Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday unveiled his proposals for a $168.2 billion 2018-19 state budget that he says, among other things, will raise school aid by $769 million.

His budget also includes a proposal to fight federal tax changes, continue offering free SUNY tuition to some families, fund raising the age of criminal responsibility and tax opioids.

Cuomo has been at odds with the federal government over the recently passed tax overhaul that eliminates the state and local income tax deduction. He is proposing changing the state tax law in response.

"At Governor Cuomo's direction, the Department of Taxation and Finance is exploring restructuring options and issuing a preliminary report to outline options for State tax reform in response to the Federal legislation. The preliminary report is expected to outline a series of proposals for consideration and comment, including the potential to create additional opportunities for charitable contributions to New York State, the possibility of reducing income taxes by shifting income tax from an employee paid system to an employer paid system, and the option to add tax deductibility through a new statewide unincorporated business tax, among other options," according to a news release from Cuomo's office.

The governor is proposing hiking school aid by more than $700 million.

"The FY 2019 Executive Budget reflects the Governor's strong commitment to education through a $769 million annual increase in School Aid — doubling the statutory School Aid growth cap and increasing education aid 35 percent since 2012. The Budget includes support for several key initiatives, including the Governor's sixth consecutive investment in high-quality prekindergarten, a second round of Empire State After School awards to high-need districts, the continued transformation of high-need schools into community hubs, the largest State investment ever in computer science and engineering programming and instruction, and additional funding for early college high schools," the release says.

The state has been offering the Excelsior Scholarship, which offers free SUNY tuition to some middle class families. Cuomo is proposing they take the program into a second phase.

"For the 2018-19 academic year, the Excelsior Scholarship income eligibility threshold will increase, allowing New Yorkers with household incomes up to $110,000 to be eligible. To continue this landmark program, the Budget includes $118 million to support an estimated 27,000 students in the Excelsior program. Along with other sources of tuition assistance, including the generous New York State Tuition Assistance Program, the Excelsior Scholarship will allow approximately 53 percent of full-time SUNY and CUNY in-state students, or more than 210,000 New York residents, to attend college tuition-free when fully phased in," the release says.

Cuomo is proposing that $225 million be set aside to match shared services savings at the local level.

“Governor Cuomo has made a historic commitment to reducing local property taxes for millions of New Yorkers. New York State will build on the historic progress achieved by taking the next step forward to provide local governments with new tools to put money back in the pockets of middle-class families. The Budget includes $225 million to fund the State's match of savings from shared services actions included in property tax savings plans. The Budget also makes the county-wide shared services panels permanent and corrects several bureaucratic hurdles that prevent localities from sharing services,” the release says.

With the opioid epidemic causing a public health crisis throughout the country, Cuomo is proposing opioid pain medicine be taxed with the proceeds funding rehabilitation services and prevention efforts.

“New York State, like much of the country, is battling a harrowing opioid epidemic. The Executive Budget imposes a new surcharge of 2 cents per milligram of active opioid ingredient on prescription drugs, directing all proceeds to the Opioid Prevention and Rehabilitation Fund. This new fund will expand prevention, treatment, and recovery services, with the express goal of cutting opioid-related deaths in half by 2021,” the release says.

These are just some of dozens of proposals in the governor’s budget. A budget handbook is at https://www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy19/exec/fy19book/BriefingBook.pdf .