contingency budget for NY schools

In another thread, lgm asked about the contingency budget for this year in New York.

The contingency budget is the budget schools can impose by fiat if voters reject the proposed budget.

Here is an explanation by the NYSUT:

the law defines the contingency budget cap as the lesser of 4 percent or 120 percent multiplied by the CPI increase

Assuming I'm reading this right (pdf file), the CPI for 2010 rose by 1.6%.

That would put the contingency budget cap at 1.92%.


(There are various categories that can't be excluded from a contingency budget, such as tax certs. I don't know how those relate to the cap.)

Inflation in one picture
David Leonhardt