Public elementary and secondary school spending in New York hit a new record high of $29,873 per pupil in 2021-22, according to the Census Bureau's latest annual school finance data—inching closer to fully twice the national average amid a significant post-pandemic decline in pupil performance. Read More
The newly enacted state budget imposes a multibillion-dollar tax on health insurance without specifying who must pay how much – leaving those basic details to be decided later by the health commissioner in negotiatio Read More
"This year’s budget process was an avoidable trainwreck. New York is the only state that begins its fiscal year on April 1, earlier than anyone else. This has contributed to Albany’s new, old tradition of missing deadlines, then hurriedly voting on bills before lawmakers can fully review them. Moving the fiscal year start would make the budget process more transparent and give lawmakers time to better perform their duty as the state’s board of directors." Read More
In this episode of Messages of Necessity, Kyle Davis, Director of Public Affairs at the Empire Center, has a conversation with the organization's new Executive Director, Zilvinas Silenas (also known as Z). Together, they delve into Silenas's backgrou Read More
Amid all the bipartisan noise, however, most Empire State tax filers may have noticed something interesting: their federal tax bills haven’t changed much at all. Even in highly taxed New York suburbs, most home-owning families with children are feeling a smaller federal tax bite. Read More
Author's note: This post has been updated to correct an error in the second paragraph. As state lawmakers debate the future of Medicaid home care, one of the program's Read More
The episode shows the extent to which New York elected officials fail to question the state’s public employee unions—or look at data themselves. Read More
New York's home health workforce has continued its pattern of extraordinary growth, increasing by 62,000 jobs or 12 percent in a single year, according to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read More