Mayor's Agenda Intact Under Spitzer Education Contract

A new education funding contract Governor Spitzer is announcing today extracts some concessions from New York City, but the changes are not seen as likely to affect Mr. Bloomberg's main policy agenda.

The agreement with the city is one of more than 50 Mr. Spitzer has reached with school districts across the state as part of his no. 1 education initiative, which aims to match a historic increase in aid — $1.7 billion extra statewide as a result of the decade-long Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit — with new restrictions on how districts can spend the funds.

Merryl Tisch, the vice chancellor of the state Board of Regents, which is spearheading the initiative, said the contracts signal a new era of tough oversight. "I think you will see a very aggressive position by the state," Ms. Tisch said. As for the Regents, she added: "It is our intention to hold every school district in this state accountable for every dollar that flows."

About a quarter of the additional aid, $428 million, is governed by the new restrictions. Thus, before districts could receive their share of the money, they had to reach an agreement with the state on exactly how they would spend it. Mr. Spitzer's contract requires that funds be spent on one of five policy areas, including class-size reduction and teacher quality.

After months of negotiations, Mr. Spitzer is signing the more than 50 plans, known as Contracts for Excellence, at a ceremony today in Buffalo.

The final New York City contract seems to have addressed several of critics' concerns about an original draft submitted in July. Some had complained that the draft unfairly used contract money to fund the Bloomberg administration's own projects, including a new program of regular tests for students and a program to create more small schools — which they said were not among the allowed policies. Funding for those proposals has been removed from the contract, sources said.

The advocacy group whose lawsuit led to the new influx of aid, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, complained that schools where many students fail tests were not getting money, though schools where students pass were.

Sources who have seen the final plan said that the list of schools receiving the funds has changed to include more low-performing schools.

A class-size reduction plan, mandated in the new state law, has also been beefed up, they said. The Bloomberg administration may have signed onto the changes because none are likely to affect its policy agenda, which can continue on course via simple changes in accounting.

The Contracts For Excellence cover only $258 million of the city's $700 million in new state aid, and just a tiny portion of its $16.7 billion schools budget. That leaves many extra funds to cover programs cut out of the final contracts.

Outside funds will also mean that no school sees a budget cut, even if it is no longer eligible for an increase via the contracts money, a Department of Education spokeswoman, Debra Wexler, said.

"The core components of our plan remain intact, but we've also made some material changes that we think are going to really benefit our highest-need students in schools," Ms. Wexler said.

Exactly which programs and which schools will receive funds under the new contract will be disclosed tomorrow. The first draft of New York City's proposal had spent nearly half of funds on class-size reduction.

The president of the city teachers union, Randi Weingarten, yesterday cited large class sizes as a reason she said a record number of teachers are leaving the profession. In a statement yesterday, she said resignations by experienced teachers have risen by 81% since 2001, to 4,606 last year, a record high.

A deputy schools chancellor, Christopher Cerf, yesterday disputed Ms. Weingarten's contention that teachers are not satisfied, citing city figures showing that 7% fewer teachers left the Department of Education overall this year than last year. He said the city loses fewer first-year teachers every year than the national average, less than 12% compared to 14% nationwide.