Payment Schedule and Policy Regarding Aid Adjustments occurring after the last scheduled aid payments for a given year (updated 03-13-00)
- Payments from Current Year Aid Appropriations:
Section 3601 of the Education Law requires that, "General State Aid claims, on forms prescribed by the Commissioner, shall be submitted to the Commissioner by September 2 of each school year." Such claims, and any revisions, corrections or additions received prior to June 30 of the school year, are reviewed by the State Aid Unit of the Education Department to verify the total aids payable under the claim. Aids claimed are paid throughout the school year and through the following September pursuant to payment schedules specified in Sections 3609-a, 3609-b, 3609-c and 3609-d of the Education Law. Any resulting aids verified as payable after the last scheduled payment, or any overpayment of aids identified as recoverable, are paid or recovered as a current year final adjustment.
- Payments from Appropriations for Prior Year Adjustments:
Any revisions, corrections or additions received by the State Aid Unit after June 30 of the school year for which the original claim was submitted are not included in the review and payment of current year aids due under the claim. Such revisions include special legislation enacted after June 30 that waives a previous aid disallowance, unless such legislation specifically waives the requirements of Section 3604(5) of the Education Law and appropriates the funds to pay the additional aid.
As provided in Section 3604(5), any additional aid payments that result from revisions received after June 30 are classified as payments of moneys due for prior years, and are reviewed by the State Aid Unit in the order received. Any revision reviewed for a given school district, however, establishes the priority for review of all revisions to that year's aid claim as on file with the Education Department for that district at the time the first revision is selected for review.
If a separate appropriation is made for revisions to a specific aid year, the revisions for such aid year are reviewed in the order of receipt for that year only.
After review and confirmation of a revision, any resulting moneys due are paid within the limit of the appropriation designated for prior year adjustments and in the order of the final confirmation of the aids payable by the Education Department and the Office of the State Comptroller. In no case can a single district draw down more than forty percent of the designated appropriation. Any district that would draw down more than forty percent receives a partial payment of the revision in one year, and the remaining aid due on the revision retains its priority date status for payment from the next such designated appropriation.
- Payments of Additional Current Year Aids Resulting from the Impact of a Revision to a Prior Aid Year:
If a revision to a previously reviewed claim and final adjustment for a prior year is received, any of the revised data that does not require additional justification or clarification is entered to the aid data file for the prior year affected, and the revision is filed in the date order of receipt for review as a prior year adjustment. If the revised data entered to the aid data file impacts aid calculations in a subsequent aid year, the revised data is immediately used in such aid calculations. Such revised data that may be used immediately in a subsequent year's aid calculations includes increases in save harmless bases, such as an increase in the aids subject to transition which increase a subsequent year's comprehensive operating aids base. It may also include a revision to full value data that is used to calculate, average or cap full value data used in a subsequent aid year, or an increase in the building aid ratio for a prior year that increases the current year's selected building aid ratio. These examples, however, are only offered as illustrations and do not necessarily represent the universe of such possible revisions.
If a final current year aid adjustment has not yet been paid on a subsequent year's aid claim that is impacted by such changes, any resulting recalculation of aids is included in the remaining scheduled aid payments or in the final adjustment payment for the claim. If the final current year aid adjustment has been paid, the recalculation of aids payable for such subsequent year is included.