New schools founded in the last three years get more money per student than schools the city began shutting down this year, a Daily News analysis finds.
Under a reform — ironically called Fair Student Funding — the city distributes the bulk of school funding based on the enrollment and demographics of each school.
The reform introduced in 2007 hasn’t been fully funded because of budget cuts in recent years, but all 30 new schools opening this year get their full share of the money to which they’re entitled while the struggling schools remain badly underfunded.
“These are the mayor’s showcase schools. He wants to show they’re doing well,” said Gregg Lundahl, a social studies teacher and teachers union chapter leader at a closing school — Manhattan’s Washington Irving High School. “It’s very unfair.”
Washington Irving, for example, is underfunded by $790,702 — roughly 13 percent of its overall budget, according to the city’s own numbers.
The 24 so-called “turnaround schools” — where the city unsuccessfully moved to ax half the staff — are underfunded by more than $30 million combined, more than 10% of their overall current budgets.
“Why are we getting less money?” asked Shenia Rudolph, mother of eighth-grader Coby Brown, 12, and seventh-grader Capri Brown, 12, who both attend Middle School 391 in the Bronx, a former turnaround school.
“That’s Bloomberg and Walcott. They need to distribute to schools equally.”
Why are your kids' school receiving less money, Shenia?
Very simple - Bloomberg and Walcott are waging a political battle against teachers and the union, they want to close all of these turnaround schools and fire as many of those teachers as possible, so they're purposely underfunding the schools in order to help their manipulative process along.
That's it in a nutshell.
Bloomberg and Walcott blame the state of course - it's Cuomo's fault, not enough state aid, blah blah blah.
But they can move money around in the system if they want to - they choose not to.
Instead they choose to fund these schools at 100% and then hand them more money for "start-up costs" as well.
On top of that President Obama also has it out for the older schools - what he calls "dropout factories".
Race to the Top provides money for these new schools.
So the fix is in - the city, the state and the feds all have it out for your kids' school, Shenia, because they have it out for your kids' teachers and their union.
You and your family just happen to be collateral damage in the battle.
But remember this: the next time Chancellor Walcott or Mayor Bloomberg claim the union protects bad teachers and hurts kids while Bloomberg and Walcott always put children first, think about how they're funding the system.
