Hochul willing to consider dropping plan to change school aid, budget official says
Keshia Clukey, newsday.com
ALBANY — Because of better-than-anticipated tax revenue, Gov. Kathy Hochul is willing to consider shelving her proposal to end a longtime policy that guaranteed no school district would receive less state aid than it did the previous year, the state budget director said Tuesday.
Hochul, a Democrat, proposed ending the policy, known as “hold harmless,” citing declining school enrollments over the last decade. The proposal was met with criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in the State Legislature, as it would mean less state assistance for 337 of the state’s more than 700 school districts — including 44 on Long Island.