How Are School Budgets Funded?
In the 2009–10 school year, approximately $9 billion of funding, not including most fringe and pension, resides on school budgets. Below is a listing of major categories of school allocations. Fair Student Funding: Fair Student Funding (FSF) dollars – approximately $4.5 billion in the 2009-10 school year – are used by schools to cover basic instructional needs and are allocated to each school based on the number and need-level of students enrolled at that school. All money allocated through FSF can be used at the principals’ discretion. For information about a particular school’s Fair Student Funding allocation, please see http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/funding/schoolbudgets/default.htm. Note: Schools in District 75 and programs in District 79 are not funded via Fair Student Funding due to their highly differentiated instructional models.Categorical Allocations: • American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding was made available to school districts by the federal government in 200
