FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2024
CONTACT: Nan Eileen Mead, nan.mead@tc.columbia.edu, 212-678-8318
American Institutes for Research will be retained to undertake independent technical analyses for a more extensive effort to determine current student needs and educational costs.
The Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, today announced that it will begin developing a new foundation aid formula to replace New York State’s outdated, 17-year-old school-funding formula, Foundation Aid. The Center will retain the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to undertake the technical analyses for this project.
Michael A. Rebell, the Center’s founder and executive director, will describe this project in more detail when he testifies at today’s public hearing at the High School of Fashion Industries in New York City. The hearing is the first of five across the state organized by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, whom Governor Hochul appointed in April to study and examine the formula, with the intention of making possible modifications by December for the 2025-26 budget cycle.
“As we have stated throughout our two-year public engagement campaign, developing a new constitutional school-funding formula must be an independent effort free from the political process. Therefore, we are undertaking to begin this process now, with external resources,” Rebell said.
The foundation aid formula was enacted in 2007, and was developed as a result of CFE (Campaign for Fiscal Equity) v. State of New York, a landmark educational rights case in 1993 brought by Mr. Rebell and Robert Jackson, who was then the President of Community School Board 6 in upper Manhattan, on behalf of New York City public school students.
The CFE lawsuit accused the state of intentionally underfunding New York City’s education budget compared with other regions in the state. This underfunding, they argued, resulted in inadequate educational opportunities and outcomes for students in New York City. After a lengthy court case and appeals process, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled in 2003 that all students in New York are entitled under the state constitution to a “sound basic education” that prepares them for competitive employment and capable civic participation. To achieve this goal, the Court also ruled that the state must “ascertain the actual cost of providing a sound basic education” and ensure that “every school [will] have the resources necessary for providing the opportunity for a sound basic education.”
Foundation aid is the largest portion of aid from the state that provides support to general education services to schools and districts in New York State. This amount is adjusted to reflect regional costs and concentrations of pupils who need extra time and help in each district, such as multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and students receiving free-and reduced-price lunch. Extra funding is also allocated to sparsely populated rural areas. Typically, low income/high need school districts receive more support from state funding than lower needs/wealthier schools districts to make up for what less affluent districts cannot raise for education funding through local taxes.
Since the formula was adopted in 2007, there have been substantial changes in educational needs and educational practices. Major new education policies like universal pre-K have expanded, and poverty rates have increased throughout the state. There have been substantial enrollment declines, especially since the pandemic, and many districts are dealing with the needs of migrant children, many of whom have never attended school. In addition, the pandemic has had a profound impact on long-term student learning and student mental health.
“The analysis required to create a new formula that adequately and equitably meets current student needs cannot be accomplished in seven months,” Rebell said. "A new approach is needed to modernize school funding in New York. We are delighted that AIR has agreed to join us in this critical endeavor. Their national expertise will be instrumental in influencing policymakers to bring greater equity to education funding."
For nearly two decades, AIR researchers have conducted increasingly sophisticated evaluations of school funding in the state of New York and elsewhere. Jesse Levin, Ph.D., now Principal Research Economist at AIR, conducted the original New York adequacy study as part of the remedial phase of the CFE litigation. Levin has collaborated within and outside of AIR to conduct over half a dozen state-level school finance studies, as well as studies of resource allocation, funding, and spending associated with major federal programs, including special education services supported by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and compensatory education supported by the Title I program.
The Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, works to guarantee every child a meaningful educational opportunity to graduate from high school prepared for college, careers, and engaged civic participation. Founded in 2005 by Michael A. Rebell, CEE uses legal advocacy, academic research, and collective action to achieve foundational change.
The American Institutes for Research® (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to solve some of the most urgent challenges in the U.S. and around the world.