did you know march 14 2006

To: Small City School District Legislators March 14, 2006

Did you know that all states use formulas to distribute state dollars to local schools so that all children will receive an adequate education, even when the local economy is weak?

Did you know that New York has not used a working formula for financing school operations in almost 20 years?

Did you know that, in the eleven years between 1993-4 and 2003-4 alone, the combined wealth ratio of

· Poughkeepsie dropped 43%?

· Schenectady dropped 36%?

· Rochester dropped 41%

· Utica dropped 33%?

· Troy dropped 19%

· Niagara Falls dropped 21%?

· Binghamton dropped 40%?

· Middletown dropped 21%?

· Albany dropped 40%?

· Schenectady dropped 36%?

· Kingston dropped 21%?

· Syracuse dropped 24%?

· Peekskill dropped 15%

Did you know that, over that same period of time,

· New York City gained 9% in wealth?

· The median district in Suffolk County gained 3% in wealth?

· The median non-city district in Westchester County gained 4% in wealth?

Did you know that state aid increases that any reasonable formula would target to upstate cities have stayed in the suburbs.

What do upstate cities get? Charter schools and accountability mandates.

Oh, and taxes—

Did you know that, in 2003, the median small city taxed its property at $18.09 per 1,000 of full value?

· That’s 11.6% higher than New York City at $16.21/1,000.

· That’s 21.7% higher than the state average of $14.86/1,000.

· That’s 32.5% higher than non-city districts in Nassau County, at $13.65/1000.

· That’s 33.4% higher than the median district in Suffolk County at $13.56/1000.

· That’s 42.7% higher than the non-city districts in Westchester County at $12.68/1000.

Small City districts have-

Less wealth

More children from poverty

More children failing and dropping out

Lower spending on schools

Higher taxes for schools

Even if we can’t fix the whole thing at once, we should at least get started fixing.