$23 Billion Education Funding Report Reveals Less Money for City Kids

An opinion piece on Tuesday in the New York Daily News called for New York State to make good on its decade-old obligation to redirect money to New York City public school students to account “for differences in students’ need and localities’ tax bases.” The obligation stemmed from a successful 1992 lawsuit brought by a group of New York City parents and activists who called themselves the Campaign for Fiscal Equity.

Funding disparities for city students are a nationwide issue: Public school pupils enrolled in urban districts receive on average around $2,100 less per pupil than their suburban counterparts, and $4,000 less than students who attend rural remote schools, according to a recent study by EdBuild. And within cities, kids in predominantly nonwhite districts receive less than kids in predominantly white districts—about $1,321 less.