Bethany Bump is reporting for Capitol Confidential the New York State Council of School Superintendents sixth annual survey of school leaders is out. According to the report, just 20 percent of superintendents feel optimistic about their ability to fund necessary services for students during the next three years. Seventy-three percent said they felt pessimistic about their ability to do so, while six percent said they are unable to fund these services now. “What is driving the concern is a sense that district leaders and voters can’t control the financial fates of their schools,” said Executive Director Charles Dedrick. The report notes that New York's existing education finance structure "puts schools in a potentially unsustainable position, required to accommodate costs they cannot control with revenues they can no longer presume will materialize.” The majority of superintendents polled said that while student needs continue to rise, state aid remains inadequate and the state property tax cap has constrained districts’ ability to raise revenue through property taxes. Approximately 76 percent of superintendents also expressed concern about increases to pension and health care costs, as well. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential.