Campaign for Fiscal Equity

The Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) was a not-for-profit advocacy organization that sought to protect and promote the constitutional right to a sound basic education for all public school students in the State of New York. Under the leadership of Michael A. Rebell, the organization filed and won the landmark "CFE v. State of New York" lawsuit, which successfully argued that the state's school finance system under-funded New York City public schools and denied its students their constitutional right.

The Campaign for Fiscal Equality (CFE) was founded in 1993 by Robert Jackson and Michael A. Rebell. They worked with a coalition of parents, community members, and education advocates who were concerned about the state's funding of New York City schools, which the CFE felt was persistently inadequate. The CFE filed a constitutional challenge stating that the state was under-funding the public schools in New York City.

CFE received funding from a range of sources, including the Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Schott Foundation.

CFE filed its 13-year-long constitutional challenge to the New York State school funding system in 1993. The Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, ruled in 1995 that the New York State constitution requires that the state offer all children the opportunity for a "sound basic education," defined as a meaningful high school education that prepares students for competitive employment and civic participation.

In 2001, State Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse found that the current state school funding system was unconstitutional. Governor George Pataki appealed the decision, which was overturned in 2002, by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court. CFE appealed to the Court of Appeals, which again found in favor of CFE in 2003. The Court of Appeals gave the State of New York until July 30, 2004, to comply with its order.

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