A
brief history of CFE v. State
In 1978, a group of property-poor Long Island school districts, joined by New York City and the other four large urban New York districts, filed Levittown v. Nyquist, a lawsuit challenging the state’s education finance system. In its 1982 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that while substantial inequities in funding did exist, the New York State constitution does not require equal funding for education. The court did note, however, that the state constitution entitles students to a "sound basic education," even though no one in the Levittown case had alleged that students were being denied this right. read more
What
is the legacy of CFE v. State?
In 1993, CFE filed a constitutional challenge to New York State's
school finance system, claiming that it underfunded New York City's public
schools and denied its students their constitutional right to the opportunity
to a sound basic education. In 2003, the Court of Appeals, the state's
highest court, ruled in favor of CFE and ordered the State to undertake
sweeping reforms. Even though the original lawsuit was filed on behalf
of New York City's 1.1 million public schoolchildren, the remedies the
courts have mandated apply to the entire state. read
more
Year-by-year
chronology (Printer
Friendly Version)
Español: Cronología
de la Demanda (Versión
para imprimir)
Full
text of key court decisions
CFE
v. State Documents (1993 -
to the June 2003 Court of Appeals' Order)
CFE
v. State Compliance Documents (August 2004 - present)
The Road to a Sound Basic Education:
Court Victories
November
20 , 2006:
State
Court of Appeals
Court
order
(pdf)
March
23, 2006:
The
Appellate Division, 1st Department
Court
order
(pdf)
March
15, 2005:
Justice
DeGrasse of State Supreme Court
Final
order (pdf)
Final
Report and Recommendations of the Special Referees
Briefs
and testimony submitted to the courts
Court
proceedings on the report of the special referees