NYC parent associations raised nearly $70 million, and schools serving more white students outraised others 5 to 1. What the Council has asked about school funding equity

New York City's parent associations reported nearly $70 million in revenue and savings in the 2024-25 school year, and the gap between the richest and poorest has widened since the pandemic, Gothamist reported Monday, using Education Department data. P.S. 29 in Cobble Hill raised about $2 million, the most of any school; P.S. 158 on the Upper East Side raised $1.7 million, and NEST+m on the Lower East Side $1.4 million. Fifteen parent associations accounted for a third of the citywide total, while some in low-income neighborhoods reported a few hundred dollars or nothing.

Comparing the figures with demographic data, Gothamist found that last year schools serving more white students outraised schools that primarily serve Black students 5 to 1. A Davidson College education researcher who studies PTAs told the outlet that money beyond public funding does raise reading and math achievement, but tends to help students who are already more affluent.

Under Education Department rules, parent groups can pay for supplemental teachers, after-school and weekend programs, tutoring and enrichment, but not classroom teachers in core subjects, Gothamist reported. The department does not collect or publish detailed data on how PTAs spend their money. A department spokesperson pointed to the Fair Student Funding formula, which sends more money to schools with concentrated poverty, students with disabilities and English learners, and said the city is "consistently working to strengthen" it.

Why it matters to residents: PTA money is small next to the department's roughly $41 billion budget, but it pays for programs, like after-school, that parents in other schools may not be able to buy, and it can make some schools more attractive in a system where families choose middle and high schools.

What our records add

A bill would let the public compare school spending. Int. 885, from Phil Wong, would require the Education Department to create an online portal comparing citywide funding and spending per school and per student, according to its plain-language summary. It has seven sponsors: Wong, Farah N. Louis, Frank Morano, Gale A. Brewer, Inna Vernikov, Lincoln Restler and Vickie Paladino. Introduced April 30 and referred to the Education Committee, it has waited 187 days without a hearing. It doesn't mention parent association money.

Members pressed schools officials on equity in June. At the Finance Committee's June 8 executive budget hearing with the Education Department, Nantasha M. Williams asked whether there had been recent analysis of Fair Student Funding's ability to promote equity, and noted that class size funding was flowing heavily to lower-need schools. A department finance official said two new weights were added about three years ago, for students in temporary housing and for concentrations of high-need students, and that no formula changes were made for the coming year, though officials were prepared to have those conversations.

After-school and integration. Later in that hearing, Harvey D. Epstein said about 250,000 students get federal Title I funding while there are about 184,000 after-school slots, and called the gap a driver of racial and economic segregation because after-school isn't free for everyone. The chancellor said schools have "a responsibility to make sure that our schools are racially and economically integrated," and that after-school is a critical part of that (4:48:16).

What's next

Int. 885 is not on an upcoming agenda; it would need an Education Committee hearing and vote before reaching the full Council, which next meets Nov. 12. Our earlier stories cover school consolidation on shared campuses and what the chancellor told the Council about it.