But urban legislators said Albany for too long has sent big increases to richer communities to fund, in the words of Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples, a Buffalo Democrat, “bells and whistles” for suburban schools that already are far better equipped than city schools.”

“If you are living in or representing a district that does not have high needs, where the children are successful academically and the municipality has the ability to finance good education for children, then you should not be asking for equal state dollars,” Peoples said. “In the grand scheme of things, this is about us being really our brothers’ keepers, and the resources should go where the needs are.”

Crystal Peoples is clearly advocating socialism.  No where does the Constitution allow for the taking of money to be given to others, making people their “brothers’ keepers” by government force.

This is another case of the cause of the problem being ignored while people fight over money allocation.  School choice would be the logical answer.  Each student would have “x” amount of educational dollars allocated that could fund the student at the parents’ choice for a school.

The competition created by school choice would have two big benefits.  First, schools would improve.  Schools that perform poorly would go out of business.  Second, schools would be motivated to carefully examine costs versus results.  This would end the ridiculous spiraling costs of education.

School choice clearly puts the interests of students and education above the interests of the Unions.

The governor said his plan is meant to “distribute educational funding based on the needs of our children, not the needs of politicians.”

Let the parents decide how to best meet the needs of their children, not Eliot Spitzer.

Source: Buffalo News: City & Region