NY shouldn't aid schools spending $64,000/pupil: study

Reuters reports:

It's a new twist on the $64,000 question. That's what the richest schools in New York state spend per pupil.

And now the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission says the state should phase out funds for the wealthiest public schools, or the top 10 percent, some of which spend $64,000 per student -- six times what the bottom 10 percent spend -- in a report released on Tuesday.

Though Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer, in his first budget, tried to make school funding more fair, his compromise with the legislature raised how much the richest schools got, according to the report by the Citizens Budget Commission.

All schools got at least a 3 percent increase in their base grants, increasing the total cost to $329 million from $149 million.

The 68 richest school districts raked in $229 million, the nonpartisan group's report said.

"The disparities in local wealth lead to significant per pupil spending inequities," it said, explaining that the richest school districts could do without state dollars because their tax base was 30 times more than the $129,694-per-pupil valuation in the poorest 10 percent of the state's school districts.

Great moments in Blue America.