The clock is ticking away the hours now until the state budget is due and there is still a lot left to be done. Schools get the second biggest slice of the budget pie, but Governor Andrew Cuomo is warning of major cuts in the state budget this year.

"The schools are the second biggest expense for the state after health care and that’s where we have zero dollars," Cuomo warned.

In January, Cuomo proposed a 3% increase in funding to grades K-12. At the time, the state was facing a growing economy and a revenue increase.

However now that the coronavirus has significantly impacted the state's revenue, worst case scenario, the state is facing a $15 billion revenue shortfall.

Cuomo is proposing making quarterly adjustments to this year's budget, so the amount of money coming in can determine how much goes out. Yet, this leaves county and school budgets in a bit of a limbo.

The Federal Stimulus Coronavirus bill passed by Congress does give $1 billion to grades K-12 and another $1 billion to higher education in New York. But how and when that money can be used is still being worked out.

According to NYS Education Department Officials, the state is "awaiting further guidance from the US DOE and will review this issue in the coming days."

In the meantime, the state teacher's union, NYSUT, says that money is needed just to keep schools running.

"So many districts will be dependent on those extra funds," explained Andy Pallotta, president of NYSUT. "And especially as the state looks at its own needs, we're saying this makes it so that they don't have to have the drastic cuts that they were talking about. Saying there were drastic cuts coming to education, this is definitely a stop gap."

However, how much money schools will receive in the state budget is still being determined. The budget is due on April 1.