The New York Court of Appeals ruled that New York State has been shortchanging New York City's ability to provide children "to the point of creating systemic failure in its schools and depriving students of their constitutional right to a decent education" as the Times puts it. Now the State has to figure out how much money to allocate to city schools, which then requires a reassessment of how much surburban schools should get. Newsday discusses the ruling and its impact on the suburban schools of Long Island.
Mayor Bloomberg is overjoyed, one thing he is committed about is reforming the city's schools. The Mayor's press release, which says, "It is every childs right under the State Constitution to receive an education. And I am especially pleased that the Court ruled that an education means a meaningful High School education, not an eighth grade education. I dont know how we could look our selves in the mirror and say eighth grade is good enough. We cant shortchange our kids and the State cant shortchange us."
Broken down another way, the average spending per student was lower in the city than for non-city students, which seemed odd to everyone, considering higher costs of living/expenses associated in supporting city schools.
