In her executive budget, Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated that the state will now finally keep its commitment to fully fund the foundation aid formula for education that was enacted in 2007, and which was supposed to have been fully funded in 2011. However, the state’s 16-year delay has rendered the existing formula badly out of date.
What is needed now is a total reconsideration of the current needs of schools throughout the state and the development of a new formula that realistically accounts for them. The Legislature must prioritize development of a new foundation aid formula.
How did we get here? In 2003, the Court of Appeals held in CFE v. State of New York that the state was in violation of Article XI of the state constitution, which requires the provision of adequate, equitable funding to ensure that every child receives a “meaningful opportunity” to obtain a “sound, basic education.” In 2006, the state Education Department developed the foundation aid formula to comply with the court’s order; the Legislature adopted the formula, with only minor changes, in 2007. Although funding for the first two years went largely according to schedule, following the Great Recession of 2008, the Legislature first froze further increases and then, when the federal stimulus money ran out, cut the school aid budget substantially. School districts have been trying to obtain the funds to which they were entitled for the past 12 years. After parents and education stakeholders filed another lawsuit (NYSER v. State of New York), the governor and the Legislature committed in 2021 to pay out the remaining increases by 2023-2024.
The result is that the current formula uses census data from 2000 in its poverty counts and regional cost-of-living data from 2006. It hasn’t kept current with the dramatic demographic changes and enrollment drops that have occurred over the past 16 years, nor has it taken into account the huge rise in the number of homeless students, learning loss from the pandemic, and other new educational needs.
The process for developing this new formula must be based on economic and educational expertise, it must be transparent, and it must also fully and fairly consider input from parents and other education stakeholders. To do this, the state needs to establish a professionally staffed standing commission to develop and monitor the implementation of the new formula. The commission should be a permanent body that can analyze current educational requirements, suggest cost-effective means for meeting them, and propose changes as they become necessary in the future.
The Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College has proposed establishing a 15-member commission whose membership would consist of appointees by the governor, the legislative leaders, and the Board of Regents, as well as representatives of the major education and professional organizations, business leaders, advocacy groups, parents, and students. It should also include educators with expertise in serving students with special needs, including students who are homeless, have disabilities, or are learning English as a new language.
To develop an equitable and adequate funding system for the 2024-25 fiscal year, the commission needs to be established promptly, so that its recommendations can be prepared and presented to the governor and the Legislature by next winter. Accordingly, even in advance of adoption of the full budget on April 1, the Legislature needs to approve an immediate appropriation to establish and staff such a commission. Our students’ futures depend on our elected officials responding quickly and appropriately to this need.
Michael A. Rebell is executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. He also was co-counsel for plaintiffs in CFE v. State of New York and NYSER v. State of New York.