Education advocates are cheering changes in the state funding formula for school aid that would increase support for city students who are homeless, in foster care or learning English.
State funding for New York City schools would increase by $860 million, bringing the total state aid for the city to almost $15.3 billion.
The increase also reflects additional funds for early childhood education, transportation and materials.
The changes are under a bill the state Legislature was expected to pass on Wednesday as part of a deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul for the overall state budget, which was due April 1 and which legislators plan to finalize this week.
Maria Odom, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, called the increased investments for students who are homeless, in foster care or learning English “overdue.”
The group focuses on policy and initiatives to help low-income children.
“Together, these changes to the Foundation Aid formula will drive much-needed resources to New York City, where more than 150,000 students experienced homelessness last year and one in every six students is learning English as a new language,” she said.
The Foundation Aid formula has been used since 2007 to determine how much money each school district receives from the state.
The number of homeless students at city schools has been climbing for a decade, hitting a record high in the most recent tally. According to Advocates for Children, nearly one in seven of the city’s more than 900,000 students were homeless at some point during the 2024-25 school year.
The number of public school students who are not yet proficient in English has also been increasing.
There were more than 168,000 English language learners in the city’s public schools in the 2024-25 school year. A report from the city’s comptroller found the school system often failed to provide those students with legally mandated instruction.
Last year, changes to the state funding formula resulted in New York City receiving hundreds of millions of dollars less than it.
The increased funding comes as Mayor Zohran Mamdani grapples with a yawning budget deficit. In his executive budget released last week, Mamdani said he hopes to save money by delaying full implementation of a state law shrinking class sizes, and reign in spending on private school tuition for kids with disabilities by bringing more of those services in-house.
The education budget bill also includes a two-year extension of mayoral control of the city’s schools. While Mamdani had said during his campaign that he opposed mayoral control, he changed his position just before taking office, and asked lawmakers for a four-year extension of his office’s authority over the school system.
