In order for a proposed amendment to the New York State (NYS) Constitution to make it to the ballot, it must first pass through both legislative bodies of the state government—the Assembly and Senate—by a simple majority for two legislative sessions in a row. If it is then approved by a simple majority of voters, it is passed. In November, one such amendment concerning small city school districts such as ICSD, Proposal 1, was on the ballot. It had already passed the state legislature with an overwhelming majority, and at the time of writing, it appears to have been approved by voters as well. However, a portion of the votes have not yet been counted, and official results have yet to be shared.
The proposed amendment to Article 8, Section 4 of the NYS Constitution removes the special constitutional debt limitation currently placed on small city school districts (those in cities with less than 125 thousand residents.) Currently, the debt limit for small city school districts is five percent of the total value of taxable property in their city, while other school districts have a debt limit of ten percent. This amendment raises the debt limit on small city school districts to that of all other school districts. The original legislative intent behind the lower debt limitation on small city school districts had primarily been to protect residents of small cities from the tax consequences of debt. However, voters have since gained the ability to vote for or against school district budgets, making this restriction outdated in the eyes of most of the legislature and a portion of the voter population.
The Tattler spoke with Dr. Sean Bradwell, President of the ICSD Board of Education, about what debt looks like for ICSD and how the school district could be affected by the proposal. Bradwell explained that school districts take out debt because, much like people and other organizations, they often need large sums of money in a short period of time for various projects. For ICSD, this includes construction and capital investment projects. However, when asked about the effects of Proposal 1 on ICSD as a small city school district, Bradwell said, “We rarely approached the previous debt limit of five percent, and while it is hard to predict the future, I do not foresee ICSD needing to approach ten percent.” While Bradwell said he doesn’t think ICSD will be particularly affected by the amendment, he recognized that “there are other small city school districts where this will be of great benefit to update, maintain, and imagine new building infrastructure.”