QUESTION
What were the deficits New York City Public Schools faced before the fair student funding formula was fully funded?
0:54:32
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127 sec
New York City Public Schools' fair student funding formula was not fully funded until additional state dollars were received, affecting the allocation towards students' needs.
- The fair student funding formula, which assesses student needs with external input, required additional state dollars for complete funding.
- Additional funding allowed for new weightings in the formula, focusing more on students' needs.
- City contributions to the education budget have increased both proportionally and in absolute terms, eclipsing state contributions when compared to 2007.
- There's a discussion on improving the state's foundation aid, with suggestions to revisit its function, especially concerning students in temporary housing.
- $100 million has been allocated to the highest needs students, highlighting a trade-off in budget allocation decisions.
Althea Stevens
0:54:32
And so could you talk about some of the the deficits that we were already in even before it was fully funded?
0:54:37
Because I think that's also important to highlight in this conversation.
Emma Vadehra
0:54:43
Yes.
0:54:44
Absolutely.
0:54:44
I mean, I would just say our fair student funding formula, which is formula determined based on our take on student needs with input from others, wasn't fully funded.
0:54:54
That base formula, the city's base formula, a good formula, wasn't fully funded until we got those additional state dollars.
0:55:01
The new weights we added we were able to do because of those additional state dollars as well.
0:55:06
And then there's a series of other pieces.
0:55:08
So that sort of helped us get to where we are, including with an additional focus on need.
0:55:13
The other thing I would just say and I do wanna talk about the state's formula going forward as well and what some improvements might be.
0:55:19
The other thing I I just wanna say is we step back and think big picture.
0:55:22
The city's contribution to our own budget is actually a higher percentage now than it was back in 2007 compared to the state.
0:55:31
So while we are very grateful for the state's increases in foundation aid, the city's own contributions have been larger.
0:55:38
Proportionally and in absolute terms in that same time frame, which is I work in education.
0:55:44
I want all the money to go to education.
0:55:46
As we step back and look big picture at the city's contributions in the states, I do think that's important to keep an eye on it.
0:55:50
The last thing I just wanna say, because I really appreciated the questions.
0:55:53
And the back and forth on foundation aid.
0:55:57
We would love for the state to take a step back and look at how foundation aid functions appreciated the suggestion around students in temporary housing in particular.
0:56:05
Think there's other ways.
0:56:07
I would say one of the things we'd be looking for them to focus on, and this gets a little bit to the trade off question, right, because a dollar is a dollar.
0:56:14
And you either spend a dollar on students in temporary housing, or you spend a dollar treating all students equally.
0:56:21
As as the class size law says, all students should be in classes of the same size.
0:56:26
And so both when we look at our formula, that's one of the trade offs.
0:56:28
We put in a $100,000,000 this year for our highest needs students in particular, that could have been spent in a different way that wouldn't have been as targeted.
0:56:36
And we'd ask we'd want the state to be looking at some of those same pieces.