Many public schools in District 13 and 15 will lose funding next school year mainly but not only due to the decline in enrollment. Some schools will see an increase in school budgets due the fair student funding formula supporting students with academic needs, special needs, English Language Learners etc with more money per student. Chalkbeat has created a tool that shows the projections for each school and also explains in detail the reasons for the budget cuts and its many unknown factors.
To show how those cuts affect each school, Chalkbeat created a lookup tool examining changes to Fair Student Funding — the pot of money that makes up 65% of school budgets and is sent to schools months ahead of the next school year. It’s what principals use to hire staff and create programming. The formula provides more money to schools with higher shares of students with disabilities, those learning English as a new language and those struggling academically.
New York City public school enrollment declines have accelerated during COVID and continue to do so with the unaffordability of the City, inflation and quality of life issues and the move of families to Charter and independent schools.
