Reflecting Historical Decisions: Fair Student Funding in New York City

📅Published in March 2020

Introduction

Real Integration as defined by IntegrateNYC requires equitable distribution of resources across schools. Students and parents often hear that New York City’s system of “fair student funding” was designed to address resource equity, and yet most of us have a sense that a small number of schools are still receiving more than their fair share. To be sure, private fundraising on behalf of schools explains some of these disparities, but, as this briefing explains, there are also problems with the system of fair student funding itself, including 1) a significant flaw in the fair student-funding formula itself and 2) more importantly, an implementation program that undermines the goals of the formula.1 This briefing also provides a brief overview of the objectives of fair student funding and its mechanics.

Background

Since 2007 New York City public schools have been funded in part by a weighted, student needs-based allocation formula known as Fair Student Funding (“FSF”) that currently accounts for approximately two-thirds of a school’s total annual budget2 . Before FSF New York City’s schools were allocated funds based on a series of financing formulas that were largely tied to the number of teachers a school had and the salary levels of those teachers.3 As a result, high-performing schools tended to receive greater amounts of funding because they attracted and retained experienced teachers who earned higher salaries.4 Also, significant disparities occurred in schools’ per-student funding levels.5 To address this funding inequity and simplify the financing process, the New York City Department of Education (“DOE”) replaced the prior system with FSF to allocate funds based on the number and types of students at each school. Through FSF schools receive funding for each student based on grade level with additional funding for students who are from lowincome households, are struggling academically, have a disability, are learning English, or attend designated high schools.

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