ALBANY (MARCH 31, 2016) –Today’s state budget agreement fails to address the fundamental educational inequities based on race and income that have plagued New York State for decades. The Foundation Aid formula had a small increase of $627 million, but schools are owed $4.4 billion in Foundation Aid, 77% of which is owed to high need districts. The Foundation Aid formula was established in response to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit to comply with the state constitutional requirement to ensure a “sound basic education” for all students.
“This budget fails to address fundamental educational inequality based on both race and income,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director for the Alliance for Quality Education. “The Foundation Aid increase simply does not come close to meeting the needs for the one out of two students living in poverty or to reversing the racial inequities that are entrenched in our educational system. We give Speaker Carl Heastie, Assembly Education Chair Cathy Nolan and the Assembly credit for fighting the good fight. We also wish to recognize Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes for leading the way in demanding high quality community schools.
“The final product simply does not get the job done. The one important exception is the community schools program. If the legislation gets the details right, it will provide an innovative reform that will make a massive difference in the lives of students and families,” said Easton. “Every year the state has another excuse for why it is not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to finance a ‘sound basic education’ for every child, and once again our children are the ones paying the price.”
For 10 years, education advocates have fought to ensure that the state comply with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), the court case that ruled New York State was not providing students with their constitutional right to a “sound, basic education.” The Foundation Aid formula was intended to provide the schools in poor communities with the funding needed to address the huge inequities that exist in New York State’s schools. But the state only complied with the court order for two years.
“The education budget is a slap in the face to English Language Learners,” said Javier Valdes, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road. “These students need the extra resources in order to succeed in schools. But the state, by not making a clear plan to fund the Campaign for Fiscal Equity through the Foundation Aid formula, is telling these students and their families that their needs don’t matter. We appreciate the effort on the part of the Assembly and Speaker Carl Heastie who fought for this funding, but this budget for education is terribly disheartening. The one clear and important positive outcome is the community schools program which can be a difference maker in the lives of students.”
While there will be much attention paid to the total aid increase, which is at least $300 million less than the 2007 record increase of $1.77 billion, to understand the budget one must look at the targeting for high needs districts. Most importantly the budget does little on Foundation Aid which primarily benefits high needs school districts. The Gap Elimination Adjustment was fully restored, but this does next to nothing for most high need districts. For instance out of $434 million statewide Albany and Syracuse only receive about $50,000, Rochester less than $100,000, and small city Dunkirk in Western New York $5,352. The Assembly budget proposed a four-year phase in of full foundation aid, but both the Senate the Governor rejected such a plan.
Community schools are innovative schools that provide social, emotional and health supports as well as strong academics. There are two funding pots for community schools one of $75 million and another of $100 million, but the difference between these funding pots is unclear at this time. There are reports that the $100 million may actually be part of foundation aid or another portion of the education budget. We await the details.
“The NYS Assembly proposals to fund community schools and My Brother’s Keeper are the kind of real investments we need in our schools,” said Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director for the Alliance for Quality Education. “But they are not good enough without a plan to fully fund CFE. When 50 percent of children live below the poverty line, fully funding CFE is the only plan that shows that Governor Cuomo and the state legislature are serious about addressing this state of emergency. We can’t keep talking about how Black, Latino and poor students are struggling and then sabotage any opportunities by choosing to ignore any serious commitment to Foundation Aid. Who will #StandUp4Kids for real?”
“Once again, the state has turned its back on our neediest schools and their students,” said Jonathan Westin, Executive Director for New York Communities for Change. “We strongly disapprove of the state’s continued underfunding of Foundation Aid. This budget is a travesty. It has been 10 years since the courts ruled that this funding is essential to our high needs schools. However, we are pleased with the progress made on community school funding, which is so desperately needed to turn around our struggling schools. We thank the Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for all the effort that he and his members put into the support for community schools and their efforts to secure the Foundation Aid.”
“Funding for community schools has the potential to give students the educational opportunity they deserve. If these schools engage parents and address the needs of the whole community, then community schools are a proven way to put struggling schools on a path to success. I wish to thank Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes for being a champion for community schools,” said Karen Scharff, Executive Director, Citizen Action of New York. “Unfortunately, this budget fails at the fundamental priority of fair and adequate funding for schools in poor communities and communities of color because the foundation aid increase is simply too low. This is despite the fact that the Assembly and Speaker Heastie proposed a fair and reasonable plan to fund foundation aid at the constitutional level.”
###