TC’s Rebell: NY State’s High Spending on Education is ”Meaningless” | Teachers College Columbia University

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TC’s Rebell: NY State’s High Spending on Education is “Meaningless”

Michael Rebell, Professor of Law & Educational Practice, and Executive Director of The Campaign for Educational Equity
Michael Rebell, Professor of Law & Educational Practice, and Executive Director of The Campaign for Educational Equity
TC’s Michael Rebell, Professor of Law and Educational Practice and Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity, told the news website Inside Sources that “legally, it's meaningless” that New York State spends more per pupil on public education than any other state. What does matter, he argued, is that in the wake of the recession, the state has fallen behind the commitments it laid out for itself when it comes to educational funding.

“In particular,” Inside Sources reports, ”Rebell is referring to a 2006 lawsuit he won as the leader of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity,” in which the court ruled that New York State was not meeting its own constitution’s requirement to provide all children with a “sound, basic education.” Under that decision, the state was obligated to ramp up spending by $9 billion over four years—a plan that was derailed by the unexpected financial crash of 2008. “Today,” the article says, “Rebell and his new group [the Campaign for Educational Equity] are looking for the state to increase spending by about $3.5 billion.”

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Published Tuesday, Aug 1, 2017