Press Releases

As schools open across New York State this week, much of what happens in the classroom will be affected by contracts between school districts and unions representing their teachers. Read More

School districts across New York State will increase their per-pupil spending next year by nearly one and a half times the current rate of inflation -- despite falling real estate values and clear signs of an economic slowdown -- according to an analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Calibrated to the state Senate’s estimate of $135.2 billion in all funds spending under the enacted New York State budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year, the Empire Center’s “Spend-O-Meter” spins at the following rates... Read More

Contracts for Excellence (C4E), the centerpiece of former Governor Eliot Spitzer’s reform agenda for New York state schools in 2007, “could now more accurately stand for Commitments for Expenditures” because of the program’s emphasis on educational inputs over educational outcomes, says a Policy Briefing issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

New York’s own energy policies have contributed to higher energy prices and dimmed the state’s energy generating prospects for the future, according to a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Lise Bang-Jensen, longtime Capitol journalist and former co-host of public television’s “Inside Albany” program, has joined the Empire Center for Public Policy as a senior policy analyst. Read More

"New Yorkers have paid a steep price for labor peace" under the 40-year-old Taylor Law authorizing collective bargaining by public employee unions, says a report issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

New York’s 40-year-old Public Employees Fair Employment Act—best known as the Taylor Law—was intended to protect the public from strikes while extending collective-bargaining rights to government workers. But while public-sector work stoppages have become rare, municipal and school officials fear the Taylor Law unduly favors public-employee unions at taxpayer expense. Read More

New York’s new $121 billion budget spends at a rate of more than $331 million per day, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s historic education-reform plan aims to hold New York’s schools more accountable than ever before. But is the state’s educational-accountability system equipped to meet this challenge? Read More

Gov. Spitzer's proposed budget "sends the wrong signal to firms that might otherwise consider investing or expanding in our state" by raising taxes on some large corporations, E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy said in testimony before the Legislature's joint fiscal committees. Read More

Medicaid spending on the elderly rose five times faster in New York than in other states during the most recent five-year period for which data are available, according to a report issued by the Empire Center. Read More