Securing Fair School Funding Pre-K-12

In New York, the Center for Educational Equity works to uphold all students’ right under the state constitution to a meaningful opportunity to a “sound basic education,” which was secured in the CFE case. Our goals are

• to hold the state accountable for adequate and equitable school funding and
• to ensure every school is equipped with the essential educational resources necessary to meet the needs of its students.

In 2021, the state, under Gov. Kathy Hochul, settled the long-running New Yorkers for Students’ Educational Rights (NYSER) case, the CFE follow-up lawsuit initiated by Michael Rebell representing plaintiff parents, students, and education stakeholder organizations statewide. The state legislature committed to phase in over three years of full funding to the Foundation Aid Formula, adopted in 2007 to implement the CFE decision. 

In the 18 years since the current formula was adopted, New York has seen many changes in demographics, school policies, and state education mandates. As a result, the current outdated formula does not relate to current student needs and over the years, many inequities have crept into the formula. These must be remedied to ensure all schools are fairly and adequately funded and students’ constitutional right to a sound basic education is honored in 2024 and the years to come.

Because Gov. Hochul has been resistant to initiating a process to develop a new formula, the Center for Educational Equity and the American Institutes for Research have now launched a project to advance the development of a constitutional school funding formula for New York State to replace the current 18-year old Foundation Aid formula. Our Adequate, Constitutional, Equitable (ACE) School Funding Project will conduct an independent study to begin a process to develop a new formula that will fulfill the state’s constitutional obligation to provide our students sufficient resources each year to truly meet their educational needs.

More information about this project is available here.

Other Important Resources

•  Ensuring the Future of Fair School Funding: A Proposal to Establish a Permanent Commission to Guarantee a Sound Basic Education for All New York Students
  • Author(s): Michael Rebell and Jessica R. Wolff
  • Published: The Center for Educational Equity, November 2022

• Essential Resources: The Constitutional Requirements for Providing All Students in New York State the Opportunity for a Sound Basic Education, 2nd edition (2017).