Public Policy and Education Fund of New York » Reports

Back to Inequality: How Students in Poor School Districts are Paying the Price for the State Budget

Charlie Albanetti — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:27:15 +0000

The 2011 state budget cut $1.3 billion from school classrooms across New York. In enacting these cuts, students in poor districts lost the most.

The cuts in poor districts were three times as large as those in wealthy districts (see Methodology section for a description of the calculations and definitions).
To put these cuts in perspective, cuts in poor districts of $843 per pupil amounts to a cut of $21,075 for a classroom of 25 students.
Cuts in average wealth districts, below average wealth districts, poor districts and the poorest districts were all two to three times larger than those in wealthy districts.
Students in poor districts were forced to give up much more in their classrooms than those in wealthy districts. Across the state class sizes went up in 63% of school districts, some districts went as far as to reduce kindergarten or pre-kindergarten from full-day to half day. Large numbers of districts made cuts to summer school, art, music, and honors or advanced placement courses that are essential to competitive college applications. Across the state 11,000 teachers, librarians, guidance counselors and other school positions were eliminated this year.
All of this despite the fact that Governor Cuomo ran on a pledge to be “the great equalizer” in education by redistributing funding from wealthy school districts to poor ones. Instead his first budget has taken us back to greater inequality.
By contrast in 2007, the State made a commitment to schoolchildren across the state with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement that provided increases to poor districts that were more than four times those given to wealthy districts. Governor Cuomo’s first budget has reversed the state’s commitment to educational equity and opportunity.

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New York City’s Contract for Excellence: Closing the Funding Gap or a Funding Shell Game?

J. Zhu — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:07:45 +0000

(Released October 13, 2009) The Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) court decisions found that many students in New York City were not being provided access to the “sound basic education” that is their right under the state constitution. In response, the governor and the state legislature enacted funding reforms to substantially increase state school aid across the state. The law, enacted in 2007, prioritized high need school districts and prioritized high need schools within those districts. New York State created a new funding formula to distribute state operating aid in a more equitable manner to fulfill its constitutional obligations. Under this formula, 70% of new foundation aid, the state’s basic classroom operating funding, is distributed to high need school districts—including New York City.

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Moving Towards Educational Equity?: How is New York State’s School Funding Reform Impacting Educational Equity on Long Island?

J. Zhu — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:09:31 +0000

(Released September 15, 2009) Long Island schools are well known for quality education, but in reality there is a wide range of differences between the educational resources and the student outcomes in school districts on Long Island. Long Island is home to some of the best schools in New York State and the country–particularly in some of the wealthier suburban districts, but Long Island also is home to school districts with the highest concentration of student poverty in New York State. As in small and large cities across New York State, high concentrations of student poverty correlate on Long Island with higher proportions of black and Hispanic students. However, no other region of New York State has the degree of racial segregation seen in Long Island schools. In fact out of the eleven school districts in the state with the greatest proportion of black and Hispanic students, nine are on Long Island. Five Long Island school districts–Wyandanch, Roosevelt, Hempstead, Westbury and Uniondale–have a student population that is over 95% black and Hispanic.

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Race Matters: Impact of the 2009-10 Executive Budget Proposal

J. Zhu — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:03:12 +0000

(Released March 3, 2009) This report examines the impact of the Executive Budget on people of color in several major policy areas: education, higher education, health care, human services, and criminal and juvenile justice. (It is therefore a snapshot of a few major policy areas; it does not present a full picture of the Executive Budget.) We looked at key policy and spending proposals in the Executive Budget in order to determine whether there will be an unfair impact on communities of color. In each of the policy areas covered, we document that racial inequities will be continued or compounded, although to different degrees depending on the policy area. The results of our analysis are mixed – we found some proposals that address racial and ethnic disparities and others that increase disparities. But on balance the proposed cuts would have a disproportionately negative impact on communities of color. The proposed budget, if enacted, would increase the racial and ethnic disparities in our state by key economic and social measures.

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Are New York City’s High-Needs Students Receiving Educational Equity and Quality?

J. Zhu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:10:45 +0000

(Released August 15, 2008) This report sought to evaluate recent funding trends and performance of New York City schools. The report found evidence that the funding gap between schools with the highest and lowest concentrations of student poverty has grown larger over time, from $375 in 2006 to $570 in 2009. This resource inequity has significant implications for the entire New York City education system with particular implications for students living in poverty, English Language Learners, and other students who need additional academic supports. The Contracts for Excellence funding stream has been singularly successful in closing the funding gap. Measured against student need, the Fair Student Funding formula has been less successful and may have increased disparities. These funding disparities have implications for student outcomes by poverty – the achievement gap between students with the greatest poverty and their peers who are not in poverty is significant and enduring – both on state exams and ultimately graduation rates.

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Will Education Funding Promises be Broken?: Students in Poverty, Students of Color and English Language Learners Face the Largest Cuts in Basic Classroom Operating Aid under Proposed Budget

J. Zhu — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:12:11 +0000

(Released February 14, 2008) For fourteen years the Campaign for Fiscal Equity school-funding lawsuit faced a series of appeals and delays that stymied fair school funding reform. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled in the CFE case that the state was failing to meet its constitutional obligation to provide students with a “sound basic education” also defined by the courts as a “meaningful high school education.” Since the CFE lawsuit was originally brought by New York City parents, the ruling was restricted to New York City. However, the need for reform was statewide and the demand raised by community organizations, parents, educators and advocacy groups was for a statewide solution.

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Are We Investing In Our Children?: A State-of-the-State Report on Children in New York

J. Zhu — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:13:26 +0000

(Released October 15, 2006) New York Needs Adequate Funding in the 2007 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill. The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education and Labor provide needed resources to ensure that New York’s children and families have the support necessary to allow them to thrive and be healthy, contributing members of society. These programs must be a priority for our elected officials who are making key funding decisions in Washington, D.C.

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New York State’s Dual Crises: Low Graduation Rates and Rising School Taxes

J. Zhu — Tue, 16 May 2006 16:14:35 +0000

(Released May 18, 2006) New York State’s school funding system faces dual crises. First is the failure to provide children with a “meaningful high school education,” also called a “sound, basic education,” as mandated by the state constitution and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (“CFE II”) decision.1 The clearest consequence of this failure is that over one-third of high school students today do not graduate in four years. In the 2006-07 Enacted Budget, the Legislature increased school aid by $1.1 billion — roughly the state aid figure necessary to maintain current school programs at their present levels.2 However, as this report highlights, the budget did not provide even close to enough resources to address the graduation crisis.

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The State of Our Schools in 2005: The Widening Funding Gap

J. Zhu — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 16:15:36 +0000

(Released December 22, 2005) This report is the fourth in a series of reports that analyze the impact of state policy decisions on school districts and school children across the State of New York.

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No Funding, No Fairness: The State of Our Schools in 2004

J. Zhu — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 16:16:41 +0000

(Released October 4, 2004) This report is the third in a series of reports that analyze the impact of state policy decisions on school districts and school children across the State of New York.

This report was written by Bob Cohen of the Public Policy and Education Fund, Inc. (PPEF) based on data, tables, and charts provided by Frank Mauro, the Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI). PPEF supports community organizing, research, and public education on issues of concern to low and moderate income New Yorkers. FPI is a nonpartisan research and education organization that focuses on a broad range of tax, budget, economic and related public policy issues that affect the quality of life and economic well-being of New York State residents. Both PPEF and FPI are members of the Alliance for Quality Education.

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