What Has Always Bothered Me About The Campaign For Fiscal Equity

See, this is why I like blogging. You read someone else’s post about a topic and it sets something off in your own brain.

NYC Educator has written a post about what Chancellor Klein plans to do with the funds from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. After reading the post it jarred something that has always bothered me.

I studied the Campaign For Fiscal Equity case in a School Finance class about a year ago. I’m no expert on the subject, but I think I have a working knowledge.

At the heart of the case lies the argument that New York City children are being shortchanged because they are graduating with a large deficiency. No argument there. CFE argued that New York State was contributing to this situation because they were not providing enough money per child.

Here’s where it gets tricky.

When I looked up the amount of state aid per child, it was very similar to some neighborhoods in Nassau County. State aid is calculated with a big, long confusing formula, but it boils down to income and housing prices. The state aid per child in Hicksville is actually pretty close to New York City. (at least it was two years ago)

CFE argued that because New York City children had such large academic deficits, they should be receiving higher amounts of state aid.

New York State argued that New York City was mismanaging the funds that they were already receiving.

New York City argued the point that suburban neighborhoods like above mentioned, have the option to raise taxes to compensate for insufficient funds for schools. No one is going to dispute that there is a huge disparity between property taxes in New York City and those in places like Nassau and Westchester.

Still, though, I never hear anyone mention the income tax that New York City residents pay. When I was renting in Queens, my husband and I paid about 4,000 dollars a year in New York City income tax.; and we are not exactly high rollers if you know what I mean.

There are a lot of renters in New York City. Yes, you have people who are not paying income tax, but you have a lot who do.

There are also a great many people who own homes in New York City. Their property taxes are very low compared to surrounding suburbs, but they are paying the city income tax on top of them.

Wikkipedia lists the 2007 population of New York City at 8,274,527. That’s a whole lot of chump change, isn’t it?

So where is the money going?

Is it being used for the well maintained roads in the city? (Do you know how many flats I used to get from pot holes?)

Maybe it’s going towards the really high salaries of the police department?

How about those overpaid teachers?

Incredibly well maintained schools?

I have no problem with providing the children of New York City with more money. I believe that a benevolent society needs to take care of the members who are falling behind. It benefits all of us.

Still, I would argue that the CFE case fell short because it did not explore the role that New York City was playing in the deficiencies of the children.

Hey, is anybody looking into that?

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