Aid Award Cut in Suit Over N.Y.C.

$2 Billion More for Schools Is Less Than in Prior Rulings

In one of the most closely watched school finance cases in the country, New York’s highest court has put a minimum price tag on a basic public education while at the same time saying judges shouldn’t be determining how much to spend on schools.

By ordering the state to spend nearly $2 billion more a year on New York City’s public schools—billions less than in prior rulings by lower courts—the judges’ 4-2 decision sent a mixed message to state policymakers. Legislators and Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer now face pressure to fix a funding system that the court declared unconstitutional in 2003.

The Nov. 20 decision by the New York Court of Appeals rejected arguments from the New York City-based Campaign for Fiscal Equity, or CFE, which sued the state in 1993, that the city schools need at least $4.7 billion more per year to ensure that students have the opportunity for...