New Yorkers head to the polls for school budget vote

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---Around the state, New Yorkers are casting their ballots on budget plans and open school board seats.

"It’s a very interesting time because we are watching some of the federal money post COVID for education start to dry up. We are watching the needs of our students still increase— those post COVID social-emotional needs," said Laura Franz. "Where we want to put more councilors in our schools, where we want to make sure we are handling food insecurity and the other need our students are coming with."

Laura Franz, President of the Albany Public School Teachers Association, said many districts are working to stay below the state’s 2% tax cap. 

"I know in Albany, we are proposing a 0% increase for the school taxes," said Franz. "But in some districts, we are seeing budgets that are starting to pierce that tax cap to go beyond it."

While each school district is different, most also rely on state funding. This year, the governor proposed changes to the formula that determines school aid, but ultimately those changes were not included in the final state budget. 

"For almost half the districts in the state that funding source was frozen, complicating the choices that their leaders had to make when presenting their budget to voters," said Robert Lowry,

However changes to the state’s school aid formula could happen next year, depending on the outcome of a study looking into it.