The Empire Center found city school-custodian engineers were the highest-paid group of city employees in 2014, earning an average of $109,467. And their union contract made it impossible to fire them unless they were jailed. Some custodians did stellar work — but many schools looked like dumps. Read More
Twenty-nine of the 37 districts that sought to override the property tax cap were successful in yesterday’s school budget votes, as the majority of districts elected to limit their tax increases to the cap itself. Read More
Fueled by an increase in state aid and higher property taxes, the 669 school districts subject to New York’s property tax levy cap plan to spend 2.8 percent more per student in 2016-17 than they did this year, according to an analysis released today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Per-pupil tax levies, meanwhile, would increase by an average of 1.3 percent. Read More
The ABCs of New York City school funding make no sense — as enrollment has gone down, staffing has gone up, according to a government watchdog. While the number of students fell by 8.6 percent between 2000-2001 and 2014-2015, staffing levels rose by 3.2 percent, the Empire Center for Public Policy reported Tuesday. Read More
The full extent of the continuing rise in school spending since the recession was not inevitable or unavoidable. Read More
Voters in 2014 approved a Cuomo-pushed $2 billion bond act designed to help local school districts purchase needed new technology. But to date, not a dime has been spent on the effort. Read More
A recent report from the Empire Center shows the average New York state teacher who retired after working 30 years for the state's public schools collected an average of $67,476 per year in pension income, which is not subject to state income tax or federal payroll tax. These pension recipients are also eligible for Social Security and often have free or low- cost health insurance. Read More
Teachers, principals, superintendents and other public school employees in the Capital Region who retired last year with at least 30 years of service earned an average pension of $60,466, according to new data from the Empire Center. Read More