Skip to main content

Hawley blasts school funding inequality

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R, I, C – Batavia) is voicing his opposition to cuts in state funding to the least-wealthy school districts, the bulk of which are located in Western New York.

Recent analysis from The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) shows that per-pupil support for students in economically disadvantaged areas has been disproportionately reduced relative to more affluent districts in the last two years. The assemblyman recently issued a letter to school superintendents statewide seeking their input on how to best provide equitable education aid regardless of geographic location.

“We cannot allow Western New York’s students to suffer while out-of-touch politicians siphon crucial education funding downstate,” Hawley said. “Less-wealthy districts have a smaller tax base than affluent areas, which means they rely on state support more than anyone else.

"To see so many Western New York school districts bearing the brunt of the pain while the wealthiest areas keep raking in state support is both baffling and appalling. I will continue working with the governor and the legislature to make sure Western New York’s children get their fair share.”

AQE crafted a formula to calculate “community wealth ratios” based on personal income and property wealth. Nearly all of the schools in nearby counties fell into the “poor” or “poorest” categories. The report can be found at http://www.aqeny.org/back-to-inequality-how-students-in-poor-school-districts-pay-the-price/.

C. M. Barons

Two platform issues in my 2010 run for Assembly, property-tax funded budgets and non-zero-based budgeting, are direct contributors to local funding problems. Geographical inequity is merely a symptom of wrong-headed formulas for school funding. It stands to reason that districts with higher property values will receive more revenue than districts with lower property values and depressed commercial/industrial bases.We can tinker with tax-caps and pupil formulas, we can force districts to lean-down staff and programs; ultimately we reach a point where revenue and essential programs cannot be reconciled within the context of local funding sources. Like it or not, the educational objectives of all schools require a redistribution of wealth that can only be managed at a state level. Blaming downstate for financial disparity may have political advantages; without a plan to mitigate the disparity, it represents a hollow, Don Quixote charge at the windmill of economic reality.

Public education (and local government) should be funded by income tax. The mechanism for this is already in place, and local governments should be relieved of the obligation to assess and manage collection of real-property-based revenue.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who lives within a budget that revenue for school funding should be driven by school budgets- not the value of local real estate. School districts should prepare budgets and submit them for regional approval to respective BOCES. The BOCES would receive the funding revenue from local income tax, and determine the necessary state-aid to support regional budget needs for the entire school year. The state would then prepare a budget to support the statewide aid required to underwrite local districts.

Nov 18, 2011, 4:53pm Permalink

Authentically Local