New York Schools

    With $8 million in unused federal funds from the 2005-06 school year, New York pumped over $1.5 billion into improving public schools during the 2006-07 school year. Over half of New York state students attended “Title I” schools—or schools either in low-income areas or that have demonstrated academic performance in need of federal funding to help promote education and improve test scores. More than half of the money, $786.5 million, will be going to New York City schools. The next highest allocation is to Buffalo schools with $33 million. Over $220 million was spent on Title II schools—or schools focusing on improving teacher quality.

As part of the Adequate Progress Report filed for the 2005-06 school year, 17 schools in New York were labeled as “Persistently Dangerous,” and an additional 75 were close to the threshold to be labeled as such. Persistently Dangerous schools have had “serious incidents” including homicide, forcible and other sexual offenses, robbery, assault, arson, kidnapping, and reckless endangerment. As part of No Child Left Behind, students in these schools have the option of transferring to other, safer, schools—transportation at the district’s expense—until the school administration regains control.

Despite all this, New York was ranked tenth in the nation in the 2005-06 school year “Smartest State” rankings, based off of Morgan Quinto’s book, “Education State Rankings 2005-06”.

For more information on a specific school or district, visit the New York State Department of Education website at http://www.nysed.gov.