The new state budget incorporates several changes into the primary school funding formula in New York state, which means school districts across the state this week are scouring school aid runs to see exactly how those changes will impact their bottom line.
The Foundation Aid formula hasn’t been updated since it went into effect in 2007 during the tenure of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. One change made this year eliminates the reliance on 25-year-old Census data from the year 2000. That data was replaced by a three-year average called the Small Area Income & Poverty Estimate (SAIPE), which is a series of recent Census poverty data sets that includes SNAP program recipients and poverty income measures for instance.
Another change replaces Free & Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) with one calculating economically disadvantaged youth within the school district itself and helps to define a range of at-risk and needy students enabling additional financial resources for the district.
Because the formula is so byzantine, changes to one part of calculation can lead to what Rick Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium, calls “the law of unintended outcomes."
That’s what happened this year to the largest school district in the state.
“While it still has a large number of economically disadvantaged youth, New York City has property income values that are just above the state’s average, and other parts of the formula remain unchanged,” explained Timbs on why the city’s aid increase wasn’t as large as expected.
Timbs figures that a slight increase in the weighting of English Language Learners wasn’t enough to offset Census information calculating community poverty.
Districts with lower property wealth, including Syracuse and Yonkers, saw better outcomes from the formula.
BIG 5 Enrollment % increase in aid $ increase in aid
NYC 1mil pupils 5.47% increase $538,874,865
Buffalo 38K pupils 4.9% increase $ 34,602,257
Rochester 28K pupils 8.9% increase $ 50,206,398
Syracuse 20K pupils 10.8% increase $ 40,357,250
Yonkers 24K pupils 10.8% increase $ 30,428,613
"Save Harmless” are districts that have lost population, and which the formula states should get less funding than they did last year, but this year, those districts will see a 2% increase in state aid, thanks to changes included by Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders.
According to Timbs, the loss of overall enrollment cannot mean that there are less robust programs for the students who remain.
“The programs keep going, the infrastructure still has to stay there even if you lose students. That’s a major factor,” Timbs said. “Last year, ['Save Harmless' schools) got no increase at all, so I think they’re already hard pressed.”
Save Harmless, selected Suburban & Small City Districts
Cohoes 1900 pupils 2% increase $ 556, 625
Poughkeepsie 4000 pupils 2% increase $1,597,252
Geneva 2000 pupils 2% increase $ 642,463
There are 46 high-needs school districts that are also considered "Save Harmless" districts, and that number is increasing. When asked why, Timbs pointed to the base Foundation Aid amounts for districts, which haven’t been updated in more than 20 years.
“For instance, how much does it cost to educate a child? Why don’t we start with that number first. And that number is way too low,” he said.
New York state spends more on pupil education than any other state in the nation, yet there are those who agree with Timbs that more funding is required. One such advocate is Dr. Michael Rebell, executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, and the attorney who argued the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) case in New York.
Rebell is in the process of finding grant money for a full analysis of the state’s educational needs by district, which is exactly what Timbs is arguing for.
“Essentially the newly adopted budget sidesteps the major problems in the state’s school funding system, without solving or even directly confronting most of them,” Rebell said in a statement. “It makes no effort to overhaul the 18-year-old grossly out-of-date Foundation Aid formula, which is meant to ensure state school aid meets the needs of the state’s most vulnerable students.”
In the 2006 CFE case, the state’s highest court ruled that New York was violating students’ constitutional rights to a “sound and basic education”. The Foundation Aid formula was a direct result of the ruling.
Save Harmless, selected Rural School Districts
Westfield, Chautauqua Cty 600 pupils 2% $187,376
Dolgeville, Herkimer Cty 400 pupils 2% $252,119
Sharon Springs, Schoharie Cty 300 pupils 2% $ 80,781
According to Timbs, small rural "Save Harmless" districts may have it the worst with this budget.
“They have smaller populations and [students have] greater distances to go, yet they still have to hire a similar staff to compete with their wealthier neighbors,” he said. “[For example] Sharon Springs is going to be hard-pressed to keep robust programming [with a 2% Foundation Aid increase],"
The part of the formula dealing with sparsity “doesn’t help a lot” he explains. “It’s got to be improved drastically.”
A separate problem, according to Timbs, is the state’s zero emission bus mandate. While the budget includes a couple of extensions for school districts, Timbs would have rather seen a five- to seven-year policy delay.
“Move it all back until everybody’s ready,” he told Capital Tonight.