More than 1 of every 3 NYC students skip classes despite increased funding, study concludes 

Taxpayers in the Big Apple are paying more than $36,000 per student – even though more than a third of those students don’t even attend classes, a recent report warns. 

“New York is now spending $89 billion annually on public education — more than the GDP of Croatia — yet academic outcomes remain flat,” said Lindsey​​​​ Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Fewer than 3 in 10 eighth graders can read proficiently — a statistic that should keep New Yorkers up at night.” 

Burke blamed post-pandemic policies for the rise in chronic absenteeism, which jumped from 26.5% in 2018-2019 to 34.8% in 2023-24, according to a study by the New York Post. 

“Teachers’ unions de-emphasized the importance of coming to school after COVID, which sent a signal to students that attending class was optional,” she said. “This continues to have devastating effects on student learning outcomes.” 

The study defined chronic absenteeism as skipping 10 days or more in a 180-day school year. 

“Those numbers would suggest that over 300,000 of 900,000 students in the New York City Public School system were absent,” writes Rachel del Guidice for Fox News. 

At the same time, total spending per student increased by 21% over the past four years despite a lack of measurable academic results: “Even with the large increases in funding, proficiency levels for subjects including math and reading are also suffering.” 

‘A costly model that robs children’ 

The disparity between funding and student performance grows even wider at “dozens” of the city’s school districts, which the Post found spending up to $63,000 per student annually. 

For example, the New Design Middle School in West Harlem provided 59% of its 84 students with special-education plans last year. 

However, only 21% of those students achieved reading proficiency, and their math proficiency fell even further at 13%. 

“Students with special needs are concentrated in these schools where high poverty is already a concern,” said Donalda Chumney, member of the Community Education Council 15 in Brooklyn and a former Manhattan District 2 superintendent. 

“It’s a costly model that robs children of a thriving community, a robust academic program, and diverse peers.” 

The Citizens Budget Commission group has urged the repeal of a “hold harmless” policy, which provides the same amount of school funding each year despite falling enrollment. 

“When you choose to hold schools harmless, especially when decreases in enrollment vary so dramatically, you create more inequity,” said Ana Champeny, the group’s vice president for research. 

“The challenge is how to use the dollars more effectively and make sure that we’re actually getting good outcomes for our kids. This is so critical to the city’s future.”