STATE FUNDING EQUITY

































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STATE FUNDING EQUITY
STAR

School Tax Relief (STAR), which is only now being phased-in, has extremely regressive effects. That is, the wealthier a district is the more STAR it receives. This represents a reversal in the goals of state aid to school districts. In the past state aid had been designed to reduce inequalities between school districts by giving more aid to the less wealthy districts. But, STAR gives more money to wealthier districts in the form of tax relief. Thus STAR makes it easier for wealthy districts to maintain the differential between their expenditure and expenditures in other districts. The following chart compares estimates of per pupil STAR in 2001-2002 to the actual levels of per pupil Operating Aid in 1999-2000 (the latest year for which figures are available). Notice that STAR counteracts some of the progressive effects of Operating Aid. For more information see the full text of the EPP report, The Regressive Effects of STAR (pdf).

A comparison of fully-phased-in STAR (2001-02) to Operating Aid (1999-01) on a per pupil basis
Source: Author's calculations from data provided by the Fiscal Analysis Unit of the New York State Department of Education

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