A huge gathering of about 500 education officials, parents and students from across the state were bused to Albany on Tuesday to rally for $4.3 billion in state education funding for public schools. The Alliance for Quality Education is making the case early in the budget season but, they feel the funds can’t come quickly enough. Legislative Director Jasmine Gripper says students are not always graduating college ready.
“We have our wealthy school districts out-spending our poor school districts by almost $10,000 per pupil. The opportunity gap in New York State is just continuing to grow. That means students don’t have access to advanced placement courses, afterschool programs to sports and other extracurricular activities that students need to be college and career ready. And the only way for them to get those opportunities is if we put more resources and more funding into the schools.”
Gripper maintains that many school districts in large cities across the State are dealing with poverty and racism. AQE charges that systemic racism in education is perpetuated on the basis of a funding shortfall.
“So we see a big opportunity gap. One of the things we’re looking at is school district and wealthy districts and the course offerings. They have so much more course offerings than school districts in poor and minority school districts.”
She adds that when schools fail, it actually symbolizes the failure of the State Legislature and the Governor with overcrowded classrooms and a lack of technology for struggling districts.
“The Foundation Aid formula is the fairest formula we have on the books. It drives extra funding to students based on poverty levels and based on student need. And so that’s why we want the Legislature to use the Foundation Aid formula and increase the amount of money going into the formula so that we can address the equity issue in New York.”
Gripper is also referring to the lawsuit won by a group of parents who sued the state over a lack of funding and won. However, AQE claims the state’s obligation to the ruling has not been satisfied.
