The number of retirees eligible for six-figure pensions from New York’s two teacher retirement systems nearly tripled between 2009 and 2014, according to new pension data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net. Read More
Tag: Schools
The full extent of the continuing rise in school spending since the recession was not inevitable or unavoidable. Read More
The Empire Center’s Explore Your State Budget app has been updated to reflect financial data in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed 2015-16 Executive Budget. Read More
If January is any gauge, the 2015 battle over New York tax policy should be a doozy. It's a fight guaranteed to be filled with the kind of horsetrading that will make this winter in Albany worth watching. The flurry of activity Wednesday, the d Read More
The Kingston school board struck a blow for local taxpayers last month when it voted against requiring a project labor agreement (PLA) on a school renovation project. While local union leaders slammed the move as “fiscally irresponsible,” the board’s 5-4 vote was a big win for taxpayers and sets an example for other communities facing a similar choice. Read More
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, joined John Gambling to discuss Prop 3. Read More
Who could be against “smart schools”? The unsurprising answer: not nearly enough New Yorkers to defeat Proposal 3 on yesterday’s statewide ballot, which authorizes $2 billion in state borrowing to finance local school district purchases of computers and other classroom technology; expand schools’ high-speed and wireless Internet capacity; install “high-tech security features”; and build new classrooms for pre-kindergarten programs. Read More
Proposition 3 would allow the state to borrow $2 billion for educational technology. It is supported by Cuomo and the teacher’s union. The Empire Center, a conservative think tank, has called it a “blank check” to the state’s education bureaucracy. Read More