NY Advocates Walk 150 Miles for Equity
In 2003, parents and advocates marched 150 miles from New York City to Albany to herald a court case that claimed New York State was failing to provide quality education to public school students. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the state committed to allocating $5.5 billion distributed throughout the state’s public school districts. This is when the story should have ended, but it didn’t.
$3.9 billion is still owed to New York State public schools. And that is why this October – ten years after that first court hearing – parents and advocates have made the same walk again. Another 150 miles from New York City to the steps of the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, fighting for educational funding long overdue.
It began in 1993 with a group of parents. They launched the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), which sued New York State for “failing to provide students with the quality education that is their right under the New York State Constitution.” Ten years later, in 2003, the case had finally reached the New York State Court of Appeals – the state’s highest court. In 2006, the court ruled that the state was failing to provide students with the classroom resources necessary to receive a “sound, basic education.” Consequently, the state adopted the Foundation Aid formula, and committed to adding $5.5 billion in basic classroom operating aid over four years to all state school districts. An initial $2.3 billion was allocated, but subsequent funding froze during the financial crisis and has yet to resume.
As most public education funding in New York state comes from property taxes, districts in low-income communities especially need Foundation Aid to ensure that all children have the resources and opportunities they need to succeed, regardless of their ZIP code. The financial crisis and housing crash hit the tax base of low-income districts the hardest. While it is easy for policymakers to think of education funding as simply numbers on a ledger, every year that goes by without the promised Foundation Aid means thousands of children who are denied the education they deserve.
The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) led the ten day, 150 mile walk (#EdWalk) this year, from October 2th to 11th. Robert Jackson was a lead plaintiff in the original 1993 Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. He walked in 2003, and again this year. At the start of this year’s NY Advocates Walk 150 Miles for Equity | Schott Foundation for Public Education:
