At what point do we just give this money to parents and let them decide how to spend it on their child?
The New York Post reports:
NYC DOE projected to spend $42k per student this school year — the most in the countryThe city Department of Education will spend a staggering $42,168 per student this school year, budget experts project, even as enrollment declines and student achievement stalls.The record sum is nearly $2,000 per student more than the DOE spent last year, according to the nonprofit think tank Citizens Budget Commission. Students report to class Sept. 4.The stunning figure is 36% more than the $31,119 the city spent per pupil just five years ago.In calculating spending per student, the CBC factors in overall costs for food, transportation, school support services, central administration, pensions, benefits and debt service.Per-pupil costs are rising as the number of students has gone down. Last year, the city counted about 815,000 students enrolled in K-12 in DOE schools – only 0.1% less than the previous year, but around 100,000 fewer students than in the 2019-2020 school year, according to DOE statistics.NYC spends more per pupil than any large city in the nation, with the next-most generous systems, Chicago and Philadelphia, trailing far behind.Despite the vast sums poured into the nation’s largest school system, student proficiency in English language arts and math continues to lag behind the rest of the state and country.The “Nation’s Report Card” released by the National Center for Education Statistics in January revealed that just 33% of Big Apple fourth graders scored proficiency in math and 28% in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress last year.Older students’ results were worse – 23% of city eighth graders met the national standards in math and 29% in reading.In statewide exams given last school year, 52.6% of sixth graders scored proficiency in English Language Arts — up from 45.9% last year, and 47.8% during the 2022-2023 school year, but down from 56.3% in 2021-2022. But comparisons are unreliable because the tests and standards have shifted, and the state has lowered some passing benchmarks so even small gains are inconclusive.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY