Minority report from two members of the Fair Student Funding Working Group

Michael Athy, one of the members of the DOE's Fair Student Funding Working Group and a former Queens high school principal, sent me a copy of a "Minority Report" signed by him and Ted Leather, a member of the Citywide Council on High Schools and another member of the Working Group.  The Minority Report in full is below.

Several  different times on this blog and elsewhere I have pointed out the problems with the Formula myself, and last year posted the "Minority report" of the previous FSF Task Force,  established by law by the City Council, which focused, among other things, on way in which the formula incentivizes large classes.  

Sadly, there seems to be no mention of class size in this Minority Report, which is even more unfortunate given the new state law that will require smaller class size caps to be phased in over the next five years. However the report contains various observations important to note, particularly as regards certain high schools that receive more than they're entitled to, including certain CTE schools and the specialized high schools.  The report also critiques the manner in which the DOE severely restricted the issues that could be explored by the Working Group.  Finally, the Report proposes to provide extra per-student funding for every student that puts the school over 100% capacity, both to ensure sufficient services to that student and as "an incentive to OSE [Office of Student Enrollment] to rationalize their placements of students with the goal of universal 100% utilization."

Michael Athy's email to me also explained something of the context:

The report from the Chancellor’s Budget Working Group (renamed the “Fair Student Funding-FSF-Working Group”) will be presented to the Chancellor, the PEP, and publicly released this week. The report’s recommendations have been limited to FSF:

 

Adding FSF weights for SITH [students in temporary housing], students living in poverty, and schools with concentrations of high needs students; increasing foundation funding and eliminating portfolio funding for specialized academic high schools.There is an additional recommendation that a similar working group continue.

 

Throughout this process, the Group’s efforts to consider school budgeting as a whole, as originally requested by the Chancellor in May, and to examine numerous needed adjustments, have been stymied and circumscribed by the DOE personnel assigned to “assist” the Group’s efforts. The DOE’s scheduling, heavy-handed editing, and impossible deadline have combined to produce a predictable outcome with a veneer of community input.

Several members of the Working Group are profoundly disappointed by this report and its recommendations. As we were advised that no dissenting opinions will be included in the report itself, we are issuing a minority report, an executive summary and copy of which is attached. It has been submitted to the Chancellor. Pages 22-26 may be of particular interest to you.

It is our belief that authentic discussion, examination, and advocacy in support of the recommendations included in this Minority Report will rationalize how schools are funded in the coming years.

 

The very basic flaws in the Fair Student Funding formula

 Below are the comments I made at the Fair Student Funding Task Force session this afternoon.  Though I focused on the issue of class size of course, others contributed critical comments on other aspects for the formula; including the way it provides  extra funding to the specialized high schools despite the fact that their students are among the highest achieving in the city, the manner in which DOE makes cuts to schools via the mid-year adjustment forcing schools to excess teachers after the school year has begun (does  any other school district that uses a weighted student funding system do this?); and the under funding of schools who have to wait for November or beyond for more funding even though their enrollments are higher than projected, including schools that have gotten scores of new migrant students without the staff to teach them; and more.  

Not to mention that the formula insufficiently supports the needs of any students, so any increase in the amount provided to poor students, or those who are homeless or have disabilities would inevitably cut funding from other students, in a zero sum fashion.  A rough transcript of the proceedings is here; more info about the materials and minutes of the Working Group is here.

 If you want to send in comments, you can email FairStudentFunding@schools.nyc.gov ; deadline Oct. 27.  Thanks!

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My name is Leonie Haimson and I’m the Executive Director of Class Size Matters.v There are some very basic flaws in in the Fair Student Funding system:

1-      The formula provides insufficient resources to ensure that schools can meet basic student needs – forcing principals to excess staff and cut critical programs and services, as seen from this year’s the budget cuts that have had hugely damaging impacts on most schools.

2-      The formula was designed in 2007 to incentivize principals to maximize class size – which is not only harmful to student learning but also in conflict with new state class size law, recently signed by the Governor. The FSF Taskforce created by the City Council in 2019 surveyed principals, of whom 80% of the identified large class sizes as a consequence of the FSF formula.[1] 

3-      The entire school funding system must be realigned to ensure that schools can meet the new staffing needs mandated by the law. 

4-      Relevant to this issue is how the programs prioritized by successive administrations have been funded separately from the Fair Student Funding and are instead funded on the basis of the need to staff entire classes, rather than individual students, as the previous DOE funding system was designed to do before FSF was introduced.

5-      There is precedent for creating a whole separate allocation system for smaller classes.  In fact, 3K and PreK classes are not subject to the formula.  Instead, schools are funded for an entire 3K and preK class no matter its size, and then capped at 15-18  students, with one classroom teacher  and one classroom paraprofessional. If there are more students per class than these caps, schools receive funding for a whole new class. This is so that they can meet the state law that caps class sizes in these grades. Special education PreK classes are capped at even smaller levels, with additional service providers. [2]

6-      The DOE also provides additional funding outside the formula to each school to “sustain Gifted and Talented (G&T) programs with enrollment lower than 18 students” in grades K-3, though the regular class sizes in these grades can be as large as 25 (in Kindergarten) and 32  ( in grades 1^st-3^rd.) [3]  This additional funding totaled more than $2.8 million last year and allowed schools to keep gifted classes in some schools as small as six to eight students per class.[4]

 Whether within the flawed FSF system or in a separate school allocation, as currently exists for 3K, preK and gifted classes, this task force should propose the creation of an additional funding mechanism to support and ensure the phase in of smaller classes in grades K-12, at the legally prescribed levels.

 

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[1] https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2021/11/why-fair-student-funding-task-force.html

[2] https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/finance_schools/budget/DSBPO/allocationmemo/fy22_23/fy23_docs/fy2023_sam026.htm

[3] This is the language from the FY 2022 School Allocation Memo entitled “Gifted and Talented Supplemental.  https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/finance_schools/budget/DSBPO/allocationmemo/fy21_22/fy22_docs/fy2022_sam096.htm The FY 2023 SAM has not yet been posted, though the DOE disclosed in a presentation dated May 2022 that they intended to spend $2 million  in federal ARPA funds to expand gifted & talented programming for FY 23. https://classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/FY23-Stimulus-and-C4E-Engagement-Plan-1.pdf  

[4] See the spreadsheet here: https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/finance_schools/budget/DSBPO/allocationmemo/fy21_22/fy22_docs/FY2022_SAM096_T01.xlsx

 

Mayor Adams called protestors "clowns" and blamed Albany for his budget cuts to schools last night

This protest at a Harlem town hall against the Mayor's huge budget cuts to schools was reported briefly in the NY Post, but not what the Mayor actually said about these cuts, which he blamed on Albany.  

The Mayor claimed that "There's something called fair student funding, which is a wrong equation that we're fighting Albany to fix." 

Yet neither the Governor nor the Legislature have anything to do with his budget cuts to schools, or to Fair Student Funding, which is a formula devised by Chancellor Klein in 2007.  Indeed, the Legislature is sending $1.3 billion extra to our schools over three years, regardless of any enrollment decline. 

( Update: Sue Edelman on twitter just pointed out out that his claim they are paying 100% of FSF is also incorrect, as they cut the  allotment of about $25 per student in the formula, with as much as twice that much for kids with disabilities and other challenges.   DOE explained this as resulting from the FSF formula is pegged to the average teacher salary, which they claim has diminished in the past year, without refusing to disclose the actual amount of  the decline.)

See for yourself.  Check out what happened at about at 10 min. into the video, and also below.

 (Shouting in background of protesters from Make the Road NY, MORE caucus of the UFT, and New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools, who are dragged out of the room. ) 

Mayor Adams: You know, see, see this is the clown. This is the clown. And this is what we are up against people. 

People want to spend time being disruptive. That's what people want to do. But we got to stay focused and not get distracted. That's what we must do. Be focused and not distracted. Because people want to spend time on what they disagree on, and not spend time what we agree on. That’s what we have to be. So all that noise. All that noise, that's what folks don't understand. 

Listen, they are new to this. I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. I'm true to this. So because you are the loudest, does not mean you are saying something. Your ability to sit down and say, how do we work together because you can disagree with something, but you don't disagree with people should not be living in the state that they're living in now. And so if there's ever been a moment in history, if there's ever been a moment in history that personifies Esther 4:14. This is the moment God made me for such a time like this. I'm the right man for the right time to do what needs to be done in this city. 

Then, at about 38:40 minutes into the video:

Next table, Pastor Gil Monroe. 

Pastor Gil Monroe: Good evening and we're sorry for our friends. When will the budget of the DOE of $2 billion be restored,  cuts be restored? 

Mayor Adams: This is such, this DOE conversation is such an important one. You know because people have hijacked the conversation, so here’s what's happened with the with the Department of Education.

We have a massive hemorrhaging of students. Massive hemorrhaging when a very dangerous place in a number of students that we are dropping. There's something called fair student funding, which is a wrong equation that we're fighting Albany to fix.

But we are paying 100% of fair student funding. This is amount of money each child is allocated from Albany. If you have 1000 children in school, each child per child gets $1 Match attached to it.

We had a substantial drop in students in schools. So you start out with 1000 for argument's sake, you drop down to 600. Albany is saying we only pay you for 600. We're not paying you 1000. 

And so when we said to our schools, we said listen, they're cutting off our funding, the fair student funding. So we're not going to cut you off right away. We have stimulus dollars. We're going to use a stimulus dollars to keep you whole,  we talked about last year, but you got to start adjusting to have the 600 students. We came this year, we said we still not going to cut you off we're going to give you three fourths of the amount that we normally give you. 

But next year because of the stimulus dollars, we got to give you 50% of the dollars that we normally give you. But the year after, we have no more federal dollars. Then we get hit with other things that Albany is putting on us without giving us the money for, so what we did is slowly adjust based on the student population and the money that's coming from Albany. So we need your help to tell Albany, let's change the equation based on the number of students we have in our school, so we won't lose your money in our schools. 

We're gonna base it on with Albany is doing, we are creatures of Albany, they give us our fair student funding. Now we would like the bad guy because we don't want that I adjust with Albany is doing to us. We need Albany to do the right thing and make sure we get the fair student funding increase so that we can put the money into schools. Right now we're keeping them as whole as possible with the federal money is going to run out and when it runs out, we don't we no longer have that cushion that we had. So it's not our desire to cut any money. We that's why we did only three fourths this year. Next year, we got to do 50%.

But then we got we got to fall off the cliff if we don't get the support that we need from Albany.

Huge budget cuts released for our schools; call the City Council to tell them no!

 June 7, 2022

Yesterday, school budgets for next year were released, and many if not most schools are facing MILLIONS of dollars in cuts compared to this year.  A good article about these proposed cuts is here.

You can find out how much your school’s budget has been cut by plugging its 4 digit DBN code into the DOE webpage here; and compare your school’s total Galaxy budget from 2022 to 2023 by scrolling to the bottom of the page and checking the Grand Total. (If you don’t know your school’s 4 digit code, you can find it by putting its name on the school search page here.  The first letter refers to the borough; then there is a three digit number that follows.)  Some schools, like Fort Hamilton HS in D20, will be cut by as much as $8 million; Forest Hills HS by $4 million.   

Now DOE has been telling reporters that some budget lines will be added later in the summer and fall -- but those are for small and specialized programs, and principals are told to plan staffing based on this budget now.  Already, we're hearing of teachers being excessed as a result, and the DOE itself projected the loss of thousands of teaching positions based on these cuts in the Executive budget.

If enacted, these cuts will make class sizes increase sharply and cause the loss of essential services to kids.  Clearly, neither the Mayor nor the Chancellor are planning to abide by the language or the intent of the new state law passed last week requiring smaller classes.    Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Council may announce a budget deal with the Mayor as early as this week that would cement these cuts in place. 

What can parents and teachers do?

1.Call your Council Members today and tell them to vote against any budget deal that includes these egregious cuts, and to let the Speaker know now that they will vote against a city budget that contains them.  These cuts will tremendously hurt schools and the kids in their districts, and especially in light of the new state class size law, they are potentially illegal. You can find their phone nos. here.   

2. Then call the Speaker Adrienne Adams and leave the same message: 212-788-6850.  

3. Then ask your principal if they are willing to talk on or off the record to me or a reporter about the likely impact of these cuts. So far, many teachers are expressing their outrage on twitter, but so far, I’ve seen no principal speak out. If they are willing, have them email us at info@classsizematters.org Their confidentiality will be protected.

But please make those calls today!

Thanks, Leonie

 

Why the Fair Student Funding Task Force report was never released, and recommendations from eight of its members

The Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools recently announced her intent to eliminate or radically reform their weighted student funding system, because it fails to properly provide for all the programs and services that students need and because it incentivizes principals to overcrowd their schools and classrooms. The same  flaws are inherent in the NYC Fair Student Funding system.

Following widespread protests, the  formula was first adopted by then-Chancellor Joel Klein in 2007, despite serious concerns as to whether it made sense and might lead to increases in class size over time (as it actually did). In January 2019, the City Council passed a law , Local Law 1174, to create a Task Force to analyze the  formula and come up with a report by Sept. 2019 with recommendations on how to improve it.  The below account was written by one of the Task Force members, Shino Tanikawa, to explain why the report was never released; and below her account are the recommendations submitted by eight of the members on the Task Force that the Mayor refused to accept or release.  

I was appointed to the Fair Student Funding Task force by DOE. The Task Force met regularly for 9 months, deliberated, and produced a report ready to be submitted to the Mayor and the Chancellor. Unfortunately during the final review by the City Hall, the report died a quiet death and was never released. 

It became clear the City Hall’s interest was in using the Task Force recommendation to pressure the State to fully fund the Foundation Aid, not to comprehensively evaluate the formula itself. The report contains many recommendations that would require more investment from both the City and the State. For example, we recommended increasing the Base Allocation to cover a wide range of essential staff, such as social workers and school counselors.

In addition, many advocates wanted to include language around evaluating the formula for its impact on class size but we were told the Fair Student Funding has nothing to do with class size reduction (they are wrong). The Mayor has always been reluctant to acknowledge the real need of our school system for smaller classes.

As you can see, one of our major recommendations was that the DOE should develop a class size reduction plan with specific milestones and timelines, especially as "the current funding allocation from Fair Student Funding incentivizes large class sizes in our schools."  We also found that "Nearly 80% of the principals, from 12 CSDs, who responded to a survey distributed by Task Force members identified large class sizes as a consequence of the FSF formula."

The DOE agreed to develop such a plan once our schools received full funding from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, but has reneged on that promise, once again, as it has so often in the past. 

 

Eight of the parent and advocate members of the Task Force, including me,  submitted our own version of the recommendations during the FSF public comment period in April 2021.  

 

I have now shared that report with Class Size Matters. -- Shino Tanikawa