DOE push equity in Fair Funding formula

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

After catching heat for education budget cuts in 2022, Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks have sought to correct their egregious mistakes by proposing improvements to the budgeting formula for the 2023-2024 school year.

The newly workshopped Fair Student Funding (FSF) formula is supposed to increase equity based on the recommendations made by a working group.

The proposals include an additional consideration for students in temporary housing or living in poverty, students with disabilities, English language learners and asylum-seeking students. The working group also suggested that public schools implement a more responsive budget appeals process and focus on increasing transparency. About $45 million in funding is aimed at students in temporary housing. Another $45 million is expected to go to over 300 schools across the city serving the highest concentration of students in need. Adams vowed to center family voices in policy and programs.

“Thanks to the work of our Fair Student Funding Working Group, we are prioritizing the needs and voices of students who have been long forgotten, and this is only the beginning of turning New York City public schools into a thoughtful insti - tution for all,” said Adams in a statement.

The FSF formula funds a large portion of community dis - trict school budgets and is a weighted pupil-funding model,

See FAIR FUNDING on page 36