may adopt a contingency budget pursuant
to subdivision five of this section and subdivision five of section  two
thousand  twenty-two  of  this title. The school district budget for any
school year, or any part of such budget or  any  propositions  involving
the expenditure of money for such school year shall not be submitted for
a  vote  of  the  qualified  voters  more  than  twice. In the event the
qualified voters reject the resubmitted budget, the board shall adopt  a
contingency  budget  in accordance with subdivision five of this section
and subdivision five of such section two  thousand  twenty-two  of  this
title.
  5. If the qualified voters fail or refuse to vote the sum estimated to
be  necessary  for  teachers'  salaries  and  other  ordinary contingent
expenses, the board shall adopt a contingency budget in accordance  with
this  subdivision  and  shall  levy  a  tax for that portion of such sum
remaining after applying thereto the moneys received or to  be  received
from  state,  federal  or  other  sources,  in the same manner as if the
budget had been  approved  by  the  qualified  voters;  subject  to  the
limitations   imposed  in  subdivision  four  of  section  two  thousand
twenty-three of this chapter, subdivision eight of section two  thousand
twenty-three-a  of  this  title and this subdivision. The administrative
component shall not comprise a greater  percentage  of  the  contingency
budget  exclusive  of  the  capital component than the lesser of (1) the
percentage the administrative component had comprised in the prior  year
budget  exclusive  of  the  capital component; or (2) the percentage the
administrative component had comprised in  the  last  proposed  defeated
budget exclusive of the capital component. Such contingency budget shall
include the sum determined by the board to be necessary for:
  (a)  teachers'  salaries, including the salaries of all members of the
teaching and supervising staff;
  (b) items of expense specifically authorized by statute to be incurred
by the board of education, including, but not limited  to,  expenditures
for  transportation  to  and  from  regular  school programs included as
ordinary  contingent  expenses  in   subdivision   twelve   of   section
twenty-five  hundred  three of this chapter, expenditures for textbooks,

required  services  for  non-public  school  students,   school   health
services,  special  education  services, kindergarten and nursery school
programs, and the district's share of the administrative costs and costs
of services provided by a board of cooperative educational services;
  (c) items of expense for legal obligations of the district, including,
but  not limited to, contractual obligations, debt service, court orders
or judgments, orders of administrative bodies or officers, and standards
and requirements of the board of regents and the commissioner that  have
the force and effect of law;
  (d)  the  purchase  of library books and other instructional materials
associated with a library;
  (e) items of expense necessary to maintain the educational programs of
the district, preserve the property  of  the  district  or  protect  the
health  and safety of students and staff, including, but not limited to,
support services, pupil personnel services, the necessary  salaries  for
the   necessary   number  of  non-teaching  employees,  necessary  legal
expenses,  water  and  utility  charges,  instructional   supplies   for
teachers'   use,   emergency  repairs,  temporary  rental  of  essential
classroom  facilities,  and  expenditures  necessary  to  advise  school
district voters concerning school matters; and
  (f) expenses incurred for interschool athletics, field trips and other
extracurricular activities; and
  (g)  any other item of expense determined by the commissioner to be an
ordinary contingent expense in any school district.
  6. The commissioner shall determine appeals raising  questions  as  to
what  items  of expenditure are ordinary contingent expenses pursuant to
subdivision five of this section in accordance with section two thousand
twenty-four and three hundred ten of this chapter.
  7. Each year, the board of education shall prepare a  school  district
report card, pursuant to regulations of the commissioner, and shall make
it  publicly available by transmitting it to local newspapers of general
circulation, appending it to copies of the proposed budget made publicly
available as required by law, making it available  for  distribution  at
the  annual  meeting,  and otherwise disseminating it as required by the
commissioner. Such report card shall include measures  of  the  academic
performance  of  the  school  district, on a school by school basis, and
measures of the fiscal performance of the district, as prescribed by the
commissioner. Pursuant to regulations of the  commissioner,  the  report
card  shall  also  compare  these measures to statewide averages for all
public schools, and statewide averages for public schools of  comparable
wealth  and  need, developed by the commissioner. Such report card shall
include, at a minimum, any information on the school district  regarding
pupil  performance  and expenditure per pupil required to be included in
the annual report by the regents to the  governor  and  the  legislature
pursuant to section two hundred fifteen-a of this chapter; and any other
information   required   by   the  commissioner.  School  districts  (i)
identified as having fifteen  percent  or  more  of  their  students  in
special  education,  or  (ii)  which have fifty percent or more of their
students with disabilities in special  education  programs  or  services
sixty percent or more of the school day in a general education building,
or  (iii)  which  have  eight  percent  or  more  of their students with
disabilities in special education programs in public or private separate
educational settings shall indicate on their school district report card
their respective percentages as defined in this paragraph and paragraphs
(i) and (ii) of this subdivision as compared to the statewide average.