It turns out Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have an even bigger disagreement than funding for pre-K: They’re also on opposite sides of a major lawsuit that underscores a fundamental divide about how to fix our broken education system.
The lawsuit is being driven by Michael Rebell, a Columbia University law professor with a history of litigating for more dollars for the schools. The gist of his argument is that by cutting earlier promises about school funding when the recession hit, New York state violated its constitutional obligation to provide every student with a sound basic education.
If you didn’t catch that, what it comes down to is this: Professor Rebell wants to get the courts to force the state to cough up $4 billion for city schools.
His argument reflects conventional liberal thinking about education: More money means a better education. And it’s coupled with the preferred liberal tactic: going to the courts to get it.
Mayor de Blasio, naturally, has all but endorsed this idea. In his State of the City Address, he noted the courts ruled that “the children of this city deserve billions more in educational resources.” Two days later, in his budget speech, he claimed a “$2.7 billion gap between the current level of state aid and the funding levels agreed upon” in earlier court decisions stemming from the professor’s suits.
The governor takes a more down to earth view. He notes that New York state’s per capita education spending now stands at $19,087 — more than any other state and nearly double the national average. Despite all these dollars, he says, the system is still failing too many children.
“Rebell’s premise,” the governor told the Post editorial board, “is that the more money you spend, the better the education. [But] if money will make you smart, we should be brilliant.”
And last time we checked, no one’s accused our schools of fostering brilliance.