Jamestown School Board meeting on March 25, 2025
New York State Association of Small Cities School Districts Inc. has donated $10,000 to the eight school districts still looking for resolution to their lawsuit against New York State.
Jamestown Public Schools is part of the group that entered into a lawsuit, also known as Maisto v. New York, back in 2008. Plaintiffs in the case believed districts were not getting enough educational funding/resources to give their students, mainly poor and disadvantaged, what they needed to succeed and that this violated the state constitution.
JPS Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said a lot is still happening behind the scenes with the case, “What has essentially happened is the Court has made a ruling, we appealed the ruling, the (NYS) Appeals Court agreed with us 100% unanimously, sent it back to the original court to fix it, that court ruled the same ruling, and the Appeals Court said, ‘We told you to fix it. Now fix it.’ That’s where we are.”
Whitaker said the districts’ goals are to change state foundation aid formulas so it’s fair for all districts in the state and for the eight small city school districts to be reimbursed for the funds lost over several decades. He said the district should receive $30 to $40 million from the lawsuit that would go specifically toward academic intervention
Whitaker added the state is in arrears for over $100 million for the Jamestown Public Schools District, but he doubts the district will ever see that money.
He said the recent donation from New York State Association of Small Cities School Districts Inc. is a gift to the districts to help offset legal costs.
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