Gov. Pataki’s $72.66 billion budget proposal includes:
*Increasing state aid to local school districts by $154 million, to a total of $11.9 billion. That is far less than the $900 million increase in last year’s budget.
The figure drew prompt outrage from city officials and educators, who claim the Big Apple will only see $17.75 million of the funds – 12 percent – even though the city has 38 percent of the state’s students.
Pataki officials claim the city is going to get 38.7 percent of the additional funds – and said they didn’t understand where the 12 percent figure came from.
*A plan to let students attending schools that have been on the failing list for two years transfer within the same district.
The governor said 98,000 students attending schools on the Schools Under Registration Review list are in New York City.
*Slashing $133 million from the Tuition Assistance Program – which provides aid to college students – by requiring them to complete at least 15 credit hours per semester.
Officials said the cut is an incentive to get people to graduate within four years.
The budget does not raise tuitions at state or city universities.
*Cutting the state’s portion of Medicaid spending to health-care providers by $266 million. The cut will produce a total loss of about $900 million in Medicaid spending.
*Reducing funding for statewide highway and bridges construction by $200 million, from $1.7 billion.
It would also cut about $65 million from spending on engineering, and $26 million from local construction funding, from $218 million to $192 million.