$850M more on schools
The city’s overall spending to operate the public school system jumped by roughly $850 million from 2017 to 2018, even as enrollment in district-run schools fell by nearly 19,000 students, newly released city Education Department data shows.
Figures published Friday by the Education Department officials show that overall major operating fund spending for public schools rose from $31.45 billion for the fiscal year that ended June 30 to $32.31 billion for the current fiscal year that will end June 30, 2019.
During the same time period, enrollment in city-run schools from 980,767 dropped to a projected 962,128, as more city students enrolled in publicly funded, privately run charter schools, where enrollment rose from roughly 114,000 to a projected enrollment of roughly 120,000.
City University of New York education professor David Bloomfield said the year-to-year increase amounts to about 3% — a bump that’s not unusual in comparison with increases in previous years. In fact, Bloomfield said kids in city schools probably won’t even notice the difference.
“It’s not going to be felt in the classroom in any tangible way,” said Bloomfield of the increase. “The question is, can the discretionary money be better spent in a more effective manner? It appears so, since at least some of the city’s agenda so far hasn’t paid off.”
Bloomfield cited research showing expensive programs to turn around struggling schools and boost student literacy haven’t produced clear results showing they actually worked.
The figures published by the city Friday also show that average, per-pupil spending rose from $23,461 in 2017 to $24,173 in 2018. Also, during that period, spending on the system’s central administration rose by roughly $30 million, from $470,880,609 to $507,698,265, as new Chancellor Richard Carranza added to central administrative staff.
Education Department officials said that the overall increase in spending is due to a $400 million increase in debt payments, $200 million in increased funding for charter schools and $125 million in added spending for Fair Student Funding directed to underfunded schools. Department spokesman Doug Cohen said that the increased spending is paying off.
“Through our targeted investments, we have achieved record-high graduation rates, record-high college enrollment rates, record-low dropout rates and a high-quality pre-K seat for every New York City 4-yearold,” Cohen said.