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January 17, 2001
Mr.
Pataki's Misstep on Schools
ov.
George Pataki plunged into the problems of New York City's schools
yesterday with an announcement that he would appeal a landmark judicial
ruling that called for drastic increases in education aid to the city. That
is a serious mistake that will only slow efforts to rectify the glaring
deficiencies that led to Justice Leland DeGrasse's historic ruling that the
state has failed to guarantee a sound, basic education to city
schoolchildren as required by the State Constitution. At the same time, the
governor proposed an $83.6 billion budget for the year beginning April 1
that will include a modest step toward ensuring that the city gets more
education aid, though nowhere near the scale needed to remedy the defects
cited by Justice DeGrasse.
State officials contend
that Mr. Pataki had to appeal because it would be irresponsible to commit
the state to large expenditures on the basis of a single judge's opinion.
We hope that Justice DeGrasse's decision is upheld by the appellate
justices, putting it beyond further resistance by state officials.
Meanwhile, the legal maneuvering does not excuse the Legislature from
moving more forcefully to redress the deficiencies highlighted by Justice
DeGrasse.
In his budget yesterday,
Mr. Pataki increased school spending over all to more than $14 billion and
proclaimed an important principle for Albany, that state school spending
should be channeled to those districts that need it the most, and not to
those with the most political clout. To reach that goal, the governor would
consolidate about 70 percent of state aid now spread through nearly a dozen
different programs into one program and give greater spending flexibility
to each district — a potentially useful approach provided it does not
become an excuse for cutting vital spending in special education or other
areas. He would ensure that every district gets at least a small increase
in the consolidation and would spread the largest increases to New York
City and needy upstate schools.
But the overall increase in
school spending would be only $382 million, not enough to make much of a
difference for city schools. Democrats, led by Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver, were right to promise yesterday to increase it. The governor's
proposed budget also cut back on increases in city school aid in separate
programs for early childhood education that had been agreed upon last year.
These cuts need to be restored.
The Republican-controlled
State Senate has long championed aid formulas that favor the G.O.P. base in
the suburbs and upstate. Mr. Pataki said yesterday that he did not want a
judge determining school aid formulas. But the best way to avert that
possibility would be to ensure that the formulas do not deprive some
students of their rights. The most persuasive part of Justice DeGrasse's
ruling was not his attack on the arcane aid formulas. It was his conclusion
that because of collapsed school buildings, unqualified teachers, poor
textbooks and materials and other factors, New York City pupils are not
getting the sound, basic education required by the State Constitution. To
address that finding, the Legislature and governor need to concentrate less
on formulas than on the situation in the schools themselves, and to make
sure that the money is provided to overcome the system's shortcomings. Some
of this money may have to be provided by the city's budget as well as the
state's.
In other areas, Mr. Pataki
proposed a prudent budget that includes only limited tax cuts and spending
restraint in other areas. He argued that with the state about to face an
economic slowdown, this is no time to embark on expensive new programs.
Governor Pataki is to be commended for his caution, but the cuts that he
proposed for nursing homes, transit projects and revenue sharing for New
York City are punitive and need to be restored by the Legislature.
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