New York lawmakers should open up their pockets if students must take their cellphones out of theirs, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said Wednesday.
At an annual hearing on the state education budget, the head of the nation’s largest school district agreed with Gov. Hochul that schools should be phone-free. However, the governor’s current plan to earmark $13.5 million — about $10 per student — is not enough to banish the devices from school grounds, she said.
“While it is reassuring to see there is funding attached to the governor’s proposal, the current dollar amount is inadequate,” Aviles-Ramos testified in Albany.
“Implementing an effective cellphone ban is a major undertaking, and funding is also critical when it comes to addressing parents’ concerns about communicating with their children in emergencies.”
After months of hinting at restrictions, Hochul last week announced her intention to limit cellphone use from “bell to bell.” Under her proposal, district officials would have to set their own policies to disconnect students from their devices — including during lunch and free periods — as soon as this fall.
Some districts, including New York City, have considered using magnetic locking pouches that cost around $30 per student each year. That approach saves schools from being liable for broken devices and reduces the burden on teachers for enforcement.
“They are very expensive,” Aviles-Ramos said of the pouches. “But they are the ideal model, because children can keep them on their person. And in the event of an emergency, they can open them up with a magnet that is strategically placed throughout the building.
“We’re not even talking, you know, like the Gucci, Prada version. We’re talking about just the standard bag,” she quipped.
About 800 local schools have already implemented school cellphone restrictions. The chancellor said those schools’ principals should not be penalized or have to “self-fund” after the state allocates new money for that purpose — particularly if schools lose funding from the state or federal government under President Trump. (The local school system receives $2 billion in federal funds, or 6% of its budget.)
The chancellor’s plea was part of a larger budget ask that New York State direct more dollars to the city’s public schools. Currently, Hochul and the Legislature are hashing out how to overhaul the state’s decades-old school funding formula, Foundation Aid.
The governor has proposed two tweaks to the calculation: to replace a poverty rate from the 2000 Census with newer data and eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch with the broader category of “economically disadvantaged.” Currently, many families forget to turn in school meal forms because the city offers food for free to all students.
But without further changes that account for the higher cost of living downstate, local schools would receive less state funding than if the formula stayed the same. The city’s school district is still expected to be given an overall increase.
“There is no question that the Foundation Aid formula needs a revamp,” Aviles-Ramos said. “But the governor’s proposed changes to the formula would actually result in nearly 350 million fewer dollars to New York City public schools than we’d be entitled to under the current formula.”
Aviles-Ramos suggested lawmakers update regional cost metrics and send extra funds to students in need of more support, including the 1 in 8 New York City children who are or have been homeless. Otherwise, a list of education initiatives could be put at risk, including after-school programs and a promise to stabilize individual school budgets, the district’s chief financial officer warned.
Last year, Hochul and the Legislature were at odds over a proposal to stop funding school districts at the same levels if they lose student enrollment. The governor backed off pushing for such a change ahead of this session. Instead, she proposed a floor of at least a 2% increase for every school district.
But some lawmakers joined New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa in calling for an entirely new education funding formula, rather than making changes around the edges. For the last few legislative sessions, the commissioner has repeatedly asked for funding to study the costs of educating students from every corner of the state.
“I do believe that we have to get to a new formula,” Rosa said of the calculation, which was developed in the early 2000s but not fully funded for about two decades. “No question about it.”
A final state budget is due by April 1.
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