More than 30 years ago, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity filed a landmark case against the state of New York, alleging that its school funding system violated the constitutional right of New York City students to a “sound basic education.” After a drawn out legal fight, the state’s highest court agreed.

It paved the way for the state’s Foundation Aid formula, which determines how much money is sent to school districts based on student need — for example, providing additional funding to districts that serve higher populations of students in poverty, among other factors. That formula, implemented in 2007, didn’t receive full funding for more than a decade. In the coming year, New York officials may revise the formula amid widespread concerns that it’s outdated.

Now, a lawyer who led the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, or CFE, during its legal fight claims the state’s approach to updating the formula is unconstitutional.

As part of a state budget agreement earlier this year, the Rockefeller Institute is conducting a study on how to revise the formula, which sends roughly $24.9 billion to districts — including more than $9.5 billion to New York City schools. The institute began holding a series of public hearings this month, taking place in Manhattan and other districts across the state, to solicit testimony on the current formula.

Michael Rebell, executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Columbia University’s Teachers College and the lawyer who led CFE, argues it isn’t enough just to tweak the nearly two-decade-old formula. Instead, he believes a true accounting of student needs requires going back to the drawing board — and that’s exactly what he intends to do.

The Center for Educational Equity will undergo its own effort to create a fair and equitable school funding formula, Rebell said.

Chalkbeat asked Rebell about this effort, why he believes the state’s approach falls short of its constitutional mandate, and whether he’s gearing up for another legal fight.

Read the full article about school funding formulas by Julian Shen-Berro at Chalkbeat.