A New York state appeals court said last week that the state needs to fix the financing of New York City’s schools by April 1.
In a 3-2 opinion, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court ordered the legislature to pass a funding plan that would increase operating spending by at least $4.7 billion over the next four years.
Last year, a trial judge ordered the state to increase spending on the city’s schools by $5.6 billion over four years.
But the $4.7 billion proposed by Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, would be sufficient to comply with a 2003 ruling from the state’s highest court in Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York, Presiding Justice John T. Buckley of the first division of the Appellate Division wrote in the March 23 majority opinion. The court ordered the legislature to act before the start of the state fiscal year, April 1.
The two dissenting justices wrote that the majority opinion doesn’t compel the legislature to act.
