Governor Cuomo has called himself the “students’ lobbyist,” but if so, he is not doing a good job. He has cut school budgets with a tax cap and other mechanisms. Apparently, his idea of breaking the “public school monopoly” is to starve the public schools that 90% of the children in the state attend. This letter was sent to Governor Cuomo by the PTSA of Hastings-on-Hudson:
Hastings-on-Hudson PTSA
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706
℅ Lisa Eggert Litvin, Co President (917-881-3266)
hastingsonhudsonptsa@gmail.com
Dear Governor Cuomo:
We write to urge that full funding be restored to our public schools. Specifically, Foundation Aid should be paid in full to all school districts this year, and past due funds should be paid as well. In addition, funds diverted away from schools via the Gap Elimination Allowance (GEA) must be paid up, and use of the GEA must end immediately.
This gross underfunding all public school districts has lead to two unacceptable outcomes:
1. Schools statewide have been forced to cut meaningful and effective programing and staff. Class sizes have grown; language and advanced courses have been cut. Supports like summer school and after school have been cut. Positions that insure safety like bus monitors, security workers, social workers, and more have been cut or remain not fully invested. And more.
2. Our taxes have gone up in order to pay for the state’s shortfall. With full funding, many districts would have and should have instead seen tax decreases. As an example, had Dobbs Ferry received its full state funding in 2013-2014, it could have easily covered its budget increase of $1.5 million and avoided that year’s tax hike. But instead, the state diverted $2.25 million and Dobbs’s taxpayers were hit with a tax increase of 4.5%. (A full explanation is available at http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/11/30/view-school-taxes-rise-state-withholds-aid/76379942/.
Our state is flush with funds now. During Governor Cuomo’s re-election bid, he announced that our state has a $2 billion surplus. This grew by an additional $5 billion last spring, from a legal settlement. There is no excuse whatsoever to continue shortchanging our schools and avoiding paying what has been owed over the past several years.
Our schools cannot handle the lack of funds — which is rightfully due to them. And our property taxpayers cannot continue to shoulder these unnecessary increases, all the cover a debt of the state, a state that promotes a surplus.
Sincerely,
The Hastings-on-Hudson PTSA Executive Board
Lisa Eggert Litvin and Jacqueline Weitzman, Co Presidents
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It seems like the success of the private charter school movement and vouchers and other “reform” measures up until more recently has occurred most frequently lower income neighborhoods.
As these policies move into middle and upper income neighborhoods, they’re getting this kind of pushback.
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Hastings will spend $29,770 per student during the 2015-2016 school year. Maybe we should save the “starved” rhetoric for someplace else.
Look, if racially and socioeconomically homogeneous villages like Hastings want to fight affordable housing and rely on the usual bag of tricks (steering, redlining, discrimination, intimidation) to keep their community and schools the way they are, that is bad enough. “Hastings residents especially have this fear that Yonkers is someday going to start marching upwards and engulf Hastings. There are definitely undertones of racial fear and prejudice [in the affordable housing debate] that will only get stronger the longer we wait to diversify the community,” said one village official.
But asking the state to subsidize those high-spending non-diverse schools because your property tax bill is big takes quite a nerve! What’s in it for the state?
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As can be seen here, Tim has some valid points that really can’t be ignored.
We need to think about this and focus on it seriously as anti-reform teachers, etc. When sweet Caucasia like Hastings parents are the most vocal against reform and the most supportive of opt-out, etc. we need to realize that while their time, organization, and money are really useful to our cause, we need to work really hard at not becoming seen as simply the movement of the states monied Caucasians. I don’t see opt out being as socio-economically diverse as is should be/needs to be.
ALOT of people are projecting big opt out numbers for the spring. Doubling last years and more. I have a tough time figuring out where numbers like that can come from if the bulk of opt out remains outside NYC, White as hell, and representing the higher income brackets. Those are all the folks that opted out last time!
If opt out grows substantially it must grow outside of the Audi and Escalade territories and really infiltrate the 1994 rusty Honda regions of NY state.
This stuff can be a very strong liability.
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Back of the line, Westchester!
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Unfortunately there is no front of the line. Apparently, all public schools waste far too much money paying for retired teachers’ pensions.
See, the debate about public school funding should always be about whether you cut money from 70 year old retired teachers or the schools that educate 5 year old children. That is what the right wing wants us to accept. We can’t do both. Either one group or another must suffer. Isn’t that the “American way” now?
Expecting a billionaire to pay $1 more in taxes to better fund public schools when a retired teacher is still getting a decent pension? That kind of discussion is off the table. Expecting one of Cuomo’s big funders not to get the lucrative state contract they want so that money is spent on public schools? Nope.
We have a choice: we tell retired teachers they no longer get the pensions they expect. Or we tell public schools that they don’t get money to educate today’s students. Charter schools may step right up to the plate to cherry-pick the cheapest to educate students and profit from the fact that their students don’t have to pay any of the cost of retired teachers’ pensions! Of course, that means public school students pay a disproportionate share of those pension costs but that isn’t a problem for the pro-charter folks.
That seems to be the only choice that is allowed. We must NEVER deduct the costs of all retired teachers from the money that right wingers claim is “spent” to educate public school students. That would cause us to make the unreasonable conclusion that charter schools are getting far too much money to spend on their students when compared to what public schools spend on their students. And an honest debate is something that is an anathema to the folks who donate so much to the Governor to make sure that public schools budgets remain low.
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We agree that it would be wonderful if parents and community members from a variety of backgrounds could be active in advocating, and to that end, we are here ready to help advise, draft, etc., if any district or organization reaches out.
Also, to be clear, while Hastings doesn’t suffer the same ills that schools in struggling neighborhoods do, wherever possible we advocate for all children and schools throughout the state, as we did in this letter, which asks the Governor to restore full funding to all schools throughout the state, not just to our district: “Specifically, Foundation Aid should be paid in full to all school districts this year, and past due funds should be paid as well. In addition, funds diverted away from schools via the Gap Elimination Allowance (GEA) must be paid up, and use of the GEA must end immediately.”
Also please note that the letter addresses two problems caused by underfunding, the other being tax hikes caused by the underfunding. Many of our town residents are not among the most well off in the state. We are home to many older pensioners for whom a tax decrease would be a most welcome relief. Presumably, most others in the state would welcome tax relief as well.
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You tipped your hand by using Dobbs Ferry as an example. Poor Dobbs Ferry, having to scrape by on only $28,767 per student this year.
If you were truly interested in a maximum amount of additional aid being driven to the districts that need it most, then you’d have proposed a system like Vermont’s, where all school taxes are paid to the state and then redistributed according to student needs, or the one in neighboring New Jersey, where a share of the property taxes collected in the wealthiest districts is transferred directly to the poorest. Somehow ultra-high-performing New Jersey districts like Millburn and Ridgewood are able to deliver their kids a world-class K-12 education on only $17-18,000 a year–that includes pensions, school buses, benefits, buildings, etc. Last time I checked the real estate listings those towns and others like it in NJ and CT weren’t any cheaper than Westchester or Long Island.
All that said, we both know that districts like yours would fight to the death to avoid losing the ability to fund themselves–and with it, owning complete control over who gets to attend the schools. However, there are two things you could do to demonstrate to us poors that you’re not just using our funding issues for your political convenience:
1. Have the Hastings PTA issue a statement to the village and citizens of Hastings-on-Hudson demanding the fastest possible completion of the affordable housing units the village is legally obligated to build under the terms of its settlement with HUD–and to go beyond that. And add that not only should Hastings create more affordable units, it should reform its zoning laws to allow for the free-market construction of far more multi-family dwellings than it has now.
2. The enrollment of Hastings-on-Hudson schools has declined in the past ten years, from a peak of 1715 in 2005 to a projected 1562 at the end of this school year. The PTA should propose to the district and village that 100-150 K-12 seats be made available via lottery to free-lunch-eligible children who do not live in Hastings.
Small steps? You bet! But meaningful and actionable ones. And a much better “look” than piggishly asking for more school money from the state.
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I don’t really understand Tim’s reply to Lisa Eggert Litvin.
Is Tim saying that instead of more funding, Hastings should instead make room for 100 – 150 more low-income students with the funding that they have (thus allocating even less per student?) Since they live out of district, how would that work exactly? Who would cover their costs? The (presumably underfunded) district where they come from? And would they pay their travel costs to Hastings as well? Or are the out of district students limited to ones whose parents have the means to pay for their own bus service or transport them to and from school themselves?
Is that what Millburn, NJ is doing that Tim thinks so highly of?
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Mrs. Ravitch, you should go to this link and see what CCSD is trying to sell as a good deal and a pay raise for teachers. It was just ratified today via threats to ratify it go to arbitration again! Why teachers didn’t just go to arbitration is beyond me. If I am reading this correctly, our district just figured out how to cut the summer and add work days to our contract year with vague language stating we start Aug. 9 rather than the usual 23rd or so, and the year will end “no later than the second Friday in June.” Usually, school ends around June 4th or so. Ummm, I think that is an extra three weeks. They have finally found a way to end the oh so hated summer and call it a pay raise! And there is vague language about added time to the work day. Go to http://bit.ly/1OD0MsV and see the details. In my core my instinct is it is they’re selling us garbage in a box of chocolates!
There’s a line about a 2.25% change in pay, but no mention of whether it’s an increase or decrease. They have also changed the pay schedule again so we cannot make heads or tales of where we are on it. Sure, we know our eductaion amount, but where do we fall on the other part of the grid? It has not been the number of years in the District for a long time and now they changed it again. It will be worse for next year.
They’re giving more of a contribution to our healthcare coverage. That’s nice now that THT went bankrupt! That’s like closing the barn door after the barn burned down. Meantime we now have the worst coverage in the state…but with more contributions! Yippee!
We seem to be in charge of our own staff development. How can that work when any adminstrator who approved your plan will be gone by the time you finish? And since it is all tied to the NEPF, it’s all designed to fire us with ease! Right to work state. Teachers are just pack mules. They love TFA here, and as for career experienced educators, they will kick us to the side of the trail if we come up lame and bring up another mule. So discouraging.
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Let us look at the entire New York State. New York State spends over $22,000 per student in K-12 schools. (I have rounded the numbers to the nearest thousands, actual data is available from reliable national statistical data bases.) Hastings school district spends $29,770 per student. On the other hand average spending in the USA is about $12,000.
Now let us look at the NAEP scores. National average NAEP score is 240, but New York State with its incredible spending (about 80% above average) only comes in at 237. That is below average. Just to make it clear California spends just a little less than the national average but it still scores 234 in the NAEP tests. Massachusetts which leads the nation in the NAEP scores spends a lot less than New York.
Can some body explain all the belly aching about gross underfunding (reduced educational spending) in New York? If someone from California complains about underfunding, I can understand. We should be high lighting the insanity of overfunding (wasting public resources) in the state of New York.
Anything in New York state always comes down to the dreaded Governor Cuomo and his breaking the “public school monopoly” to starve the public schools. That just sounds good for all those who do not understand reality and is just like a FOX news headline. Just check out the published per student spending numbers and NAEP test data and make up your own mind. Do not be misled by people with an axe to grind.
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“New York State spends over $22,000 per student”.
You just told us that Hastings spends $8,000 more than that. I’m sure certain high performing suburbs in New York also spend more than that per pupil and have the good results to prove it. Which means other districts are spending $16,000/student.
Private schools in NYC are now charging over $40,000/year and they don’t even need to cover the very expensive costs of a high needs population. Public schools spend half that and have to pay for students who are newly arrived without a word of English, for students with such severe disabilities they need a personal aide, and other expensive students.
The claims that $22,000/student are spend in a typical public school’s budget is nonsense.
If Bill Gates thinks that too much money is wasted on education, I suggest he start with the private schools that those same billionaires often sit on boards. They happily approve tuition increases because just spending $40,000 isn’t enough — it needs to go up each year. Plus they expect a significant donation to make up for the “tuition gap”!
Raj refuses to criticize those wasteful spenders who obviously believe strongly that schools need twice as much money to offer a decent education. Raj, when I hear you criticize the people who pay $40,000/year tuition as idiots who are stupid enough to pay for something they don’t need, I will ask you why you respect those very same idiots when they tell you that public schools spend too much money.
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NYC public school parent
The data I am referring to is directly from National Center for Educational Statistics for public schools and it does not include private schools. What New York State does with all that money no one knows. You may want to verify that info before writing rebuttals.
The data I use is trustworthy and available to one and all. Besides if all the schools in this nation spent as much per student as New York state, the total public school spending which is currently at about $600 billion a year will exceed one trillion dollars a year.
This country cannot afford to tax and spend another $400 to $500 billion a year on K-12 education. That comes out to be $1700 per year tax increase for every man, woman and child in this nation. If we confiscated all the wealth of billionaires we may not be able to sustain such spending for any length of time.
Bill Gates does not have anything to do with New York State spending all that tax payer money and getting back poor results. It is clear that New York is a failed state for K-12 education.
What private schools (10% of student population) spend on each student is not of any concern of the public schools. If public schools have to spend as much as private schools, then a major fraction of Federal and State Government tax revenue will have to be spent on K-12 education alone leaving almost nothing for Defense, Medicare, Medicaid, National security, infra-structure, Social Security and other needs.
I do criticize wasteful public spending. Public is the key word. I or anyone else here do not have the right to criticize private spending, wasteful or not. If I am driving a $100,000 car you have no right to judge me.
I never said that public schools spend too much money. I am not sure what too much is. I know the mathematical upper limit and that is everything. But we still need to eat and have a roof over our head as a minimum, which prevents us from spending everything on K-12 education. I just know we should limit spending to what people can reasonably afford. I stated (based on data) that New York State spends the most (per student) in this nation with poor results.
Finally, bringing in special ed into the conversation is meaningless. The per student spending includes additional expenses for special ed students.
Please do not put words in my mouth about idiots and how I support them. Please keep such comments to yourself. My comments are fact (data) driven and I try to be polite on my first posting. Once the boundaries of decency are broken after my first posting, I tend to get testy but still try to remain polite.
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Raj, you misunderstood my post. I assume it wasn’t intentional.
I stated that pointing to an “average” per pupil when you have just acknowledged that high performing districts spend significantly higher than that “average” doesn’t tell you anything.
Now you seem to be claiming that the $22,000/year in New York State is only spent on children who have no special needs whatsoever. And that the costs of the high needs students aren’t included in that amount — just the regular gen ed students with no needs beyond what is typical at a private school. Is that really what you are claiming?
You claim that public schools are supposed to educate ALL children at a high level for half the amount that private schools spend to educate the easiest to teach children, but of course, match those results. If you believe the public should not be paying for a top notch education, why would you blame schools for not giving their kids a top notch education?
I don’t really care if you choose you spend your money on defense instead of education. But don’t turn around and complain that the education isn’t as good as it is in private schools. You get what you pay for. But if you pay $15,000/year for a used car and you had the chutzpah to criticize the mechanic because the $100,000 new car beat it in a race, you are wrong.
“It is clear that New York is a failed state for K-12 education.”
Nothing proves how worthless your argument is than the above statement. You desperate want public schools to fail. Your measurement of “failure” demands that all parents (like myself) understand that our schools are failures. We are misleading ourselves to think our children are learning anything. They are all failures due to their public schools being failures. Shame on you, Raj.
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The use of the phrase “cost per pupil” is rather misleading.
A first grade teacher in Hasting-On-Hudson with a class of 24 students, does not get
$29,770 per pupil to run their program. That would equal $714,480 (24 X $29,770) per school year.
Subtract $114,000 for teacher salary and benefits and does she really have $600,000 to run her program? Of course not.
Please stop mis-using the “cost per pupil” number, implying that it takes that much money to educate any one student.
Even affluent districts like H-O-H still don’t have a lot of wiggle room with fixed costs and an endless stream of unfunded NYS mandates.
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There is nothing at all misleading about using per-pupil expenditures as a basis for comparison. It is well understood that these are averages and that substantial amounts of money are spent in areas unrelated to classroom instruction. Raj didn’t make the argument that you are attributing to him.
(I don’t have time to crunch the numbers from their current budget, but it has been a while since the average Hastings’ teacher salary + “fringe” benefits was as low as $114k)
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Tim,
I don’t see why anyone should be shocked that teachers make $100,000 and more. What do doctors, lawyers, architects, and other professionals make? Why do so many people think teachers should work for slightly above the poverty line?
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My comment was intended to correct the record, not as a complaint about teacher salaries. Hastings is paying for much more than just single classroom teachers with the $714,480 it raises per 24 students: there are art, music, science, and movement teachers; energy, utilities, and facilities costs; fringe benefits and pensions; transportation; administrative and support staff, and more.
And I certainly haven’t advocated for poverty wages for schoolteachers; nor did anyone else in these comments. One reason doctors and (some) lawyers and architects make more than teachers is the greater influence of the “marketplace” on compensation.
Take Dr. Michelle Rhee, for example. She proved her readiness for a top-tier medical school by getting phenomenal grades at Princeton and by acing the MCAT; she did great in medical school, then got into first-rate residency and fellowship programs, where she again excelled. She now works at an elite clinical, research, and academic institution that recognizes her reputation and results by paying her very handsomely (even though it is a nonprofit). There is a willingness on the part of institutions and consumers to acknowledge that some physicians get better results and/or offer a superior patient experience compared to others. You could have had your procedures done at a city hospital like Wyckoff Heights by a fully trained and qualified physician who would have gotten the job done just fine, but instead you did your research and shopped around and ended up with Dr. Rhee.
Teachers seem comfortable with a system where the only differences in compensation are service time and how many hours of credentialing have been obtained. There are trade-offs to this.
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