Catholic School Network End of Session Update
Thank You Senator Jeff Klein for Supporting Catholic Schools
This last week saw the close of the 2018 Legislative Session in Albany bringing with it some very good news concerning increased support for Catholic Schools – and Senator Jeff Klein helped by providing support in the following programs:
Classroom Technology Projects: An additional $25 million is provided through the Smart Schools Bond Act program for classroom technology for students and teachers in Catholic and other nonpublic schools.
Health, Safety, and Security: $15 million is provided to support health, safety, and security needs, including security personnel, in our schools.
STEM: $15 million is provided to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) instruction in our schools to boost student engagement in these critical areas.
Helping with Tuition: Legislation is being considered to help families pay tuition not only for college but also for elementary and secondary school.
State Office for Religious and Independent Schools: Funding was approved to support the new State Office of Religious and Independent Schools (SORIS) to implement state-funded programs and provide administrative support to our schools.
Nonpublic School Aid: A 3 percent increase in funding as well as formula changes were approved to maximize the aid our schools receive by maintaining the long-standing instructional time standard used for reimbursing state-imposed mandates.
“Senator Jeff Klein has been a strong advocate for the families who choose Catholic Schools. The families, teachers, administrators – indeed the entire Catholic school community – owes Senator Klein a debt of gratitude,” said Jim Cultrara, Director for Education at the NYS Catholic Conference.
More information on these and other programs will be forthcoming in our “Back to School” update scheduled for September. In the meantime, have a peaceful summer.
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