NYC Schools Will Get $600M A Year In Long-Awaited State Funding

NEW YORK CITY — The city's public schools will kick off next year with $600 million more for teachers, supplies and programs.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that schools will receive 100 percent of Fair Student Funding going forward — a long-awaited goal for city officials.

He said the funds will supercharge the city's progress on high graduation rates, low dropouts and improved student performance.

"This will be a $600 million annual investment — $600 million," he said. "It will allow so many schools to do so much more particularly for kids with special needs, for bilingual students, for those who would benefit the most."

Fair Student Funding is the state's system for divvying up money for schools. The system aimed to provide funding for needy schools, but those schools in the city never received their full share from the state.

"For years, our students were short-changed not millions, but billions of dollars,” schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter said.

But changed under the new state budget, which restored $1.4 billion in aid. De Blasio's announcement Monday confirmed that city officials will allocate the funds for roughly 1,200 public schools.

De Blasio thanked a swath of federal, state and local officials for helping restore the funding.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Member Mark Treyger, who both pressed for the change, said the funding will eliminate shortfalls in the city's schools.

"What this means is that now principals can hire additional teachers with this money, they could put money towards an art teacher, they can put money towards a music teacher, they could hire an additional guidance counselor or social worker in their school," Johnson said.