Whoa, it's a good news, bad news day for the Campaign of Fiscal Equity's attempt to get more money for New York City Schools. The NY State Court of Appeals just ruled that NY State should pay an additional $1.93 billion a year in public school funding to New York City. That sounds great, except that other courts had previously ruled that NYC deserved $4-6 billion. But since the Court of Appeals is the state's highest court, this ruling will probably stick. From the NY Times:

“The lower courts were wrong,” [State Senator Joseph] Bruno said today. “They were out of their jurisdiction. They were doing things that were inappropriate. They were literally fooling the public by pretending that a lot of money was going to flow, billions and billions.” more ›

Today, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity will be making its argument in front of the State Court of Appeals on why NY State needs to fork over billions to the NYC public school system that lower courts said the state owes the city. Back in 2004, the NYC public schools were awarded $5.6 billion, though last year, the figure has been changed to almost $5 billion over four years for operating costs - plus a further $11.2 billion for construction. Since the state only put the construction costs in its budget for this year, the CFE filed its lawsuit (the CFE has been working towards getting NYC public schools money for 13 years). And the Court of Appeals will broadcast the oral arguments online at 2PM. more ›

Oh Governor Pataki, you can only screw New York City so much thanks to the State Appeals Court. As if his budget shortchanging the city wasn't bad enough, Pataki didn't comply with a previous court order to increase spending in city schools. Perhaps yesterday's decision by the Appellate Division will actually convince Pataki that it's time to pay up. It's the 2nd time that a court has said that New York State owes New York City at least $4.7 billion for its schools. The monies owed could be as high as $5.63 billion. But what's a few billion to Pataki. Maybe he can come and visit some schools and go over the math with the kids he's hosing. more ›

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