The current state policy, which the State Senate seems want to push farther and farther, is to provide more state education funding to school districts that spend the most money, New York City excluded, and then to make New York City pay for it through back door “tax relief” aid for everyone else. No accountability is expected for the added funds. My solution, as I’ve stated in the past, is to have a cap on spending per student at 25 to 33 percent above the national average (adjusted for the cost of living). Not a cap on the increase, keeping existing spending differences in spending as they are forever, as certain cynical, selfish, nasty, dishonest, greedy, immoral, unethical people have often proposed. A cap on the total. Below that cap, no school budget referendums would not be required. Above the cap, one dollar of state education funding would be taken away for each dollar in excess.
I'd even be happy to jack up the minimum state education funding (however called) per child, primarily benefitting the wealthier districts in exchage for this. Cut the fat, and their aid would go up and their taxes down twice as fast. Because the alternative, as I know from history, is huge cutbacks for the city's schools in the next recession to help fund ongoing spending increases elsewhere — from sky-high levels. And if a given district wanted to spend that much, fine, but the rest of the state shouldn’t have to pay for it.
And what about school districts with declining enrollment, with per-student spending inflated by the cost of past debts and retiree benefits that have nothing to do with education today? They will require some kind of bailout of past liabilities to get per student spending to a reasonable level. But it shouldn’t come without a price – a bankruptcy-like reorganization with the interests that left the school system in such shape required to give something up as well.
I'f in favor of higher education funding to get better quality schools. That said, however, they are still spending too much money. To find out why, questions would need to be asked. No one dares to ask those questions.