After months of intense opposition to his plan for overhauling the way New York City funds its schools, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has agreed to retool a piece of his proposal that, in part, sought to put more veteran teachers in schools that serve the most disadvantaged students.
A cornerstone of the mayor鈥檚 鈥渞estructuring鈥� plan had been to scrap the city鈥檚 practice of divvying up money to pay for staff members based on a school鈥檚 enrollment. Instead, Mr. Bloomberg had been pushing to use a method called 鈥渨eighted-student funding鈥� that distributes money for staff members to schools based not only on the number of students enrolled, but also on the needs of those students. He calls it 鈥渇air student funding.鈥�
That proposed change鈥攗nveiled during the mayor鈥檚 State of the City address in January鈥攈ad met stiff resistance, particularly from the city teachers鈥� union, which argued that the redistribution of money would undermine the city鈥檚 good schools.
Last month, the mayor struck a deal with the United Federation of Teachers, as well as other education advocacy and community organizations, that will essentially slow or halt any major shifting of veteran teachers from the middle-class neighborhoods where they tend to work to schools in poor neighborhoods for at least the next two years. Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican who won control over the nation鈥檚 largest school district in 2002, will finish his second term in 2009.
Protests to End
In exchange, the groups agreed to quiet what had been weeks of protests and other organized opposition to the mayor鈥檚 latest round of education proposals.
鈥淭his was extremely important to us because we felt all along that this funding method would destabilize the good schools in order to get more high-quality teachers into our high-needs schools,鈥� said Leo E. Casey, the 120,000-member UFT鈥檚 special representative for high schools and a participant in the negotiations with the mayor鈥檚 office. 鈥淲e all agree that getting more high-quality teachers into those classrooms is an important goal, but not this way.鈥�
But with additional dollars expected to flow into the 1.1 million-student school system from the state treasury this year and next, city education officials said they will still be able to direct significant new resources to poor schools without diverting money from middle-class schools. As part of the agreement, the mayor pledged to funnel some of the new money in particular to English-language learners, satisfying a demand from the New York Immigration Coalition.
鈥淲e鈥檝e agreed that we can use these new dollars to increase some school budgets, but not to reduce the budgets of other schools,鈥� said Robert Gordon, the managing director for resource allocation for the city school system. 鈥淯nlike most cities that have done this, we are doing it at a time when the state has committed significant new resources to New York City.鈥�
Mr. Gordon would not say last week how much new money the system will receive. New York City鈥檚 overall education budget is roughly $16 billion, he said.
Under the agreement, Mr. Bloomberg pledged to honor a 鈥渉old harmless鈥� provision that will ensure that no schools have their budgets reduced by any changes to school funding formulas, Mr. Casey of the UFT said. The mayor also agreed to let schools keep money for teachers who may retire or choose to leave their schools. For example, if a senior teacher who makes $100,000 retires, a principal can opt to hire a similar replacement at the same salary level or a less experienced teacher at a lower salary, leaving the leftover money for other school expenses.
At the insistence of the union, Mr. Bloomberg also said he would continue to allocate money to schools so that they could cover the costs of faculty members as their salaries increased.
Joseph Olchefske, a former superintendent in Seattle who steered that district through its adoption of weighted-student funding several years ago, said Mayor Bloomberg鈥檚 agreement not to cut the budgets of any school goes against the basic philosophy of the finance strategy.
鈥淭he agreement seems to violate a pretty deep philosophical principle, which is that for some schools to get more, others have to get less,鈥� said Mr. Olchefske, who is now a managing director for school district consulting at the American Institutes for Research in Washington. 鈥淪o by funding all schools at the same amount as before, in effect they are funding some students more than they quote 鈥榙eserve,鈥� 鈥� he said.
Modifications Common
However, he noted, the handful of school districts that have managed to convert to weighted-student funding鈥攊n cities such as Houston and San Francisco, as well as Seattle鈥攁ll have made modifications.
鈥淣o one has been able to implement this with absolute religious integrity,鈥� Mr. Olchefske said.
Weighted-student funding has been described by its supporters as the fairest and best way to ensure that students with the greatest educational needs鈥攑oor children, English-language learners, and special education students鈥攇et the resources necessary to improve their academic performance. Mostly, that means securing senior teachers to work in schools that serve large numbers of such students. (鈥溾�榃eighted鈥� Funding of Schools Gains Favor,鈥� Nov. 3, 2004.)
Mayor Bloomberg also agreed to drop his bid to require that student test scores be among the criteria for judging whether a teacher wins tenure. Instead, he promised to form a committee that includes teachers鈥� union members to develop criteria for awarding tenure.
He also said he would pay for a pilot reform program in at least 50 middle schools next year and would work closely with students to establish more 鈥渟uccess centers,鈥� which offer counseling and other services to help prepare students for college and work.
鈥淪ome of this agreement is aspirational,鈥� said Norm Fruchter, the director of the community-involvement program at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform in New York City, 鈥渁nd we have to keep our fingers crossed.鈥�
