Kyle Hughes is reporting for NYSNYS News education advocates Thurs., Nov. 13, called for an increase of $1.2 billion in state aid to schools for the 2015-16 budget year. The preservation of programs and services in the New York's non-charter public schools depends on it, they said. The New York State Educational Conference Board said Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the state Legislature also need to make up ground lost since the near collapse of the U.S. economy in 2008. The Conference includes school board members, district administrators, teachers’ union leaders and parent-teacher associations. The Conference Board said in a memo released at an Albany press conference, “The upcoming state budget process provides the opportunity to turn the corner from the toughest fiscal challenges of the recent past and fund education in a manner that is adequate, equitable and stable so that schools may make sustainable progress.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.