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NEW YORK, NY May 09, 2007 —City schools will see big changes in their budgets this fall, as Chancellor Joel Klein introduces a new formula aimed at leveling the playing field. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

Currently, schools with similar populations can wind up with vastly different budgets if they have more experienced and higher paid teachers. The chancellor's new funding formula does away with that system by paying schools the same amount of money per student, with additional percentages based on need.

For example, certain English Language Learners and special education students would get 40-50% more. Kids who are low performing would also get more funding, and so would middle school students because their scores have historically fallen behind. The chancellor says an extra $110 million will go to 693 schools that were under-funded. And schools with a lot of highly paid teachers won't lose any money.

But critics fear principals may be discouraged from hiring more experienced teachers in the future, because they can use the funds for other programs. For WNYC, I'm Beth Fertig.

How the new budget will affect your child’s school