Albany Update Volume 4 - May 28, 2004 Budget News In what could be a positive step forward in breaking the budget impasse, the three leaders are all in the process of presenting proposals for resolving the school funding issues. On Tuesday, Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno released a proposal for complying with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity [CFE] decision. That proposal would cost $6.3 billion over the next five years. In the CFE decision, the state’s highest court ruled that a plan for providing New York students with a sound education must be in place by July 30th. On Wednesday, Governor Pataki [R] released his plan for education funding stating that an increase of $4.7 billion over the next five years should be sufficient to deliver a "sound, basic education" to the state's school children. Both Senator Bruno and Governor Pataki's funding plans would rely on gambling revenue, primarily from expansion of Video Lottery Terminals [VLTs]. To this point, Assembly Democrats have resisted the expansion of VLTs and are opposed to the use of new gambling revenues to provide school funding. The third player, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver [D] is expected to release his plan for implementing the court decision and its cost next week. While budget talks in other areas remain quiet, having proposals on education from all three leaders could be a first step to resolving education issues and moving forward on general budget resolution. Back to newsletter list

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