In early 2007 newly elected Governor Eliot Spitzer and the State Legislature responded to a court mandate to provide every child in New York with a sound basic education by adopting a plan to increase state school aid by about $7 billion over the next four years.
According to the budget the Governor submitted Tuesday, the State is facing a $6.7 billion budget hole in the 2010-11 fiscal year that begins on April 1 (that includes an additional $500 million deficit left over from this year.) This deficit amounts to about 8 percent of State operating funds, which are expected to climb to $84.9 billion without any action by the Legislature to reduce growth.
The actual legislation containing the Governor's deficit reductions proposals that was submitted yesterday varies from the original Executive proposal in a number of ways, and reflects some of the ideas suggested by other parties to the negotiations.
