New York spends more on schools than any state in the nation with only mediocre results, a withering report released Friday reveals.
Spending on education has increased to a whopping $89 billion in New York school districts this academic year. This is while enrollment and test scores have plummeted, according to the analysis by the Citizens Budget Commission.
Ironically, under the controversial “hold-harmless” provision maintained by Albany lawmakers — and backed by school district officials and the union — schools with shrinking student populations get to keep the same level of funding or even see increases.
Gov. Hochul was going to stop that, but she’s facing re-election and changed her mind.
The statewide average of spending per student came to an eye-popping $36,293, a 21% increase since the 2020-21 school year, the report by the budget watchdog group found.
Among the findings in the report:
- The state spends 91% above the national average on K-12 schools and even considerably higher than spendthrift neighbors and competitor states — including California, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
- The average of $36,293 per-pupil spending includes federal, state and local aid — but the state’s portion rose by nearly 26% since 2020-21, or about 6% a year.
- The increase in education funding has come despite a drop in student enrollment over the last decade — shrinking 7.7% from 2.66 million in 2013 to 2.45 million students this year.
All that spending has produced less than stellar and even dismal results.
For example, the report noted that New York’s fourth-grade students ranked 32nd and 46th on reading and math NAEP exams taken in 2022, respectively, while eighth-grade students ranked 9th and 22nd.
If you separate New York City from the rest of the state, you’ll find districts outside of the city pull up the scores.
While NAEP exam results declined nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic amid virtual learning, the drop in scores was worse in New York.
The national average reading and math scores fell by three points and five points, respectively, while in New York, the average scores plummeted by six and 10 points.
Eighth-grade reading scores were an exception, remaining flat between 2019 and 2022, while the national average score declined by three points.
The report said that the Empire State remains in the middle of the pack academically even after statistically adjusting for the demographic profile of New York’s students, such as those under the poverty line.
The report said that New York’s relatively high spending is partly attributed to higher salaries, union-friendly labor, and policy choices allowing extensive services to be delivered.
It’s improved [Marxist] equity but nothing else.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
wpDiscuz
