Report by Advocacy Group Finds Already Underfunded New York Schools Bearing the Brunt of Pataki Budget Cuts

On March 19, 2003, the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) released a study showing that New York Governor George Pataki's $1.2 billion in proposed education cuts would disproportionately affect school districts with low test scores. Although the governor has claimed that poor districts, which also tend to have low test scores, would not fare worst in his cuts, AQE found that districts with schools whose scores are low enough to designate them in "need of improvement" by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; for summary and analysis of NCLB, see the ACCESS NCLB pages) would have their budgets cut by 45% more than other districts.

The report, entitled Separate and Unequal: Pataki's Budget Cuts Hit Struggling Schools the Hardest, compares per-pupil spending for the 65 New York school districts with at least one school on the state NCLB list with expenditures in other districts and to average per-pupil spending statewide. The districts with at least one school on the NCLB "needs improvement" list, which the report calls "NCLB districts," face 45% more cuts than other districts. These districts educate 81% of the students in New York State who are eligible for free or reduced price lunches.

The Alliance for Quality Education is a statewide advocacy umbrella organization comprising over 200 groups supporting fair funding for public schools. Membership organizations include the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, ACORN, professional educational organizations, and business and clergy groups. Regina Eaton, Executive Director of AQE, predicted that NCLB Districts, which already (in the 2002-2003 school year) spend over $2000 less per pupil, will fall further behind as a result of the governor's disproportionate budget cuts.

Prepared March 24, 2003