Unacceptable disparity in state funding of rich and poor school districts

For a state that calls itself progressive, New York’s education funding policy is awfully regressive. According to a new study by David Sciarra, Executive Director of the Education Law Center (ELC) in NJ, Bruce Baker of Rutgers University Graduate School of Education and Danielle Farrie, ELC Research Director, “Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card,” New York State’s school district funding has one of the largest disparities between rich and poor school districts in the nation. The inequality is so extreme that wealthy districts receive about $3,000 more per student.

This gap is due to the fact that wealthy districts utilize high property taxes to fund their schools, which many poor districts do not have. In 2007, the Court in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit found that the state was underfunding needy schools, leading to an increase in government funding for poor districts. In 2008 however, the recession led to a decrease in funding again.

The school funding fairness study states:

“Education has always been the cornerstone of freedom and democracy, and key to economic prosperity. But never before in our history has education been more crucial to the collective future of our nation and to the individual futures of our young people.”

As the workforce grows more competitive, quality education becomes even more imperative. The impoverished children, who make up the under-funded school districts, need adequate state education in order to gain knowledge and develop skills necessary for future success. The current policy of helping the rich get richer – and leaving the poor to grow poorer – will have lasting effects in the lives of these students if not changed soon.