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On behalf of New York’s students, teachers and school administrators, we thank our Congressional delegation for including much needed resources for education and broadband availability in the federal economic stimulus package.Ìý As we look ahead to how these funds will be distributed, we cannot lose sight of the fact that throughout the pandemic our educators redefined what it means to be a hero and the critical role our schools play in their communities.Ìý

As we did in our 2021-22 State Aid Proposal, we are once again calling for state operating aid for schools to remain level with 2019-20 funding levels and that any new federal dollars be used to supplement not supplant state aid funds.Ìý Our schools have undertaken enormous costs to safely educate New York’s children during the pandemic and new federal funding should be used to help offset these additional costs. Further, to ensure equitable access to resources, we also ask that these federal funds have no impact on 2021-22 tax cap calculations and are distributed progressively to assist those districts that rely most on state aid.Ìý

Finally, now that we have a clear picture of what federal funds will be available, we ask that districts be provided with all state aid funding that has been withheld and that no further state aid payments are withheld moving forward.