On Monday, April 22, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that for the FY 2025 budget, she would be increasing school aid by $1.3 billion to nearly $36 billion, including $24.9 billion in Foundation Aid.

Earlier this year, Hochul came under fire from a number of school districts on Long Island that were set to lose hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in foundation aid from the state.

School districts presented 2024-2025 budgets with deep cuts to teaching positions and bare-bones extracurricular activities to absorb the loss.

In a reversal, Hochul announced a “historic P-12 education investments in the FY 2025 Budget, including nearly $36 billion in total School Aid for the 2024-2025 school year—the highest level of school funding in state history. The Governor also signed her Back to Basics legislation to improve literacy education. The budget also extends mayoral control of New York City schools for two years and commissions a study to examine the Foundation Aid formula to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of education funding,” according to a press release from the state.

“Every student deserves a high-quality education in the State of New York,” Hochul said. “This budget builds on our record funding for education, lays the groundwork to improve reading proficiency, and puts the state on a path to a more equitable school funding formula.”

The increase in school aid is $6.5 billion over three years.

“This year, Gov. Hochul and the legislature worked together to ensure schools are getting the support they need while still recognizing the need to modify the Foundation Aid formula. Through the budget, Gov. Hochul is lowering the inflation factor from 3.4 percent to 2.8 percent in the formula to right-size funding for the 2024-25 school year. The budget also commissions a Rockefeller Institute study to examine the Foundation Aid formula to prepare for changes next year,” said the statement.

In addition to the increase in Foundation Aid, Hochul also announced a Back to Basics Reading Plan that is meant to ensure every school district utilizes instructional best practices grounded in the science of reading to improve reading proficiency among New York’s children.

In this initiative, the State Education Department (SED) will provide instructional best practices to school districts in the teaching of reading to students in prekindergarten through grade 3 by Jan. 1, 2025.

School districts will be required to annually review their curriculum and instructional practices for alignment with those issued by SED, and verify by September 2025.

The budget also includes $10 million to train 20,000 teachers in these instructional best practices. Additionally, the budget expands the State University of New York and the City University of New York’s microcredentialing programs for teachers focused on the science of reading for current and future teachers seeking advanced education.