Res. No. 1025 Title Resolution calling upon the Department of Education to change an unfair Fiscal Year 2004 school budget formula that increases funding to many high-performing schools, but decreases funding to many low-performing schools with low scores on standardized tests, high poverty rates and high numbers of non-English speaking students and special education students. Body By Council Members Foster, Clarke, Comrie, Jackson, Lopez, Quinn, Recchia, Sanders, Seabrook, Stewart, Vann and Gerson Whereas, On August 18, 2003, the New York Times reported, in an article entitled "Road to Fairer School Budget Begins With, Well, Confusion," that the Department of Education adopted a budget for Fiscal Year 2004 that increases funding to many high-performing schools but decreases funding to many low-performing schools with low scores on standardized tests, high poverty rates and high numbers of non English speaking students and special education students; and Whereas, The New York Times also reported that under the new school funding formula, PS 204 in Morris Heights in the Bronx received a budget cut although only one-half of its students passed the Citywide standardized English tests; and Whereas, Further, according to the Times article, the Chancellor of the Department of Education stated that "the budgeting system we inherited had elements that were arbitrary and hidden," and reported that "better-performing schools are faring slightly better" under the new budget formula; and Whereas, In addition, according to the New York Times, the Department of Education stated that "there is no discernable pattern in which schools gain and lose under the new budget formula, largely because there was no pattern in which schools prospered under the old chaotic system," and noted that the Department of Education "did not do a thorough analysis of high- and low-performing schools to see which were gaining or losing"; and Whereas, While in Fiscal Year 2004 school budget cuts of $180 million slashed support staff and other after-school programs, there were also $91 million in additional allocations through the "Children First" initiative for reading and math coaches and classroom libraries; and Whereas, Furthermore, the Federal Title I allocation to New York City is divided up first by borough and then among schools within each borough, resulting in a school of 500 students in Staten Island with a 50% poverty rate receiving $250,000 while a similar school in the other four boroughs receives no additional funding; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the City Council calls upon the Department of Education to change an unfair Fiscal Year 2004 school budget formula that increases funding to many high-performing schools, but decreases funding to many low-performing schools with low scores on standardized tests, high poverty rates and high numbers of non-English speaking students and special education students. (MHG) LS# 3012 September 11, 2003