New York State Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education

News & Notes - Newest Edition - 12/22/08

12/30/08 - Nominate an outstanding teacher for the 2010 Teacher of the Year - The application for the 2010 Teacher of the Year Award is now available on the Web at http://www.highered.nysed.gov/kiap/TEACHING/toty/totyindex.htm. The New York State Teacher of the Year program, which is run in conjunction with the National Teacher of the Year program, recognizes and celebrates outstanding teachers throughout the State. To be eligible, a teacher must be appropriately credentialed within his or her current teaching area, working directly with students (pre-kindergarten through grade twelve) in a State-approved public, private or charter school and have a minimum of five years teaching experience. A teacher may be initially recommended for nomination by any person within the school or community including parents, students, business leaders, school administrators or colleagues. Deadline for nominations is Friday, February 13, 2009.

12/22/08 - Applications Available to Start Up a New Universal Pre-K (UPK) Program or to Expand an Existing UPK Program - Applications for Mid-Year Start Up of New UPK Programs and Mid-Year Expansion of Existing UPK Programs are due on January 7, 2009. Mid-year programs must be in session a minimum of 90 days between the start date and the end of the 2008-2009 program year. The 2008-2009 UPK Mid-Year Start Up and Mid-Year Expansion applications, instructions for determining eligibility, and other important information is available on the Statewide Prekindergarten website at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nyc/upk.html .

12/4/08 - Board of Regents Announces 2009 State Aid Proposal - In response to the State’s economic crisis, the Board of Regents proposed an increase in State Aid that is almost $1 billion less than the increase previously enacted by the State. The Regents approved their 2009-10 State Aid proposal, recommending an increase of $879 million for the upcoming year. This amount represents a 4.1% increase over the previous year. The Regents proposal seeks to achieve equity, adequacy, accountability and balance between stable and targeted funding. The Regents have carefully crafted this proposal to retain those critical funding directions necessary to continue the State’s progress toward educational adequacy, despite the State’s revenue picture. The Regents report that details the 2009-10 proposal on state aid to school districts is available on the Web at http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2008Meetings/December2008/1208sad1.htm.

11/05/08 -Contracts for Excellence Approved for 10 Additional School Districts - Contracts for Excellence have been approved for 10 additional school districts - Albany, South Colonie, Elmira, Norwich, Geneva, Fulton, Schenectady, Monticello, White Plains and Yonkers. Contracts for 26 districts were approved by the Commissioner in October. There are a total of 39 Contract districts in 2008-09. We continue to work with the remaining districts to complete their Contract process.

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