New York's newly enacted state budget for fiscal 2017 included an exceptionally large school aid increase of $1.5 billion--6.5 percent over the previous year, more than triple the projected inflation rate. This brings the state-funded share of K-12 public school expenses to an all-time record of nearly $25 billion, despite steadily declining enrollment. Since 2008-09, when the recession hit bottom, New York's school staffing has receded from peak levels, yet school expenses continue rising at a healthy pace. Current State Education Department data highlight two trends that help explain school budget increases: (1) From 2008-09 to 2014-15, the statewide median teacher salary rose by 13 percent, and salaries were driven up in large part by automatic "step" raises locked into place by the state Triborough Amendment; and (2) Schools in 2014-15 employed only 3 percent fewer K-12 professional staffers than they did in 2000-01--although enrollment in the meantime had dropped about 10 percent. The full extent of the continuing rise in school spending since the recession was the result of: (1) increasing teacher compensation costs driven largely by automatic pay raises and (2) continued relatively high levels of staffing, relative to enrollment, especially in non-teaching titles. State law clearly is a major factor in the first trend, while the second needs to be more closely examined. [For the 2015 report, see ED562012.]