Mid Hudson News: Op-Ed: Proposed wrongful death expansion could undermine New York’s educational system

By: Karen Belanger

Education is crucial for enhancing our children’s future opportunities, narrowing the income disparity, and strengthening the workforce and economy. However, the ability of schools to provide necessary tools and resources for our children’s success could be at risk.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is faced with a decision to either sign or veto a bill, S.6636/A.6698, that is expected to have the unintended consequence of significantly increasing liability and insurance expenses for both private and public entities, including public school districts.

This potential increase in costs could lead to drastic reductions in educational programs, extracurricular activities, services, and school resources. While the bill is well-intentioned, we are hopeful that Gov. Hochul will send the bill back to the legislature for amendments, like what was done in 2022. We must avoid wasting public funds on excessive liability costs and ensure that every dollar is invested in delivering an excellent, well-rounded education for our children.

What is unknown to most is that many public-school districts are insured through reciprocal arrangements, so in addition to the expected increases in insurance costs from this bill, other districts in the insurance consortium will be forced to pay awards, even if they are not the target of specific lawsuits. The increased insurance costs will also affect our communities and add to the strain of paying for property taxes – and voting for school budgets.

Funding cuts in school budgets due to excess insurance costs and the difficulty of increasing property taxes will accrue to not only academic programs, but will disproportionately affect extracurricular activities like sports, music, and art, crucial for scholarship opportunities, college admissions and ensuring well-rounded graduates.

With educators and students still grappling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, our schools are facing a significant increase in the behavioral and mental health needs of our students, which, in turn, has created a more stressful environment for educators. We firmly believe that the legislative focus should be on supporting schools and children, not on policies that have the potential to further undermine the ability to provide a high-quality classroom experience.

Albany’s attention should be on providing all the resources necessary to ensure our educators and our children succeed. We ask that Gov. Hochul veto the bill in its current form and urge the legislature to reconsider the unintended financial and societal impacts this legislation could have on New York’s children and the state’s overall future.

Karen Belanger is the administrator for the Lower Hudson Education Coalition, a joint project of the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association, the Rockland County School Boards Association, the Dutchess County School Boards Association, and the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents.