Agreement Requires New York State to Make Significant Advancement in Funding Foundation Aid This Year and Fully Fund It in the FY 2024 Budget
Foundation Aid Takes School District Wealth and Student Needs into Account to Create an Equitable Distribution of School Funding
On October 14th Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York State has reached an agreement to settle and discontinue the New Yorkers for Students’ Educational Rights v. New York State case, following through on the State’s commitment to fully fund the current Foundation Aid formula to New York’s school districts over three years and ending the State’s prior opposition to providing this much-needed funding to our students.
“Every single New Yorker deserves a quality education to succeed in our state, and public schools are a vital component of that opportunity for our children’s upward mobility,” Governor Hochul said. “This settlement closes a long chapter of inequity and demonstrates my administration’s commitment to wiping the slate clean and fully funding public education using a responsive model that takes districts’ unique needs into account. Actions are more important than words, and while the settlement is the first step, we’re following through with funding in the state’s budget. The future of our state depends on our ability to properly educate each child, and Foundation Aid will apply a critical lens to address inequities and ensure schools in need receive the funding they deserve.”
The litigation, which has been ongoing since 2014, sought to require New York State to fully fund the Foundation Aid formula that was put into place following the historic Campaign for Fiscal Equity cases, and had been previously opposed by the State. Foundation Aid was created in 2007, and takes school district wealth and student need into account to create an equitable distribution of state funding to schools. However, New York State has never fully funded Foundation Aid.
The new settlement requires New York State to phase-in full funding of Foundation Aid by the FY 2024 budget. In the FY 2022 Enacted State Budget approved in April, the Executive and Legislature agreed to fully fund Foundation Aid by the FY 2024 budget and enshrined this commitment into law.
A breakdown of currently anticipated Foundation Aid funding is available below:
- FY 2022: $19.8 billion, covering 30% of the existing shortfall
- FY 2023: Approximately $21.3 billion, covering 50% of the anticipated shortfall
- FY 2024: Approximately $23.2 billion, eliminating the anticipated shortfall, and funding the full amount of Foundation Aid for all school districts
