SSFC’s Rick Timbs Praises Regents for Good Start on Ed Funding

The Executive Director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium (SSFC), Dr. Rick Timbs is applauding the New York State Board of Regents on the State Education funding for the 2024-25 school year.

"It is a move in the right direction 's a good start,' said Timbs who services districts around the state and is considered one of the foremost experts on public school funding in New York. "I think the Board of Regents has finally figured out that they've gotta take a stand on the way money is distributed in New York, because right now all of the data they're basing their numbers on is using the 2000 census believe it or not, 23 year old census data to determine poverty in communities to distribute this aid. They're using employment records from 2007-2008 to determine costs. And they have to update that formula seriously," he said.

Timbs added that "There must be a change in the Adjusted Foundation Aid Amount (FA) to reflect more realistic cost of educating a single child (Adequacy) Currently the amount has moved based on inflation from after an arbitrary mount was used in 2007-08 through 2015-16 with a phase in, then only based on inflation beginning in 2016-17."

Timbs added that they must "update revise and database for the Regional Cost Index; The Regional Cost Index is too broad!  The regions are too large and disparate, and it is just a labor index and does not contain other factors that affect school district finances."