School districts across New York are preparing for critical budget votes on May 20. But without hard data on state funding, districts that are facing rising costs and deficits will have to make difficult decisions.

Leaders are encouraging families to get involved and brace for potential cuts.

New York City will open seven new public schools across four boroughs in September, Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos announced Monday.

By this fall, a total of 28 new schools will have opened or will be opening under the Adams administration, bringing more than 13,000 new seats to schools in the five boroughs.

State Education Department officials late Monday said they were troubled by a potential budget deal to change department regulations for religious and nonpublic schools after weeks of closed-door debate.

In a victory for the Hasidic Jewish community, sources and lawmakers said the budget will roll back the state Education Department's stricter substantial equivalency standards for nonpublic schools the Board of Regents adopted in 2022.

According to New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leaders are close to wrapping up budget negotiations, but there are at least two outstanding issues to resolve: Foundation Aid and capital funding.

On Foundation Aid, the Senate’s top Democrat reassured school districts that current negotiations are over how much of an increase in Foundation Aid they will receive. She also stated that no district will receive less state aid than they did this year.

As a budget deal nears completion, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday would not rule out including changes in the final spending plan to weaken education standards for nonpublic schools in exchange for political gain.

State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has led a push to amend state Education Department guidelines for religious and non-public schools as a political bargaining chip — especially amid the contentious New York City's mayoral election.

After days of anticipation that a state budget deal would be announced by the end of the week, Gov. Kathy Hochul paid a visit to the third floor press hall, one floor up from the executive chamber, to tell reporters that it was not to be.

“I just wanted to let you all know that you can go home tonight, you all look a little tired,” she joked.

Multiple New York lawmakers said Friday a last-minute budget debate remains unsettled to amend state Education Department standards for religious and non-public schools in the budget, now 18 days late.

With a conceptual deal on discovery about done, leaders are expected to revisit the debate to make it easier for nonpublic schools to satisfy state Education Department guidelines to teach a curriculum that's substantially equivalent to public districts.

Gov. Kathy Hochul told New Yorkers Monday that a budget deal will come “in the near future” as she continued to double down on making sure her proposed changes to the state’s discovery laws, or how evidence is shared with the defense, make the final package.

For now, she said the back and forth is mostly inside baseball.

The State University of New York hired a longtime Albany government communications aide this week who has worked for the state attorney general's office since 2022.

Gary Ginsburg joined SUNY on Thursday as the new chief communications officer. He served as acting communications director in state Attorney General Letitia James' office since January and the deputy communications director since 2022.

Schools across New York state had to reschedule their computer-based testing after technical issues with the state education's website on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The outage impacted students in grades three through eight. The state Education Department says 10% of schools were affected.

The Trump administration is freezing more than $1 billion in federal funding to Cornell University.

This comes amid a government investigation of alleged civil rights violations at the school.

State leaders continue to consider a backroom budget proposal to make it easier for nonpublic schools to satisfy state Education Department guidelines to teach a curriculum that is substantially equivalent to public districts.

Multiple lawmakers Thursday said the proposal remains on the table as negotiations persist with no end in sight.

It looks like Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed bell-to-bell cellphone ban has some critics among lawmakers and school administrators.

Last week, Capital Tonight spoke with New York’s Superintendents’ Association and School Boards Association about why they are pushing for less stringent rules around cellphones.

An international student at Cornell University involved in pro-Palestinian protests has been asked to surrender to immigration authorities as he seeks to block deportation actions by the Trump administration.

The government action against Momodou Taal comes as President Donald Trump ratchets up efforts to arrest and deport noncitizens who participate in such protests or who demonstrate against Israel's military actions in Gaza. In one of the most high-profile cases, the Justice Department recently lodged new accusations against a Columbia University graduate student who has been detained and targeted for deportation because of his participation in protests.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education which oversees federal student loans, funding for low-income students and civil rights enforcement.

While only Congress can completely abolish a federal agency, the administration can begin to reduce the agency’s resources.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday she is worried about the impact of President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the shutdown of the U.S. Department of Education.

The governor was at Eagle Point Elementary School in Albany, a place she said relies heavily on the federal government for subsidizing school lunches. According to Hochul, Albany County gets $6 million from the federal government for student school breakfasts and lunches and elimination of the Education Department could jeopardize that.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in schools in her executive budget, along with a $13.5 million appropriation to implement the ban.

While the proposal has the support of the teachers’ unions, there are a couple of other ideas floating around that aren’t as stringent as the governor’s that are gaining traction.

The Rockefeller Institute delivered its suggested overhaul of New York state's school funding formula in December. Since then, neither Gov. Kathy Hochul nor the two legislative houses have adopted more than a few of the think tank’s 32 recommendations.

According to attorney Michael Rebell, executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia, the few data points that have been updated in the executive and one-house budgets have harmed districts that serve the most vulnerable students.

The U.S. Department of Education says it's investigating 45 colleges and universities for what it calls Civil Rights Act violations through partnerships with a higher education nonprofit, including Cornell University and NYU.

In a department release Friday, the department claims the investigations follow "allegations that these institutions have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964) by partnering with 'The Ph.D. Project,' " a nonprofit that seeks to diversify college business schools by increasing the amount of Black, Hispanic and Native American doctorate recipients. The department's claim is that the nonprofit "limits eligibility based on the race of participants."

While not reminiscent of the battle over Foundation Aid that took place at this time last year, with the release of one-house budgets Tuesday, there is daylight when it comes to education policy and funding between Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal and that of legislative leaders.

When it comes to a cell phone ban in schools, Hochul is gearing up to push her bell-to-bell proposal across the finish line when the state budget is due April 1, with the backing of the powerful New York State United Teachers union and other education groups.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The State University of New York system says the outlook is bright.

Chancellor John King told legislators at a joint budget hearing on higher education Tuesday SUNY has seen system-wide enrollment increases in back-to-back years for the first time in 15 years with record setting investment from the state.

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The White House last month lifted a ban on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in places of worship as well as schools. While there haven't been many, if any at all, raids in schools, administrators are on alert in New York.

President Donald Trump and his administration have been vocal about the possibility of mass deportations across the United States.

The Trump administration's stated plans to abolish the U.S. Department of Education begs a question: What impact would it have on student loans, since the department is the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation? An executive director of a college access program described what could be at stake.

As reports surface that Trump is working on an executive order to dismantle the department, Elon Musk wrote late Monday that Trump “will succeed” in eliminating the agency, which oversees nearly $2 trillion in student debt.

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – In her State of the State agenda for 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed helping qualified New Yorkers obtain free associate degrees in some high-demand careers.

"New York State will make community college free for students ages 25-55 pursuing select associate degrees in high-demand occupations, including nursing, teaching, technology, engineering and more," Hochul says on the governor's website.

As part of her state of the state agenda, Gov. Kathy Hochul is taking aim at social media use among young people.

The governor is pushing a multi-faceted approach when it comes to how to best tackle it: strategies for both in and out of the classroom.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing funding universal school meals in the next state budget as part of her State of the State executive agenda that she estimates will feed more than 2.7 million students, she announced Friday.

The governor's office said this program will help save families an estimated $165 on groceries per child each month. And if students currently buy meals at school every day, the state says it will save parents $2,000 per child a year, as well as address food insecurity among children and create more opportunities for students to succeed.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will announce in the coming days her support to fund universal school meals in the next state budget as part of her State of the State executive agenda, sources told Spectrum News on Wednesday.

It is estimated to cost about $250 million for universal coverage for all school districts in the state. Currently, about $145 million of the state's $237 billion budget funds free school meals in low-income districts.

Federal funds totaling $15 million will go to installing 350 electric vehicle charging stations at State University of New York campuses, U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced Tuesday.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program, which is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, which Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Regular school attendance can be considered a cornerstone of academic achievement. However, reports across New York state and even the country have seen a significant increase in learning loss due to being chronically absent during the school year.

The phrase "80% of success is just showing up" may come across more clever than true. But it resonates strongly in light of reports of one in three students chronically absent from school districts across the state, according to the New York State Comptroller.

In 2019, the New York State Board of Regents under Chancellor Betty Rosa created a Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) to travel around the state and collect information from stakeholders regarding the attributes and skills that students need to get them ready to graduate from high school, whether they choose to go to college, a trade school or participate in the economy in another way.

Fast forward to 2024 – the state has now determined that there should be multiple pathways to graduation, and that a Regents diploma isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the only option for students.

A bill setting a maximum temperature for public school classrooms across New York was signed into law by Gov. Hochul.

The law signed Friday takes effect Sept. 1, 2025, and requires instructors to address heat conditions once temperatures reach 82. They are advised to close blinds and use fans or air conditioning if the school is equipped.

Educators gathered in Albany on Monday, urging state leaders to institute a statewide policy for cell phone use in schools. They say consistent statewide policy is needed as opposed to the district-by-district approach that exists now.

At the state capitol, educators led by the New York State United Teachers pointed to guidance from the U.S. Department of Education calling on states to take action on cell phones in the classroom.

According to most of the experts Capital Tonight has spoken with, the Rockefeller Institute’s Foundation Aid report is both thorough and thoughtful.

Rick Timbs agrees, but he also says there are elements of the report that he would describe as “naïve."

In what appears to be a major change from the policy position she took last year during state budget negotiations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s spokeswoman said the governor wants “to avoid proposals that would negatively impact school budgets, such as eliminating the hold-harmless provision of the Foundation Aid formula.”

"Hold harmless," also called "save harmless," protects school districts from funding reductions despite enrollment drops.

After five public hearings and multiple stakeholder meetings, the Rockefeller Institute’s Foundation Aid report was released Monday afternoon.

Foundation Aid has been the primary school funding formula in New York state since 2007.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government was asked earlier this year by Gov. Kathy Hochul to review the state's Foundation Aid formula, the primary funding formula for New York schools.

The formula is outdated, having been created in 2007 under Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

“We have more students who are coming to school who are not potty-trained.”

Marie Wiles was blunt about the increasingly basic needs of her pupils. She has served as superintendent of the Guilderland Central Schools, a suburb of Albany, for 14 years.

As Spectrum News 1 reported last month, New York's higher education system is again seeing an increase in enrollment, as colleges and universities across the nation trend downward.

New data out from the State University of New York system on Wednesday shows an increase of 2.3% in enrollment from last fall. Last year, SUNY saw an increase of 1.1% from the year prior.

New York education leaders are pushing a new timeline for which Regents exams will be eliminated as a graduation requirement in January 2028. The idea to move away from that form of standardized testing has been on the table for several years.

Some people view this shift as lowering expectations. But people in the education field say there will be a rigorous set of learning standards still in place, there will just be new alternatives for students to show mastery of them.

The state could stop using the Regents exams as a graduation requirement in January 2028 if the Board of Regents approves a plan outlined by the state education department.

“Starting in January 2028, so that’s the 2027-2028 school year, while Regents exams will be one of many ways for students to demonstrate mastery of the state's rigorous learning standards there will no longer be a separate assessment requirement to graduate high school,” Shannon Logan, director of standards and instruction for the New York State Education Department, said during a presentation Monday.

In an effort to help New York's top high school seniors get accepted at SUNY colleges and universities around the state, the state has launched the SUNY Top 10% Promise Program.

According to a press release, the Top 10% Promise is a direct-admissions program that automatically grants acceptance to graduating high school students whose GPAs are in the top 10% of their class to select SUNY campuses. The nine initial participating campuses are University at Albany, University at Buffalo, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Purchase College and Stony Brook University.

New York state lawmakers have partnered with Buffalo's SUNY schools to help close the opportunity gap for students.

Buffalo State University, the University at Buffalo and SUNY Erie are each involved in the Advancing Completion Through Engagement and Advancing Success in Associate Pathways programs.

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are marking a milestone this month in a long awaited effort to expand the state’s Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP. More than 40,000 newly eligible New York state students have submitted TAP applications for the 2024-25 academic year. It comes as the state projected that changes in this year's budget could benefit about 93,000 students.

State Assemblymember Pat Fahy, who chairs the Higher Education Committee, said in addition to raising the income threshold from $80,000 to $125,000 per year, state lawmakers also increased the minimum TAP award from $500 to $1,000, and increased income limits for married and independent students. The expansion program also includes extending eligibility to part-time students and those enrolled in non-degree programs, which they say opens doors for students who are pursing a non-traditional path.

As Capital Tonight has been reporting, the Rockefeller Institute has been tasked with revising New York state's 17-year-old Foundation Aid formula, which determines the amount of funding school districts receive.

The public policy think tank held hearings with stakeholders including district leaders, elected officials and experts across the state over the summer where some voiced concerns about the formula.

A group of civic organizations sent a letter to the New York state Board of Elections identifying what they describe as possible failures in state law mandating colleges with dorms and at least 300 registered voters have polling places on campus or nearby.

Blair Horner, executive director of good government group NYPIRG who was a driving force behind the effort, explained the study found 20 four-year colleges with 1,000 or more full-time students and on-campus housing had no polling place within a mile of campus, based on Board of Elections data.

Transitioning back to life post-pandemic was hard for many people, but it was significantly difficult for students.

“We noticed that students were not fully returning back to school,” said Aundrea Sanders, director of crisis prevention and intervention supports for Buffalo Public Schools. “We had parents that were concerned with the continued spread of COVID. We had to look at addressing student attendance in a different manner.”

The primary school funding formula for public schools in New York is getting a reboot.

The Foundation Aid formula, which has been the vehicle by which lawmakers direct money to school districts based on need, has been the blueprint for education advocates since 2007. But the formula is 17 years old and requires new inputs and updated data to accurately reflect district need.

Starting Tuesday, many federal student loan procedures will begin to look more like they did pre-pandemic.

A one-year grace period, or “on-ramp” for those who miss a payment or are in default or delinquency, is ending, as is a program that allows borrowers a "fresh start" if their loans aren't in good standing.

Finance website WalletHub recently ranked New York as the best state in the nation to be a teacher across a variety of categories ranging from teachers’ income growth potential to the pupil-teacher ratio to public-school spending per student.

Education advocates say it rings true that New York is a good place to be a teacher, but from a legislative standpoint there is still improvement to be made for educators in the Empire State.

The New York State United Teachers passed a resolution supporting a statewide law or policy restricting smartphones and other devices like smartwatches and earbuds in schools from school opening to dismissal, the union announced Tuesday.

The extent of those restrictions should be designed locally, with input from parents, educators, unions and other stakeholders, the union said. In addition, they said educators should not be responsible for implementation or enforcement of those policies and state resources should be available to cover the costs of implementation.

With the school year in full swing, some of you may have — or be — a student looking at higher education. How do you know that college or university has your students’ best interest in mind?

Institutions of higher education are fighting tooth and nail to keep students enrolled. In fact, according to Education Data, since 2010, enrollment has declined 11.61%.

Gov. Kathy Hochul joined members of the New York state United Teachers to tackle the issue of cell phones in schools, an evolving problem according to educators. A recent poll found that 80% of NYSUT membership agreed phones and social media were having a negative effect on students.

“We come in ready to teach, and we're faced with our students being attached to their cell phones," said NYSUT Executive Vice President Jamie Ciffone. "And it lessens the amount of instructional time that we have with them, which is limited already. And it also takes away from the maximization of the learning time for our students.”

Smartphones are being blamed for attention issues, poor grades, bullying and mental health issues for kids in schools. The New York State Teachers Union, the Council of School Superintendents, the state PTA and other school administrators are convening to explore the impact of phones, social media and technology on kids.

Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul said meetings like Friday's NYSUT conference will make things clearer for a phone ban decision.

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — With most students still only just a few weeks into the new school year, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and school leaders are working to help combat the online threats of violence.

"This is a kind of vandalism,” said Dr. Kevin Whitaker, superintendent, Jamestown Public Schools. “It is a social media vandalism. It's a community and culture vandalism.”

It’s not just the beginning to a new school year for students but all of the professionals and leaders that keep New York’s schools running.

David Albert, chief communications and marketing officer at the New York State School Boards Association, joined Capital Tonight on Friday to discuss the priorities that education leaders have heading into a new school year.

Approximately 60 schools across New York have until the end of the school year to not only change their nickname from something non-indigenous but their logos as well.

Schools like Indian River — now known as the Wolves rather than the Warriors — also have to do this on their own dime, on the hook for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As many families struggle with making ends meet, putting food on the table can be a challenge. For some children, meals served at school are the only meals they receive.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on lawmakers to approve the Universal Schools Meals Program Act. It would provide free breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack to all students regardless of income.

The National Parents Union released a report detailing the state of New York's education system, and it doesn't put it in a positive light. According to their findings, 80% of Black and Hispanic students in Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse and Rochester aren’t proficient in reading and math.

“Clearly, it’s unacceptable," said Ashara Baker, the New York state director for the National Parents Union.

As the New York State Board of Regents met in Albany Monday, one line on the schedule was fairly routine for a September convening: a look ahead at state aid.

This year though, Bob Lowry, deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, told Spectrum News 1 the conversation is a bit more crowded thanks to the Rockefeller Institute’s Foudnation Aid study.

The school year has begun in much of New York state, which means we’re seeing a plethora of very cute “first day” photos on Facebook.

But we’re also expecting some significant changes on the horizon that may have both parents and teachers feeling a little extra anxiety these days – specifically changes to the education landscape that could come with a new administration in Washington, as well as changes that we could see right here in New York regarding cell phone policies.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — New York's education leader is speaking out about the nation's latest school shooting.

Wednesday’s school shooting in Georgia that left four people dead — two students and two teachers — may very well trigger feelings of fear for students and parents alike, as this is the first week back to school for many districts in upstate New York.

A new law is being proposed to stiffen penalties for drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses.

Despite existing penalties, the New York Association for Pupil Transportation says more than 50,000 vehicles illegally pass stopped school buses every day in New York state.

Meeting the challenges of student mental health and New York’s nursing shortage: Two issues that are being tackled by one agency – New York state's community colleges. The task is getting help from an $8 million funding increase in the state budget.

“Community colleges are foundational to the state's success," said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. "We have a tremendous nursing shortage in the state. Community colleges are part of the answer to that. As we tackle the consequences of climate change and we try to move towards renewable energy and there's a tremendous need to prepare folks for green jobs, community college are the answer to that.”

Created during the administration of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the Foundation Aid formula is being revised by the Rockefeller Institute, which held its final hearing Wednesday in Guilderland, a suburb of Albany.

The decision to update the formula came after Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed to eliminate a provision of the formula which ensures that the money a district receives isn’t less than the previous year’s total.

The pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democratic vice presidential nominee has put a spotlight on several of his policy positions, including universal free school meals.

This past session in New York, that proposal was introduced in the state Legislature. While it didn’t pass, the Legislature did include more money for an already existing program.

The State University of New York system and the state are working together to create and fund a new jobs program that’s like the Empire State version of AmeriCorps or a domestic version of the Peace Corps.

SUNY Chancellor Dr. John King spoke with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter about the Empire State Service Corps Program, which was funded in this year’s state budget to the tune of $2.75 million, and will employ 500 young people across the state.

A bill waiting for Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature would create a registry for private student loan debt.

Jordan Daniels, student loan manager at Empire Justice Center, explained that families often turn to private student loans when a federal loan and financial aid don’t quite close the gap.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As school wraps up for the year, Kim Cristal is getting ready for a busy summer. She’ll be working with teachers at Irondequoit High School creating lesson plans based on new a pilot program.

The pilot program comes from the New York State Education Department. The performance-based learning assessment networks plan will work with educators, teaching them how to use real-world situations in the classroom.

A 159-year-old tradition may be coming to an end for high school students in New York state.

Regents exams have been administered since 1865 and the graduation of a student hinges on passing them. On Monday, the New York State Department of Education’s Board of Regents shared their vision to transform the track to graduation.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- According to analysis compiled by the New York State School Boards Association, voters approved roughly 97% of school district budgets Tuesday and about two-thirds of districts that sought to override the property tax cap were successful.

New York State Council of School Superintendents Deputy Director Robert Lowry said the 18 total budgets defeated on the first try are slightly more than average but in general the numbers are in line with where they've been since 2012 when the state enacted the cap.

Tuesday is Election Day. This time, voters across New York are heading to the polls to determine the future of education.

There are school board seats on some ballots and different propositions — but the bottom line is the budget.

Education stakeholders in New York have been trying to make changes to the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) of teachers and principals for years.

The APPR, according to teachers, school boards and superintendents, yielded little or no benefit in improving teaching or learning while imposing enormous time demands on school personnel.

Many higher education institutions are fighting tooth and nail to keep students enrolled across the country. That's because a number of colleges and universities are closing their doors due to a lack of students.

State University of New York Chancellor John King reports a different trend. Approaching this final week of commencement ceremonies across New York state, King is weighing in on a range of topics from enrollment to layoffs.

Facing a possible $1 billion deficit over the next decade without additional support from New York state, this budget cycle presented high stakes questions for leaders of the State University of New York system.

That picture became clearer with state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins telling reporters Thursday afternoon that the final budget is expected to include about $60 million in operating aid for SUNY. That’s $6 million more than what Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed in her executive budget.

One of the major topics this state budget cycle was K-12 education funding, and whether Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to make changes to the Foundation Aid formula would survive the negotiating process after legislative leaders came out against it.

The governor announced a “conceptual” budget agreement Monday that she said commits $36 billion to education, the highest in state history.

The city’s public school system is the largest in the U.S., with over a million kids and upwards of 1,800 schools, and the mayor is responsible for setting the agenda.

It’s called mayoral control.

Schools are breathing what will likely be a temporary sigh of relief.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week that changes she had recommended in her executive budget to the Foundation Aid formula, the primary school funding formula, would wait until next year’s budget.

New York lawmakers are pushing for more higher education funding in the final enacted state budget.

While Gov. Kathy Hochul’s excutive budget includes significant funding, those lawmakers are hoping to go further, making changes to the Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP, which helps eligible New York residents pay tuition at approved schools in New York state.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is now pushing to codify President Joe Biden’s income-driven student loan repayment program.

Currently, more than 7.7 million federal student loan borrowers are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, including nearly 300,000 New Yorkers.

AMHERST, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo says the institution has been a leader in super-computing and artificial intelligence research for several decades, even before people referred to the research as AI.

It expects to soon cement that position as the center of New York's new Empire AI consortium, connecting researchers at top public and private universities across the state.

New York state education leaders and the teachers' union have announced an agreement to change how New York school teachers and principals are evaluated, and move away from the mandated reliance on standardized test scores.

State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa and New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person hand-delivered their drafted legislation Wednesday to lawmakers to create a new system that doesn't use students' test performance to penalize educators. The state teacher evaluation system, known as the Annual Professional Performance Review, or APPR, was modified in the 2015 budget to place a greater importance on scores.

State legislators and advocates gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday rallying in support of increasing non-public school safety grant funding as lawmakers negotiate the state budget.

The program helps nonpublic schools acquire necessary safety and security equipment.

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. -- In 2023, New York, for the first time, fully funded public education under the state’s Foundation Aid formula.

State Sen. Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, said after several years of budget victories, few advocates expected the trend to continue this year but what the governor proposed was an actual cut.

The New York state Senate and Assembly on Tuesday released their one-house budget proposals, and as expected, both rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to end "Save Harmless."

"Save Harmless," also known as "Hold Harmless," ensures that districts don’t receive less in Foundation Aid than the previous year and has been a major issue of contention so far this legislative session, also receiving significant pushback from Republican lawmakers.

The State University of New York system will phase out the use of single-use plastics like bags, beverage bottles, food service products, utensils, plastic wrap and packaging films, SUNY Chancellor John King announced Tuesday.

The higher education system will work with the SustainChain public service platform to create a plastics-free solutions hub with access to resources on how to achieve the new requirement.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- According to the American Bar Association, the average law student graduates with $130,000 in student loan debt.

Many are able to quickly make a dent by going into lucrative private or corporate practices, but Amanda Jack of the Legal Aid Society says those who go into publicly funded work typically make far less.

Jackpots for three of New York’s popular draw games — Mega Millions, Powerball and NY LOTTO — have generated more than $63.9 million for public schools and small businesses, the state Gaming Commission said Thursday.

Individually, as of Thursday, the jackpots for Mega Millions have generated $23.8 million; Powerball $17.8 million; and NY LOTTO $13.4 million. Sales for the three games have also generated $8.9 million in commissions for lottery retailers, according to the commission.

For many students, the excitement of being accepted into their first-choice college is being tempered this year by a troublesome uncertainty over whether they’ll get the financial aid they need to attend.

The financial aid decisions that usually go out with acceptance letters are being delayed because of a later-than-expected rollout of a revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form commonly known as FAFSA that schools use to compute financial aid.

Saying that he's focusing on his job here, State University of New York Chancellor John King is downplaying a report that lists him as one of 10 potential candidates to become the next president of Harvard University.

King, a 1996 Harvard graduate, is being considered to run the Ivy League institution, according to a report in the Harvard Crimson last week.

In an effort to improve access to higher education, Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to make completing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, a requirement for all high school seniors in the state.

“The process, it can be overwhelming," said Aydin O’Hearn.

Republican members of the New York state Senate and Assembly unveiled a proposal Monday that aims to address the state's electric school bus mandate.

The proposed legislation would delay the requirement for school districts to purchase zero-emission school buses by 2027, pushing it to 2045.

According to state Education Department figures, New York’s public schools are seeing their lowest enrollment numbers since the years after World War II, and that decline is affecting public and private institutions of higher education across the state — from the lecture hall to the budget office.

On Friday, lawmakers heard from higher education leaders, including SUNY Chancellor Dr. John King, in a marathon budget hearing. King has said that SUNY either needs more operating aid from the state or an increase in tuition to address the system’s financial needs.

School districts and education experts are continuing to express concerns about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to end "Save Harmless," also known as "Hold Harmless," which ensures that districts don’t see a decrease in Foundation Aid funding compared to the previous year.

At Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District, administrators say increases in Foundation Aid in the years following the Great Recession have yielded significant improvements to services offered to students as well as the district’s facilities.

Education funding is one of the largest sources of state spending and this year is no different.

Fresh off a marathon budget hearing on propped education funding is the chair of the Senate Education Committee, Yonkers Democratic state Sen. Shelley Mayer, who joined Capital Tonight on Friday.

New York lawmakers gathered in Albany Thursday for a joint hearing on the state’s education budget.

Members of the state Education Department were on hand to testify, and as expected, much of the conversation surrounded the governor’s proposal to end "Save Harmless," also known as "hold harmless." It ensures that districts don’t receive less Foundation Aid funding from one year to the next.