NEW YORK – EdTrust-New York, a leading statewide non-profit dedicated to advancing educational equity, today highlighted the urgent need for comprehensive updates to New York State’s Foundation Aid formula. The Foundation Aid formula plays a critical role in ensuring equitable funding for schools serving students from low-income backgrounds and students of color. Our commitment is to ensure that all students achieve high levels of success from early childhood through college completion.
The Foundation Aid formula profoundly impacts the students, schools, and communities we represent. Students of color, those from low-income backgrounds, multilingual learners, students with disabilities, migrant students, foster care youth, and those facing housing insecurity all depend on this funding to meet their diverse educational needs. However, for years, many of these needs have been unmet due to persistent state underfunding of the formula. It was not until the 2023-24 school year that the formula was fully funded, 17 years after its initial passage.
Despite this progress, the Foundation Aid formula remains deeply outdated. The formula, which has not been revised since 2007, relies on data from the 2000 Census and fails to reflect the current demographics and needs of New York’s student population.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Update Base Cost: We recommend exploring alternative methodologies for determining the base cost of education. The study should incorporate a mixed methodology approach, including professional judgment panels and evidence-based methods, to provide a more accurate and equitable funding structure.
- Revise the Regional Cost Index: The Regional Cost Index needs updating to reflect current labor market conditions, especially in high-cost areas such as New York City. This will ensure that funding accounts for real-world salary and service costs.
- Enhance Weighting Mechanisms: The formula must improve its weighting for various student subgroups. For instance, it should better account for the diverse needs of multilingual learners and students with disabilities. We also propose exploring differentiated weights for students in poverty and those with specific educational and social-emotional needs.
- Increase Support for Students in Temporary Housing and Foster Care: The formula should include additional weights for students experiencing homelessness and those in foster care to address their unique challenges.
- Address Early Childhood Funding: We urge a revision of funding methods for Pre-K and 3K programs to ensure they meet the needs of New York’s youngest students. Per-student funding for all three- and four-year-old students attending Pre-K should be incorporated into the Foundation Aid Formula.
- Promote Data Transparency: Greater transparency is essential. The State must improve publication and analysis of school spending data to ensure funds are actually reaching the students who need it the most. This includes clear, accessible data on how funding correlates with student demographics, outcomes, and needs.
- Regular Review of the Formula: We advocate for a periodic review of the Foundation Aid formula to assess its adequacy and effectiveness. We should not wait for almost two decades to revise the formula again. Regular reviews and studies will help ensure funding is equitable, adequate, and reaches the intended student subgroups.
EdTrust-New York is committed to working with state leaders, educators, and stakeholders to address these critical issues. We believe that updating the Foundation Aid formula is essential to providing all New York students with the sound, basic education they deserve and closing the equity gaps that persist across our state.
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About EdTrust-New York: EdTrust-New York is dedicated to eliminating equity and opportunity gaps that hinder students from reaching their full potential. We focus on ensuring that all students, especially those from low-income backgrounds or communities of color, achieve high levels of success from early childhood through college. For more information, visit EdTrustNY.org.