Join your fellow citizens across the State to demand an excellent public education for every child, in every school .
School Funding and Accountability
New York State needs a fair funding formula with built in accountability measures. Winning last year’s historic increase in school funding was only the beginning of turning around our troubled education system and creating excellent schools. $1.1 billion in need-based foundation aid to local districts this year, phasing up to $5.5 billion in four years, can go a long way towards rectifying huge inequities in the system.
But it is incumbent upon the state to ensure that increased dollars go to the schools that need them most, that programs are clearly defined, and that money can be easily tracked by all stakeholders – including policy makers, advocates and parents. To do that, the state must: 1) stick to a base formula and eliminate additional spending streams that serve to obscure actual funding levels and shortchange the neediest schools; and 2) tie new funding to a comprehensive agenda of reform and accountability – financial, programmatic and performance based – by establishing and overseeing the Contracts for Excellence.
Funding Small Schools
New York State’s public school system has one of the lowest graduation rates in the nation. Large, low-performing high schools have graduation rates as low as 50%, and have shown to be ineffective at serving low-performing, underserved minority communities. One proven solution has been to transform ineffective high schools into high-performing small learning communities. Small schools help level the playing field for poor children and children of immigrants by raising expectations, increasing accountability, and creating a supportive community with individualized support.
While there have been many successful small schools developed throughout the state, there are still more than 10,000 students attending 150 schools that are on the “failing” list. The New York State Legislature needs to provide a dedicated funding stream for creating smaller high schools so that we can build on current success and expand small school opportunities for more of New York’s students.
Improving Access to Higher Education
Social and economic barriers still prevent low- and moderate-income students from attending college and earning a degree. The financial prospects confronting the state’s would-be college goers are dismal. Demand for tuition assistance is at an all time high. Tuition increases, combined with the expectation that students carry immense debt for college loans, have become mounting obstacles facing New York’s working-class and poor students, and for many are prohibitive to earning a degree from a City or State University.
New York State must reduce prohibitive tuition costs as a means of increasing access to higher public education. Two possible ways of helping families better afford the state colleges are 1) by expanding eligibility for the Tuition Assistance Program and increasing the amount of the awards for eligible families; or 2) by establishing a refundable New York State tuition tax credit for all qualifying CUNY and SUNY students.