This is some bad math.
New York funnels more money into its schools than any state in the nation — with only mediocre results to show for it, a withering report released Friday reveals.
Spending on education has gone up — to a whopping $89 billion on New York school districts this academic year — even as both enrollment and test scores have plummeted, according to the analysis by the Citizens Budget Commission.
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.
That’s even as the scores of New York schoolkids on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the one common test taken by students from across the US — dipped further than the national average.
“Continuing to shovel more and more money every year to school districts without fundamentally questioning this status quo behavior will not solve this problem,” the CBC report said.
“It is well past time for the state to improve student outcomes and ensure that schools’ vast resources meet the needs of students by improving oversight to identify what is not working, fine-tuning interventions to ensure their effectiveness, and holding districts accountable when schools fail to deliver results.”
Of the $89 billion in overall spending, $39 billion comes from the state budget, per the report.
New York spends more than other states on mostly everything — teachers’ salaries, benefits and pensions, school construction, services for immigrants or non-English speakers and even electrifying school buses, CBC officials said.
An edict by the state Legislature to lower class sizes in city public schools — championed by United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew over the objections of Mayor Eric Adams — is also costing.
Mulgrew and the teachers’ union also campaigned against cuts to school budgets based on enrollment.
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 maintain the same level of funding, or even see increases.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who initially backed scaling back funding to schools with declining enrollment, reversed course last month as she eyes re-election next year.
Her response to New York’s out-of-whack spending compared to other states?
Spend more!
“Governor Hochul has boosted education funding to record levels while pushing for much-needed policies that improve outcomes for students, like the statewide ‘Back To Basics’ reading plan and limiting the influence of social media on our kids,” a Hochul spokesperson said.
“The governor will continue fighting for high-quality education that serves every single kid in New York.”
A UFT spokesperson also defended the sky-high spending: “New York schools have become the first and often only safety net for our students, parents and communities. That’s the reality – no matter how hard pundits try to turn that responsibility into political fodder.”
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.
New York’s fourth grade students ranked 32nd and 46th on reading and math NAEP exams taken in 2022, respectively, while eighth grade students rank 9th and 22nd, the report noted.
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 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.
New York’s relatively high spending is partly attributed to higher salaries and union-friendly labor and policy choices to deliver extensive services, the report said.
Even so, New York’s per-student spending consistently exceeded other high cost-of-living and cost-of-labor states like California and Massachusetts.
For example, the report said, while California is the only state with higher average teacher salaries than New York, it’s per-student spending is 42.9% lower than in the Empire State.
Prior to the Great Recession of 2008, per-student spending in New York was roughly equal to spending in neighboring New Jersey. By 2022, New York spent $4,774 more per student than the Garden State.
The report questioned the effectiveness of New York’s accountability and oversight of schools.
The governor does not appoint the education commissioner; the Board of Regents whose members are appointed by the state Legislature does. The lack of clear accountability may not serve taxpayers, parents and students well, the report said.
“More money has not been the cure-all, and it would be illogical to think the next $1 billion will solve what the previous $1 billion did not,” the CBC authors said.
The State Education Department slammed the CBC and touted the “level of services and support” that New York schools offer students.
“New York’s education spending figures reflect that the state is working to provide students with the support systems they need to be successful, including those with disabilities, significant cognitive difficulties, and special needs,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“While expensive, the alternative is to provide the bare minimum to students, which certainly won’t improve achievement.”
