Educating Every Student An overview of educational investments for the future and New York State’s funding failure Annenberg Institute for School Reform

Annenberg Institute for School Reform 01/10/2014

Educating Every Student

An overview of educational investments for the future and New York State’s funding failure

Parent Power School January 11, 2014


Background & History How Our Schools are Funded Broken Promise of Fiscal Equity School Budget Cuts

What’s currently happening in our schools? What Inequality Looks Like in NYS Opportunity Gap

Mayor de Blasio’s Plan Why Pre-K and After-School?

Universal Pre-K Quality After-School Programming

What can we do? AQE 2014 Legislative Priorities

Table of Contents


There are 3 sources of funding for our schools:-Federal government, which provides 10% -State budget-NYC property taxes

State contribution has dropped from 50% to 40% in previous years Burden of funding has shifted from state to local property taxpayers

How Our Schools are Funded


The 2007 Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit began to close the opportunity gap:

-Governor Spitzer and legislature reformed school funding formula to make it more equitable

-State invested $5.5 billion in new money to schools, mostly to poorest districts

In 2007-08, state dollars contributed $1,815 per student towards closing gap between rich and poor districts

Since 2009 NYS has abandoned CFE commitment: -In 2010 and 2011, $2.7 billion in cuts were made -High need and average need districts suffered more cuts

than wealthy districts

Broken Promise of Fiscal Equity


In the past 4 years 35,000 educators have been laid off statewide

The 2012-13 state budget alone resulted in these dramatic cuts to necessary programs:-59% of school districts increased class sizes-16% reduced art class and 20% reduced music classes-17% reduced advanced or honors classes-31% reduced summer school-22% reduced extra help for students

Schools will continue to make drastic cuts unless we change course

School Budget Cuts


What Inequality Looks Like in New York State

Funding Gap: -New York State ranks 44th in the country for funding equity-The richest districts spend an average of $28,000 per student per year, while the poorest districts spend only $19,000 per student. -That is an $8,601 spending gap between the wealthiest and poorest districts

Graduation Gap:-Poor districts have an average graduation rate 27% lower than wealthy districts


In a wealthy district like Scarsdale, students have access to: -15 AP courses-28 performing arts classes-21 sports teams-An intensive college guidance and preparation curriculum

In contrast, the 8 highest need districts in NYS have inadequate resources:

-One third of schools did not have enough art teachers to meet minimum state requirements-More than half did not meet minimum requirements for physical education-Majority of schools lacked sufficient psychologists or social workers-11 out of 12 high schools did not have college readiness supports

Opportunity Gap


Tax increase on New Yorkers who earn more than $500,000 a year: from 3.9% to 4.4%

Affects top 1%, or 44,200 city taxpayers

Use money to fund universal full-day pre-K and after school programming for middle school students

Example: For those earning $500,000-$1 million, their tax bill will go up by $973 a year

Total Revenue gained through this plan: $532 million

Mayor de Blasio’s Plan


Only half of our 4 year olds get Pre-K programming

Pre-K is research based and a proven investment-Every $1 spent on Pre-K saves taxpayers $7-10 in the future

Children who go through Pre-K are:-More likely to go to college-More likely to succeed academically-More likely to get a higher paying job-Less likely to be incarcerated

Universal Pre-K for NYS Children


Of the 180,000 middle school students in NYC only one third participate in after school programs

Benefits for students are numerous:-Increased attendance rates-Improved achievement on standardized tests-Improved social-emotional development-Less risky behavior and reduced access to drugs and alcohol

Quality After School Programming for Middle Schoolers


$1.9 billion in new school funds:

-$ 1 billion in new classroom funds, distributed equitably-$225 million for full-day pre-K-$110 million for college-ready community schools-$300 million for curriculum improvement-$20 million to build positive school climate-$250 million in transportation and other non-classroom expenses

AQE 2014 Legislative Priorities


Questions & Comments


Go to Albany on March 12th to lobby for state funds for school

Sign up to lobby legislators in NYC to pass the millionaire's tax, increase state funds for schools and provide full-day pre-k and afterschool program for NYC middle schoolers

Attend the next Parent Power School in March 2014

Next Steps

Documents

Educating Every Student An overview of educational investments for the future and New York State’s funding failure Annenberg Institute for School Reform