$11.2 Billion For School Construction. Good Or Bad?
April 1st, 2006
In its new budget, the state legislature has agreed to $11.2 billion to build schools in New York City, which has provoked various reactions.
An editorial in the Daily News says the school funding battle is far from over, but the News is pleased with the $11.2 billion and praises the mayor for having made the tactical decision to push for this money, “rather than for lots of new money for general school purposes” since he wouldn’t have gotten it out of the governor, and the schools have to be built first anyway.
Randi Weingarten, president of the city teacher’s union , also seems pleased: While theres much work to be done, this budget is a huge step forward for our schools. The five-year capital plan provides desperately needed money to build more schools, science labs, gyms and auditoriums.”
But the Brennan Center for Constitutional Law was not happy. The New York legislature called for only $400 million in operating aid for New York City schools less than ten percent of what the court required” in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. A decision last week by an appellate court had ordered the state to budget a minimum of $4.7 billion in New York City school operating expenses.
Nicole Gelinas senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writing for the New York Post, criticizes the way the state is planning to raise the money for the construction, by issuing bonds, and thus increasing state debt. Gelinas says the borrowing creates a dangerous precedent because the state will have to come up with $500 million every year to pay off the debt.
Governor George Pataki’s Budget Director, John F. Cape, said similar things in the Times. “I’m more concerned with the method than the amount,” he said. “What’s next? Are we going to pay for municipal office buildings with state debt?… What about that monument in the park? Is that suddenly going to be a state debt problem?”
By Mike Muller on April 1, 2006, 11:23 pmIn category: Albany, Education, Finance, Law
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April 3rd, 2006 at 7:25 am
Bad. Powerful interest get cash today, less powerful interests — like NYC children — get debt with a promise of money tomorrow.
Remember, under STAR the rest of the state got a huge increase in state school aid that continues to go up every year. What did NYC get? A school construction bond that was voted down.
This is the same. NYC’s share of state school aid is going down as a result of the new STAR enhancement. But there is a promise of more debt to be paid back, in theory, by the state later.
April 18th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
[…] The Campaign for Fiscal Equity the group fighting for billions more for city schools announced today it has gone back to the courts again to get the schools the courts have repeatedly ruled they need. Several rulings in CFEs favor over the years have said city schools need an additional $4.7 billion to $5.6 billion in operating funds to provide all 1.1 million public school kids with a sound, basic education. As the Wonkster has noted, in the latest round of budget contortions, the legislature agreed to the capital funding called for in the CFE suit, but upped operating funds by only $400 million. […]