New York’s student performance wanes even as spending balloons to $89B, the highest nationwide

Taxpayers are paying more for lower grades, a recent report argues when highlighting record spending by New York public schools.

“Continuing to shovel more and more money every year to school…

Taxpayers are paying more for lower grades, a recent report argues when highlighting record spending by New York public schools.

“Continuing to shovel more and more money every year to school districts without fundamentally questioning this status quo behavior will not solve this problem,” wrote Stevan Marcus, senior research associate for the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC).

The watchdog group found average spending per student had increased 21% since the 2020-21 school year to $36,293. 

Meanwhile, “student performance in New York is middle-of-the-pack nationally and lower than neighboring states that spend less.”

After accounting for state and federal monies, school districts spent a “whopping” $89 billion overall for this academic year – the highest nationwide, according to an AOL news article.

“New York spends more than other states on mostly everything — teachers’ salaries, benefits and pensions, school construction, services for immigrants or non-English speakers and even electrifying school buses, CBC officials said.” 

Higher funding despite fewer students 

Critics also emphasize the disparity of spending more while overall student enrollment declines. Attendance has dropped 7.7% to 2.45 million this year, compared to 2.66 million in 2013. 

In one example previously reported by The Lion, many school districts in New York City spent up to three times the per-student average but enrolled fewer than 100 students. 

“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. 

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

The United Federation of Teachers has defended the current situation, arguing public schools provide a common good under fire for political reasons. 

“New York schools have become the first and often only safety net for our students, parents and communities,” said a spokesperson for the union. “That’s the reality – no matter how hard pundits try to turn that responsibility into political fodder.” 

However, the CBC points out the long-term statistics demonstrating how many state students cannot achieve basic proficiency in reading, writing or math despite schools’ disproportionately lavish funding. 

“For years, New York has significantly increased education spending while student outcomes have generally not improved relative to other states. More money has not been the cure-all, and it would be illogical to think the next $1 billion will solve what the previous $1 billion did not.”