Governor Pataki is reputedly ready to veto between 120-140 specific lines of the budget passed by the state legislature. He has purchased 2 minutes of television time across the state during tonight's evening news to explain his position. The message is paid from the governor's campaign funds and will air between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The legislature will begin the process of overriding the vetoes perhaps as early as late tonight or tomorrow. Both houses continue to provide assurances that override attempts will be successful. In fact, a number of Assembly Republicans who did not vote for the original budget are now poised to vote for the veto override. (The governor himself has indicated that he "may well lose this fight"). The governor also indicated that he will sign legislation reducing the employer contribution rate to the Employees Retirement System from 11% to 4.5% for this year, allowing districts to factor in the reduction into spending plans.
Though the veto override process may be protracted over a number of days, legislative leaders remain publicly committed to the restorations spelled out in the state aid runs previously provided to districts.
Today is the deadline for providing the Property Tax Report Card to the State Education Department. Though this report must be filed today, SED has previously indicated that districts may revise their spending plan up to the day of the district's budget public hearing (between 14 and 7 days prior to the vote on June 3rd) providing they have not previously sent out absentee ballots and providing that in doing so, it does not cause voter confusion.
NYSSBA will continue to provide updates as events unfold.