EdVANTAGE Blog

The Council’s analysis of Governor Paterson’s proposed budget for education is now available online.

Its title — “Kids First” — is intended to convey two meanings: first a request to state leaders to put children at the top of their priorities in constructing a state budget, and second, a principle recommended by veteran superintendents to guide local decision-making in developing school district budgets.

As always, the analysis provides a summary of the specific proposals comprising the Governor’s education budget, evaluation of the potential impacts on different types of districts, and some discussion of the larger context for this year’s budget.

A key theme is that the Foundation formula enacted in 2007 put schools in a much stronger position going into the current downturn.  Through it, the Administration and the Legislature made themselves more accountable for their school funding decisions — by projecting detailed aid increases for each district over a four-year phase-in period and by using aid factors that can be understood and debated.

In a section titled “One Investment That Is Paying Off,”  we explain that strong state increases of recent years have reduced property tax pressures and improved equity in school finance.  It is harder to claim a direct relationship between aid and academic outcomes, but there have also been broad gains in state tests results and improvement in graduation rates.

The analysis includes a discussion of the