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STATE FUNDING EQUITY
CFE Factsheet
What is the Campaign
for Fiscal Equity?
The Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc.,
a not-for-profit corporation, is a coalition of parent organizations,
community school boards, concerned citizens and advocacy groups. We
seek to reform New York State’s education finance system to ensure
adequate resources and the opportunity for a sound basic education for
all students in New York State.
Since 1993, CFE has been
working to:
- Change the
way New York State funds its schools.
In a landmark 1995 decision, the New York State Court
of Appeals gave CFE the green light to pursue a constitutional challenge
to New York’s education finance system on the grounds that
it denies thousands of students, both in New York City and across
the state, the opportunity to a "sound basic education."
CFE has asked the Court to determine that:
A Sound Basic Education should
consist of the skills students need to sustain competitive employment
and function productively as civic participants capable of voting
and serving on a jury.
- Promote public dialogue and
input on education and school funding reform.
The decision in CFE v. State will affect
every student in New York State. Creating and implementing a fair
and lasting remedy, therefore, requires broad community input and
involvement. For this reason, CFE has been promoting an innovative
statewide "Public Engagement Process" to build a committed statewide
coalition for reform. Over the past three years, we have held more
than 30 forums involving thousands of advocates, educators, school
board members, business people, parents, students and community
members throughout the state in honest, focused dialogue on how
to best ensure real educational opportunity for all of New York
State’s students. We expect to continue and expand this statewide
dialogue after the decision is issued this fall.
- Conduct policy
research on student access to a sound basic education.
In order to build a strong remedy, CFE conducts
extensive research on implementation of court decisions in similar
cases in other states. We also will shortly be disseminating a series
of policy reports which will summarize the cutting edge evidence,
presented by over two dozen national experts at the CFE trial, on
why money matters and how all children can learn at the levels required
by the Regents Learning Standards–if they are provided appropriate
resources and opportunities.
For more information, go to CFE’s
web site: http://www.cfequity.org
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