One of the glaring paradoxes of this great society is that it prides itself in encouraging its youngsters to make the sky the limit in their quest for a good, sound education, while at the same time refusing to aid the process with the necessary dollars that make this possible. This, despite the fact that America is purportedly the richest and most powerful nation on earth.

As more and more people focus on this anomaly, especially when large sums of monies are being channeled into futuristic endeavors and armament expansion, the cries for an equitable system of funding for education get louder and louder.

It has long been the notion that funding for education is a local issue, even though one would be hard-pressed to find a candidate seeking election to national office who does not list education as a top priority. The result of this current system is that there are those who are victims of their geographic location, while there are others who are the beneficiaries. Policy makers seek to address the inevitable enclaves of homogeneity by experimenting with all kinds of possible solutions including "busing," "pull out" and charter schools - everything except what seems to be the real solution: Equitable Funding for All Schools.

Last spring, residents of several school districts on Long Island sought to send a clear message to their respective school boards that they were not willing to participate in a system of business as usual, and voted down their school budget. My contention is that lost in this message is the fact that they have essentially thrown out the baby with the bath water, as these districts are now operating on austerity budgets and essential education programs are either curtailed or simply cannot be provided due to lack of money.

Thankfully, the days for such rigamarole seem to be numbered, as on July 27 a standing room only crowd of close to 300 people filled the main court room at the New York State Supreme Court in lower Manhattan to hear closing arguments in Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) V State of New York on the issue of funding.

CFE's remedial proposal calls for a dramatic and sweeping overhaul of the way New York State funds its school, and stresses the importance of new accountability measures and the need to make sure that a diverse range of citizens - from parents, students and teachers to school administrators, school board members and the general public - have a voice in how funds for education are spent.

The proposed remedy asks the court to order the New York State Legislature to significantly reform the state's school finance system or to create an entirely new one by Sept. 1. While the court would set broad guidelines for an adequate funding system, the details would be determined by the legislature, the state education department, and other state officials.

The proposal suggests that if New York State provides all students with the resources they need to have a genuine chance at meeting the standards that would satisfy the state's constitutional obligation to provide the opportunity for a sound basic education.

CFE's proposal sets out five basic guidelines for a statewide system that will provide the opportunity for a sound basic education to all students:

1. Provide clear and measurable education goals or objectives expected of all students.

2. Identify the educational essentials necessary to enable schools to provide all students the opportunity to achieve the educational objectives.

3. Ensure that sufficient funding is made available and used to provide the educational essentials and to maintain conditions conducive to effective teaching and learning.

4. Identify and undertake additional actions that are necessary to support the establishment and maintenance in all schools of conditions conducive to effective teaching and learning.

5. Establish an effective accountability system.

Justice Leland DeGrasse will make a determination on this matter this fall.

More anon.

Editor's Note: The author is president of the Westbury High School PTA.)