DOE Budget: Pie vs 𝜋

By Ursila Jung

It is a truth universally known that when you control the largest share of the budget of the city with the largest budget in the country, you will be very popular. Proof of this was on full display at the New York City Council Budget and Oversight Hearings on the Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 held March 15. Props to Chairwoman Rita Joseph who not only stayed awake, but engaged right up to the end of the marathon session. Despite the $293 million decrease from last year, the FY24 budget remains the largest area of NYC spending at $30.7 B.  And everyone in town was there for their share of the pie.

NYC has the highest per pupil in the country

With about $100 B in annual spending, NYC’s budget is bigger than all but a handful of states. 31 percent of this goes to the DoE, the largest school system in the country.  New York City also has the distinction of having the highest per pupil expenditure in the country with over $30,000 spent per student. In 2019, per student spending was almost double the national average and while more recent data is not available, this proportion is anticipated to have only increased with the pandemic funds received by DoE.

There is plentiful research that suggests that more money typically leads to better schools, which means that NYC should have the best school outcomes in the country and we could appreciate and applaud this spending.  Unfortunately, contrary to his scenario, our outcomes have not been commensurate with this expenditure for the past many years.

NYC DOE is not Spending our Money Wisely

The results of the 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), the so-called report card of the nation, were a horrifying reminder that the dollars we are spending are failing to deliver results. The test is criteria-referenced, i.e., scores are a measure of knowledge on a predetermined standard as opposed to norm referenced which look at how students fare compared to one another. The decline in fourth grade math was particularly acute. Scores dropped by ten points from 2019. Psychometricians assert that ten points is roughly equivalent to one year of learning. 8th grade math saw a 6-point drop.

According to NAEP standards, equal proportions of fourth and eighth graders are proficient in math – a mere 28 percent! Reading scores also reveal marked declines in fourth grade, where scores declined by six points compared to 2019. Eighth graders scores held steady from 2019, but scores remain at historic lows and only 32 percent are deemed proficient. The State Test results are another window into the academic crisis our students are facing. Test scores for third through eighth graders reveal that more than 60% are not proficient in math. In addition, more than fifty percent of those students don't meet grade level for ELA.

One can argue that NYC kids were disproportionately affected by the Covid pandemic. Our tightly packed living conditions hardly making for ideal learning environments as we worked, studied, and played from home. NYC also closed schools for a very long time and masked toddlers longest than any other city in the country. However, even in 2019, pre-pandemic, students in NYC, the best funded students in the country, scored below the national average. Clearly, we are not spending our money wisely.

What’s Next

Over the thirteen-hour hearing on Wednesday, there were plans and requests for a range of issues both essential to and peripheral to our schools: play space for young children, lead free schools, farms built on-site in schools, fully electric buildings for new schools with zero emissions, expansion of 3K programs, better food, and capital improvements in cafeterias. In fact, so much time was spent focusing on cafeteria food that one cannot help but wonder if perhaps the committee should consider asking people giving testimony if they are receiving financial renumeration or whether they will directly benefit financially if their suggestions are implemented.

I agree with and support much of the testimony given - of course we need outdoor play space for kids, and safe buildings, and zero emissions from new construction, and yes, as a mother who hates packing lunch, I agree cafeterias should have better food and serve a bigger purpose.  But the true question here is that in a world with limited resources, should these things come before and over academic standards? 

At the cost of academics? Is it not possible to divert at least some of our attention and tax dollars towards academic outcomes? Are fully electric school buildings what we should be focusing on when our kids cannot read and write? And is a gourmet lunch really the only thing we send our children to school for?  If there were a referendum, I would vote for more Pi over pie!

Note:  A small suggestion: perhaps split the public comments into a 2-day process so parents do not have to wait till 9:00 p.m. to give testimony.

Ursila Jung is a parent elected member of CEC District 3 and is running for City Council District 1