RESOLUTION
BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT COLLINS-BELLAMY, MAJORITY LEADER RUBBO, MAJORITY WHIP ROBINSON, MINORITY LEADER BREEN, COUNCILMEMBERS PINEDA-ISAAC, DIAZ, AND HODGES:
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RESOLUTION URGING NEW YORK STATE TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL RELIEF AND EQUITABLE FUNDING FOR YONKERS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
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WHEREAS, The Yonkers Public Schools serves more than 23,000 students in the City of Yonkers and is one of the largest school districts in New York; and
WHEREAS, Seventy-three percent of Yonkers students are economically disadvantaged, 22 percent are students with disabilities, and 13 percent are English Language Learners, while the district continues to achieve a graduation rate of approximately 90 percent; and
WHEREAS, The Yonkers Public Schools District is projecting a $101 million structural budget gap for Fiscal Year 2026-2027, threatening the continuation of essential educational programs and services; and
WHEREAS, This projected deficit is not the result of excessive spending, but rather reflects a persistent and widening structural imbalance between revenues and expenses driven by an outdated State Foundation Aid formula; and
WHEREAS, The district has relied heavily on its fund balance to maintain services for students, appropriating $126.8 million over the past six years, leaving only approximately $2 million projected to remain by the end of FY2026-2027, effectively exhausting the district’s financial reserves; and
WHEREAS, Structural funding inequities in the current formula fail to reflect the true cost of educating students in Westchester County, including regional wage differences and operating costs; and Because parking facilities are not assigned Building Aid Units, the costs associated with constructing structured parking may be included within the overall project cost but are not reflected in the calculation of the Maximum Cost Allowance (MCA), placing urban school districts at a disadvantage when site conditions necessitate structured parking; and
WHEREAS, Research and policy recommendations issued by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government identified several reforms to modernize and improve the State’s education funding formula; and
WHEREAS, Updating the Regional Cost Index used in the Foundation Aid formula to reflect costs in Westchester County would close an estimated $13 million annual gap, or up to $42 million under a Comparable Wage Index approach; and
WHEREAS, Yonkers Public Schools faces rapidly rising mandated costs, which include special education costs which have increased by $84 million (50 percent) in the audited fiscal years of FY2021-22 through FY2024-25, with 23 percent of students receiving special education services, the highest level in district history, with out-of-district special education tuition increasing by $11 million, or 17 percent year-over-year, with the public school per student expenditure deduction hurdle having increased to $60 thousand per student with only the expenditure amount per student above this hurdle being aidable at a rate of 60% ; and
WHEREAS, Health insurance under New York State’s NYSHIP program and Social Security costs increased by $12 million (8 percent), contractual salary obligations increased by $16 million in the final year of negotiated teacher agreements, and transportation and electric bus mandates are only reimbursed at only 62 percent, with reimbursement not realized until FY2028; and
WHEREAS, Additional cost pressures include increased charter school tuition, higher utility costs for natural gas and electricity, and inflationary increases across essential operational services; and
WHEREAS, Without additional State support, Yonkers Public Schools will be forced to reduce programs and services that support student achievement, college readiness, workforce preparation, and student well-being; and
WHEREAS, Targeted investments such as Foundation Aid formula reform, Sustainable Universal Pre-Kindergarten funding, high-cost special education aid and specialized staffing investments, $15 million in student support services including counselors, psychologists, and social workers; $5 million to expand Career and Technical Education pathways and workforce credentials; Increasing the Building Aid ratio from 68.6 percent toward 90 percent to address aging infrastructure; $6.8 million for climate control and ventilation improvements to ensure safe learning environments and funding for school technology, communications and safety infrastructure to support implementation of statewide policies are critical to needed to maintaining educational opportunity; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Yonkers hereby requests that the Governor and the Legislature of New York State to provide immediate financial relief and targeted education investments for the Yonkers Public Schools during the final negotiations of the FY 2027 New York State Budget and to prioritize modernization of the Foundation Aid formula, including revision of the Regional Cost Index to reflect the actual cost of educating students in Westchester County, provide additional aid to sustain Universal Pre-Kindergarten, expand student support services, strengthen special education programs, and invest in workforce and career preparation through Career and Technical Education and to increase support for school infrastructure, climate control upgrades, and safety technology to ensure safe and modern learning environments
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council requests the City Clerk to forward a copy of this Resolution to the Legislature of the State of New York requesting immediate state action to address the fiscal crisis facing the Yonkers Public Schools and to ensure equitable funding for students.