(09/26/06) BRENTWOOD - An education advocacy group study reveals that Long Island schools are the most segregated in the state, and the districts servicing minorities receive far less funding from Albany than mostly white districts.

The report, compiled by the Alliance for Quality Education and the Campaign for Fiscal Equality, says that 77 percent of fourth-grade students in the wealthier, white districts passed the recent statewide English test, while only 42 percent of whom passed in poorer areas. Billy Easton, of the Alliance for Quality Education, says Albany does New York?s minorities and poor a great disservice by allotting disproportionate funds to the white middle-class. Brentwood Superintendent Michael Cohen calls Long Island the capitol of educational apartheid in America.

New York State is currently being sued by the Campaign for Fiscal Equality. A decision on the lawsuit is expected on October 10th.