Levy: Senate shouldn’t raise Long Island’s taxes to fund city schools

Now that Democrats have gained control of the New York Senate, the push is on to resurrect efforts to shift large bundles of state aid to low-wealth school districts, primarily in New York City.

In 2006, the state’s highest court handed down its final decision in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, directing the legislature to begin allocating more money to specific districts.

The next year, then Gov. Spitzer allocated large boosts in aid to these districts based on the court’s formula.

Upon taking office in 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo realized the court’s unrealistic, lofty goals were incompatible with keeping state spending growth within a 2 percent self-imposed cap.

Spitzer recently claimed that Cuomo has dropped the ball in continuing the payments, while Cuomo is suggesting that education aid should be distributed while guided by the realities of the times.

In this feud, let’s hope Cuomo prevails. That’s because the Fiscal Equity argument is based on a false premise – that students in New York, and in New York City in particular, are under performing because of a formula that provides them with disproportionately lower state aid than that granted to wealthier districts.

The facts prove that claim to be inaccurate.

Since 2012, education aid has increased in New York by 36 percent (while overall spending was up just 14 percent) – far higher than the national average. In fact, New York allocates so much aid that in 2016 more money was spent per pupil here, $22,366, than in any other state – a full 90 percent above the national average of $11,762.

State education aid, which now amounts to a whopping $26.7 billion, comprises almost 25 percent of the budget – the largest single allocation therein.

The Fiscal Equity suit dealt primarily with New York City students, who comprise about 40% of the state’s student population. But, guess what percentage of overall state aid goes to New York City schools: Approximately 40%.

Suburban residents have made the conscious decision to allow their property taxes to rise to among the highest levels in the nation to fund their schools. A tax bill in Nassau County will average over $11,000, while in the five boroughs it may be as low as $5,000 per year. City homeowners can be relieved they don’t have to pay the confiscatory taxes that suburban homeowners do, but they should not be looking for Long Islanders to make up that difference through the income taxes we pay to the state.

As we’ve seen over the last few decades, we can double the amount of state aid to education, and it will have little impact on the overall test scores. Despite massive increases in state aid over the decades, and the fact New York’s per student spending is twice the national average, New York remains in the lower half of states when measuring student performance.

Steve Levy is executive director of the Center for Cost Effective Governance.