Call CFE Ruling: 'Clear Message' On School Aid; UFT Prods Albany On Court Order To Add $14B

Call CFE Ruling: 'Clear Message' On School Aid;
UFT Prods Albany On Court Order To Add $14B

By HOWARD MEGDAL

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten celebrated a decision by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court ordering the state to increase funding for the city's schools by between $4.7 and $5.63 billion annually over the next four years, along with an additional $9.179 billion in school construction costs.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: State must act now. "This is a clear directive to the Legislature and the Governor to do the right thing and provide - in this year's budget - the educational opportunities this money would give New York City's public school children," Ms. Weingarten said in a March 23 statement shortly after the ruling was issued.

Both Sides Claim Win

But the 3-2 decision in the ongoing 13-year battle between the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and the state rejected the notion that it was up to the judiciary, rather than the State Legislature, to determine what the specific amount of aid would be, allowing both sides to claim vindication in the ruling.

"Contrary to the dissent's repeated characterization, this directive does not merely urge the Governor and the Legislature to consider taking action," Justice John T. Buckley wrote in his majority opinion. " They are directed to take action. The matter for them to consider is whether $4.7 billion or $5.63 billion, or some amount in between, is the minimum additional annual funding to be appropriated for the City schools."

The payment range cited in Justice Buckley's opinion represents the efforts by both sides to put a dollar amount on the negligence shown by the state toward city schools. Neither side disputed the state's failure to provide "a sound, basic education" in this round of appeals. The court further said that due to the passage of time, the remedy needed to be phased in over four, not five years, as the Governor's proposal had suggested, and should take place starting in the upcoming budget, which is due April 1.

GOVERNOR PATAKI: Won't tip his intent.

Pataki 5-Year Plan

The lower number represents Governor Pataki's July 2004 five-year proposal to the Legislature, after a recommendation by the New York State Commission on Education Reform, a committee appointed by the Governor to find a remedy. The proposal was not enacted - the Legislature's increase in city education funding that year was $300 million.

The CFE's proposal to increase annual aid to the city public schools by $5.63 billion plus a single $9.179 billion allocation for school construction came from a study by American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Management Analysis and Planning, Inc. (MAP), and was upheld in full in February 2005 when Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse adopted recommendations by a panel of three education experts he had deputized.

Last week's decision, however, leaves that discretion to the lawmakers, citing a constitutional inability to determine the issue.

"It is undisputed that the State has failed to appropriate an adequate amount of funding to meet its educational mandate as outlined in [this case]," Justice Buckley wrote. "However, that neglect does not give the Court the authority to participate in budget negotiations or, absent a constitutional failing, to exercise a veto power over the State's calculations of the cost of a sound basic education. The fact that the other two branches of government have not remedied constitutional failings in the past does not authorize the courts to commit their own constitutional violations now."

Pataki Plan Unclear

Governor Pataki issued a statement that gave little indication that he would adapt his efforts on the issue to comply with the appellate ruling, while those allied with CFE predicted a transformation in the budget process.

"At the present time, our energies and attention are focused on enacting an ontime budget that provides record funding to New York City schools and other high-needs districts across the state so that every child has the opportunity to obtain a quality education," Mr. Pataki said in a March 23 statement.

Council Education Committee Chairman and lead CFE plaintiff Robert Jackson, however, pointed to rulings at all three levels of the state judiciary that said those efforts have not been enough.

'Do the Right Thing'

"When we began this battle in 1993, we stood confident that the state Constitution would support an equal education for all the children of New York," Mr. Jackson said in a March 23 statement. "Today, we stand on not one, but four court decisions, declaring that the Governor must provide our students with the opportunity to succeed. Now we are waiting on Albany to do the right thing, to present a budget by April 1 that includes the money our public schools so desperately need."

How faithfully the Legislature will follow that mandate remains to be seen. Shortly after the decision was issued, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver argued over the meaning of the decision at a budget hearing in Albany.

"Lawyers will lawyer," said Mr. Bruno, who previously labeled the funding amount prescribed by Justice DeGrasse "lunacy." "And you will have 40 different opinions if there's 40 lawyers giving us the interpretations, that's my feeling."