Welcome to our School Funding in NYC webpage. This is a class website for the Race, Space, and Urban Schools course taught at Barnard College. On this site you will read critical examinations of the failings of the Fair Student Funding program in NYC, the inequitable practices of the PTA funding, and the debate of private-public funding in NYC public schools.
Please note that this is not a website that is intended to provide answers, nor is this a website that is intending to insight immediate change. Rather, we have built this site to start a larger conversation about the multifaceted problems of school funding in New York City and the flawed system it is part of.
XOXO your favorite school funding team
Our Team
Margo, Quinn and Gabe
Margo is a Sophomore at Barnard College majoring in Urban Studies. Her dramatically different experiences in under-funded and resource-abundant schools in France has lead her to be particularly interested in questions surrounding school funding. Motivated by her concentration in political science, Margo has been focused on how school governing administrations have participated in student’s experience in NYC. When Margo is not in class, she enjoys playing the violin at the Columbia University Orchestra and frequents the many art galleries and museums in the city.
Gabe is a junior at Columbia’s School of General Studies, where he studies Sociology. He’s also pursuing a degree in Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. After spending his high school years in a well-resourced public school, Gabe questioned how his school could have so much while others have so little. This experience pushed him towards the mechanisms which reinforce persistent inequalities, particularly NYC’s Fair Student Funding. He’s hoping to bring his passion for social justice to the fight for school funding equity. Outside of class Gabe enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee, binge-watching True Detective, and playing with his dogs, Tommy and Luna.
Quinn is a Junior at Barnard College majoring in Urban Studies with a concentration in Environmental Science. Quinn became interested in school funding during high school after she joined the Youth Arts Council at the Goodman Theatre and worked with the Goodman’s Education department to promote equitable arts funding in Chicago Public Schools. She has continued to bring this passion with her to New York City and plans to work in promoting equal access arts education afters she graduates. In her free time Quinn produces and stage manages for Columbia University student theater troupes and is training for the New York City Marathon.