What is the CFE (Campaign for Fiscal Equity) Lawsuit?

Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) v. State of New York was a landmark education rights case filed in 1993 led by Michael A. Rebell, the Center for Educational Equity’s founder and executive director, and State Senator Robert Jackson, who was then the president of Community School Board 6 in upper Manhattan. The class action suit was filed on behalf of plaintiffs representing the one million students attending the New York City Public Schools. 

The plaintiffs claimed that New York State discriminated against students in New York City and denied the “sound basic education” Article XI of the New York State Constitution guaranteed them. CFE alleged that although New York City had approximately 38% of the students attending public schools in the state, and a disproportionate number of students in poverty and students with special needs, it was receiving only 36% of state aid to education. 

The case included a seven-month trial that presented evidence analyzing the state’s system for financing public education and the educational opportunities that were available in New York City’s schools. After the trial and several rounds of appeals, the Court of Appeals, New York State’s highest court, upheld the plaintiffs’ constitutional claim. It held that every student in New York City—and throughout New York State--is entitled to the opportunity for a sound basic education, which it defined as “a meaningful high school education, one which prepares [students] to function productively as civic participants.” 

The court also upheld the trial court’s determination that the State must take steps to provide students with at least the following resources:

1. Sufficient numbers of qualified teachers, principals, and other personnel.
2. Appropriate class sizes.
3. Adequate and accessible school buildings with sufficient space to ensure appropriate class size and implementation of a sound curriculum.
4. Sufficient and up-to-date books, supplies, libraries, educational technology, and laboratories.
5. Suitable curricula, including an expanded platform of programs to help at-risk students by giving them “more time on task.”
6. Adequate resources for students with extraordinary needs.
7. A safe orderly environment.

In order to ensure that all schools have these resources and that all students do receive the opportunity for a sound basic education, the court ordered the state to “ascertain the actual cost of providing a sound basic education,” ensure the funding system “align funding with need,” and create a system of accountability to ensure “every school [will] have the resources necessary for providing the opportunity for a sound basic education.”

The Court of Appeals reiterated in a 2017 decision that “The sound basic education guaranteed by the Constitution requires the State to afford students with the “opportunity for a meaningful high school education, one which prepares them to function productively as civic participants” and “compete for jobs that enable them to support themselves” (Aristy-Farer v. State, 29 N.Y.3d 501, 505).