Senator John Liu Statement On Rockefeller Institute’s Report On Foundation Aid

New York, NY - State Senator John Liu, Chair of the Senate Committee on NYC Education, stated the following about the Rockefeller Institute’s review of Foundation Aid with recommendations for improvement.

“There is much to consider in the Rockefeller Institute’s report on Foundation Aid, and while the state legislature is not constrained by these recommendations, I look forward to thoroughly reviewing it to help guide efforts to best modernize New York’s outdated school funding formula and address the ever-evolving needs of our schools. 

“The genesis of this report was last year’s proposal by the Governor to reduce school budgets, but that must not be a foregone conclusion. We must consider that a true Foundation Aid update will likely result in an overall increase in Foundation Aid, which this report does not suggest. 

“Additionally, the report's recommendations are less useful in the absence of cost estimates. The report has been characterized as a ‘menu of options for policymakers,’ but a real menu would show prices.

“Finally, given Foundation Aid’s impact on NYC’s excessively large class sizes, it is concerning that there is little mention of how Foundation Aid ties into New York City’s imminent class size reduction timeline. This absolutely must be considered to provide our school kids a constitutionally required, sound, basic education.”