NY State Public Education:
Advocates Expect School Aid Formula Will Raise Student Achievement
by Bob Cohen
Bob is the Research and Public Policy Director of the Alliance for Quality
Education.
In September, Syracuse children once again returned to school. Due to inadequate
support by both the state and city in recent years, they had an all too familiar
experience: teacher and staff layoffs, reduced athletic programming, increased
class sizes at the secondary school level, and decreased mental heath services.
State aid to education got cut last year the third year in a row schools
in New York have faced either no increases to education funding, or cuts. And
had the State Legislature not overridden the Governors veto of the Legislatures
budget, the cuts to education would have been even more severe last year. The
result has been program cuts, staff layoffs, and property tax increases throughout
the state.
Except this time due to a landmark court decision coupled with grassroots
activism throughout the state theres more than a ray of hope that
things can change.
In the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) case, decided on June 26th, the Court
of Appeals, New Yorks highest court, held that all public school students
are entitled to a meaningful high school education under the state
constitution, ensuring children a quality education from grades K through 12.
The Court mandated that the Legislature and the Governor reform the state school
aid formula by July 30, 2004.
The CFE case presents us with the best opportunity we have had in generations
to significantly increase state aid to schools and to bring more equity between
poorer and richer school districts. Although the CFE case came out of New York
City, it will force changes in the entire way we allocate school aid because
many, if not most, districts in the state dont meet the new constitutional
standard established by the court. Children are shortchanged by a system that
is based on the geographic politics of the Legislature rather than the needs
of kids. We need to fight for a new system thats simple, predictable,
and that awards state aid based on need.
One hundred Central New York area parents, teachers, school board members, superintendents,
and other education supporters spoke out for school aid reform at the Syracuse
Regional Summit on Quality Education, held on Tuesday, November 11th.
Those attending identified an array of priorities for new state funding
from large classes to insufficient training for teachers.
The Syracuse event was one of a series of a regional forums sponsored around
the state by the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), a coalition of over 230
organizations of parents, childrens advocates, schools, teachers, clergy,
and labor unions, and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), which brought the
landmark schools case, to get community input on the new state school aid formula
to be developed in response to the CFE decision.
The landmark schools case that was decided in June by New Yorks
highest court will benefit Syracuse schoolchildren as much as New York City
kids, as many of our students face similar barriers to achievement: particularly,
poverty, difficulties with the English language, and shortages of staff, textbooks
and other educational resources, said Pam Percival, President of Parents
for Public Schools of Syracuse. We have to speak with one voice around
the state to ensure that the Legislature and the Governor address the most urgent
needs of our schools, so we dont lose another generation of children.
AQE and CFE stress that a new funding plan must: (1) adequately fund all schools
in the state so that all students will have smaller class sizes, qualified teachers,
up-to-date equipment, modern and safe buildings, full-day pre-kindergarten,
and all the additional resources needed to meet state standards required for
a high school diploma; (2) have accountability measures to ensure that additional
funds improve student achievement; (3) be simple and transparent and produce
understandable results; and (4) be fair by not reducing any districts
spending levels.
Im encouraged that so many Central New Yorkers came out on the 11th to
speak out for school aid reform. We hope to use the momentum of this event to
build a local affiliate of the Alliance for Quality Education to ensure that
Central New Yorks needs are considered when the state redesigns the school
aid formula next year. The message were trying to get out is that we can
get the kind of schools we want if we speak out now.
People interested in getting involved with AQEs campaign in Central New
York should contact Bob Cohen of the AQE staff at (518) 465-4600 (ext. 104).
You can also email Bob at <bcohen@citizenactionny.org>. AQEs web
page is: <www.aqeny.org>.