ZARB COMMISSION AGREES WITH CFE THAT ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ARE NEEDED FOR EDUCATIONAL ADEQUACY, BUT LIMITS RECOMMENDATIONS BECAUSE OF STATE'S "FISCAL RESTRAINTS"

Although some members of the state legislature have said that no additional funding for education is necessary to comply with the Court of Appeals order in CFE v. State, the Zarb Commission called for increases for education in the range of $2.5 billion to $5.6 billion.

Nonetheless, CFE believes these estimates, which the Zarb Commission admits were influenced by the state's "fiscal restraints," are too low. Furthermore, the method used by Standard & Poor's (S&P) in conducting a cost-analysis for the Zarb Commission appears to have arbitrarily reduced the actual figures that resulted from their "successful schools" analysis by eliminating high-spending "successful schools" and calculating the amount spent only by low-spending "successful schools." Without this artificial reduction, S&P outlined a recommended increase ranging from "a low of $7.78 billion to a high of $10.28 billion," (see page 24 of S&P's report at www.sp-ses.com/nys/docs/NYRAS.pdf).

The New York Adequacy Study, initiated by CFE, NYSSBA, and 30 other organizations, will be releasing its final report tomorrow. That study, grounded in the actual experiences and professional judgments of approximately 60 of the state's most distinguished educators, calls for increased spending for education in the range of $6.6 billion to $9.1 billion, in current dollars.

Over the next two weeks, CFE will be releasing detailed proposals regarding funding reform, building aid and accountability. These documents, along with the 500-pages New York Adequacy Study, and the Zarb Commission report will provide the legislature with an extensive database and a full range of proposals, which should allow them a sufficient basis for crafting an appropriate remedy for the CFE case before the court-imposed July 30, 2004 deadline.

Neither the New York Adequacy Study nor the S&P study recommendations include funding for school facilities or student transportation.