Month: March 2019

The district is faced with having to lay off 152 teachers by the end of this month in order to help close a $64.8 million budget deficit, unless another plan is devised by next week. According to an analysis by the Empire Center, the district in 2015-2016 (the last year figures were available) identified 146 teachers as “ineffective.” All or most of those teachers will be retained because of this policy, the Empire Center reports. Read More

New York has lost nearly 1.4 million residents to the rest of the country since 2010—and largely as a result of this outflow, the Empire State’s total population barely budged during the decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest annual update of population estimates. Read More

When a significant number of labor groups, coupled with the hospital and insurance industries, take a stance against legislation in Albany, that would usually be enough to stop the measure in its tracks. What is unusual about the New York Health Act is that it continues to be potentially viable, having passed previously in the state Assembly, and having gained a flock of Senate co-sponsors, said William Hammond, director of health policy for the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More