By:Anthony Rifilato
The meeting, which took place at Woodward Parkway Elementary School in Farmingdale on April 1, followed last week's recommendations by Gov. George Pataki's Commission on Education Reform, which said that in order to provide a sound, basic education to every child in New York state, it would cost an extra $2.5 to $5.6 billion a year. The state currently gives its schools about $14.5 billion a year.
Pataki created the commission in response to a ruling by New York's highest court last year demanding that the state find out just how much it would cost to improve New York City's schools, with a deadline set for July.
Along with Pataki's commission, several other organizations released their own studies and recommendations to the state Legislature last week. Among them was the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which contends that in order to improve education state-wide, at least $9 billion more is needed over four years, with more than half going to New York City.
"This would be a revolution in [students'] education," said Michael Rebell, executive director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the plaintiff that brought the lawsuit that led to the recent court decision.
Rebell spoke alongside representatives of education reform groups who lobbied alongside the CFE and urged state lawmakers to meet the court's deadline and agree on a plan. "The only thing that's missing is the political will to carry it out," said Rebell.
Last week, the CFE identified 517 districts across the state that are not spending at adequate levels, and 162 that meet or exceed adequate levels. Among those, CFE identified 41 districts on Long Island that need more money as well as how much they need.
"Certainly, for this downstate area and Long Island, we've been discriminated against for decades," said Rebell, explaining that many lawmakers think of schools in Nassau as rich districts. "We think that as part of this reform, the state has to ante up."
The CFE named 14 school districts in Nassau County that need more money, including Valley Stream, Hempstead, East Rockaway, Freeport and Roosevelt. Schools that were not on the list, Rebell said, are being adequately funded.
For instance, the CFE recommended that for the Elmont School District, the state needs to dole out 30 percent more, an increase to $57.9 million, in order for Elmont to adequately educate its students, whereas the recommendation in North Bellmore was 13 percent.
Aside from recommending how much more money districts need, the CFE said that the state aid formula needs to be consolidated in order to be distributed fairly, claiming that there are 50 different school grants and aid formulas. "[State aid] is too complicated," said Rebell. "Nobody can make any sense out of it. Nobody knows how much each district is going to get except the politicians in the back room."
But the CFE formula does not include costs for a range of things such as Advanced Placement courses and special-education costs that are a reality for many districts that were not on the list.
Many also said that districts considered high-tax, low-wealth areas need to be factored into the new formula when and if the state Legislature determines how much money is needed. Under the CFE-recommended state contribution, low-needs districts like Baldwin would receive 14 percent of state funds.
"The Baldwin public schools is listed as wealthy even though it has a poverty population," said Howard Koenig, executive director of Reform Educatinal Financing Inequities Today (REFIT), a group of school districts that has lobbied for more equitable state aid. "There has to be a factor in there for poverty."
Koenig explained that because districts like Baldwin have no free school lunch program, the state does not measure its poverty ratio and therefore makes it a low-needs district. "The way [the state] calculates poverty is very bad for Baldwin, because they base poverty on the number of kids who receive a free or reduced lunch," he said, adding that the state could use other methods, such as statistics from the Department of Social Services, to determine the poverty ratio.
"To me, it seems like a no-brainer," Koenig said.
While Koenig applauded the study as a good first step, he took issue with the way the CFE looked at regional costs, saying that it costs more to do business downstate. "The CFE has moved us further along in the direction we have to go," he said. "But we have to make sure that the details of the proposal are corrrect."
Residents from other districts said that they would like to see more resources for their schools if the state aid formula is revamped. "I feel that East Meadow needs a full-day kindergarten and more AP programs," said Lorraine Newman, an East Meadow resident and member of the League of Women Voters, which moderated the event. "I would like to see them have more."
Others, such as East Meadow resident Robert Kushner, said the CFE and others need to consider the cost of doing business in Nassau County. "They did not give enough weight to the cost of education downstate," said Kushner. "It's much more expensive down here."
