Charter schools sharing space in New York City public school buildings cost less to operate than traditional public schools, counter to the findings of a 2010 research memo from the Independent Budget Office (IBO), according to a white paper issued today by a research group affiliated with former state comptroller candidate and financial advisor Harry Wilson. Read More
A few Albany City School District administrators are getting raises, but Empire Center Executive Director Tim Hoefer notes that these costs are just a drop in the bucket compared to what the district spends on teachers and their contract. Read More
In 2008 ... Albany schools had 31 employees making more than $100,000, according to SeeThroughNY, an online database maintained by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
The government transparency website www.SeeThroughNY.net added the latest available collective bargaining agreements of 81 public school teachers’ unions, the Empire Center, which runs the website, announced Tuesday. Read More
As noted by the Empire Center for Public Policy, the median salary for teachers in Western New York was $62,697, compared with $72,990 statewide. Read More
In order to improve New York City's schools, Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse is ordering New York State to massively increase funding for the school system: $5.6 billion annually, plus another $9.2 billion for capital expenditures. But is Justice DeGrasse's remedy really the last word in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case? Our panelists discussed why the Legislature is constitutionally free to consider other approaches. Read More
Twenty-seven* school districts were seeking to override the state's property tax cap in yesterday's school budget votes. Twenty of these districts -- or 74 percent -- failed to collect the needed 60 percent supermajority to pass, according to news accounts. The closest result was in the Cornwall School District in Orange County, which fell two votes short of an override supermajority. Read More
Just two school districts -- out of nearly 700 in New York -- will be limited to the new zero-tax hike contingency budget provision of the state's new property tax cap law next year. Read More