Awaiting the state's school funding runs

Daily Point

For Long Island senators, the runs end the marathon

After an active but secretive round of budget negotiations over the weekend, a lot of issues are starting to come into focus. A tax on the incomes of wealthy New Yorkers and profits of the state’s corporations are in the deal but a plan to bail out the customers of New York American Water isn’t.

There are still many issues up in the air, and for Long Island’s senators, the biggest question mark, this year more than ever, is the state’s school funding runs.

"I will not vote until I see them," said Sen. John Brooks, "and they (Senate Democratic leaders) know that. I’ve been told they’ll be good but, you know, a lot of years you hear that and then some of your districts don’t get what they deserve and you’ve got to fight to get it right."

A staffer for Sen. Jim Gaughran said he is similarly anxious to see a district-by-district breakdown of funding, and Sen. Todd Kaminsky was also wary but expressed optimism that both overall and across-the-board, it is going to be a great year for education funding on the Island.

Anxiously awaiting school runs as budget season winds down is a longstanding tradition, but this year’s COVID confusion has made it even more fraught. The federal government is sending at least $9 billion for schools, but most of it is being distributed according to Title 1 status, which heavily favors the state’s poorest districts, including NYC and other large cities, and does not favor middle-income and high-income districts on Long Island.

Meanwhile school districts on Long Island have proposed property tax increases averaging 1.8% for school budgets that will be voted on next month.That’s happening even as the increase in what the state itself sends districts via foundation aid, the biggest pot in the state’s funding formula, is said to be increasing $1.4 billion. And then there is $120 million for an expansion of prekindergarten but few details yet on how much comes to Long Island.

"I want to see the numbers not just for my districts, but all of them," Brooks said. "If we see 3% increases in state funding and other areas see 12% hikes that’s not fair."

As for when those runs will be available, Brooks said, "Sometimes it has been days before the budget has been finalized, and it can be hours. But it can’t be afterwards, or I can’t vote."

—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Kissing babies and beyond, is there a new normal?

With the June mayoral primary in New York City approaching, candidates are emerging in public a little more than has been usual during COVID-19. That has included (careful) retail campaigning at supermarkets and open streets, and will likely increase as the weather and vaccination rates get better: "I've got my sights set on the Wonder Wheel," tweeted Kathryn Garcia on Monday in response to the announcement of Coney Island’s amusements reopening.

Will the slow return to normal in-person politics be a model for Long Island? It has been a year of changed circumstances in many corners, including for the Nassau GOP, who substituted their traditional annual breakfast at the Uniondale Marriott with a breakfast-with-the-chairman fundraiser event on Vimeo, complete with over 800 boxes delivered to participants earlier in the morning. According to party spokesman Mike Deery, the white corrugated boxes included a few bagels, orange juice, coffee grounds, condiments, and a mug for the occasion.

Some Long Island politicians preparing for races this fall told The Point they’re eager for in-person to come back even as they take a wait and see attitude.

"I’m certainly looking forward to it," said Nassau GOP county executive hopeful Bruce Blakeman. Blakeman, 65, has not yet been vaccinated--he said he didn’t himself have underlying conditions and "wanted to let others go first who had real necessity"--and has mostly been campaigning "virtual or over the phone." A time table for returning to most normal events is "dependent on the medical professionals."

Incumbent Nassau county executive and Democrat Laura Curran has done government events in person throughout the pandemic, plus some early campaigning like a socially distanced outdoor rally and door-to-door petitioning, according to her campaign. She recently got her first vaccination shot.

"As the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer, she looks forward to a robust but safe in-person campaign schedule that’s already begun as she makes the case to voters to re-elect her to lead them for four more years," said campaign spokesman Max Kramer in a statement.

Nassau GOP comptroller candidate Elaine Phillips hasn’t done big fundraisers yet, and her Democratic counterpart Ryan Cronin said he hasn’t done in-person campaigning yet beyond small meetings, but that could change with improving conditions.

There are, however, benefits to virtual, even before things heat up later in the campaign cycle. Cronin noted that he can do Zooms with clubs and community groups and spend more time with them, not having to travel back and forth. Plus, it makes it easier to put his 3- and 6-year-old daughters to bed.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

MLB

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Final Point

An ETA on congestion pricing

The decision by federal officials to allow congestion pricing to go forward with an environmental assessment – rather than a full environmental impact statement – should allow the state’s effort to toll Manhattan’s central business district to move forward more quickly – but don’t count on congestion pricing becoming a reality in 2021.

An environmental assessment still will include public hearings, including sessions on Long Island, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Executive Pat Foye told The Point. While Foye said it was "too premature" to provide a timetable for when congestion pricing would go into effect, previous timetables have indicated that it could take about 13 months from the start of the assessment to when congestion pricing could go into effect.

By that calculation, it’s possible the tolling plan could be ready to go by the middle of 2022.

That, however, will depend on a host of factors, including how quickly the environmental assessment gets going and whether federal officials will allow the MTA to develop the infrastructure and take other steps while the assessment is ongoing.

Foye said he thinks congestion pricing remains important even in a post-pandemic New York economy. He noted that last week, MTA bridges and tunnels were carrying as much as 93% of pre-pandemic travelers.

Perhaps tolling those drivers will be a way to encourage them to return to trains and buses, especially as the pandemic eases and more commuters are vaccinated.

"The need for investment in mass transit is as critical as it was prior to the pandemic and the three goals [of the tolling plan] – funding mass transit, reducing congestion and improving air quality – those are priorities of the public and elected officials to perhaps an even greater extent than when it was passed a couple of years ago," Foye said.

—Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall