Spending on education, as a percent of the city's total budget, has decreased under Mayor Bloomberg by about 1 percent, according to a report by the Education Priorities Panel, confirming concerns expressed by some that mayoral control of the schools would allow the mayor to decrease spending on schools.

The report followed another released recently by the Independent Budget Office that said city spending on schools had increased. But that analysis included the cost of mandatory payments the city makes for teachers' pensions. Actual spending on schools, the EPP said, had decreased slightly, from a high of 21.49 percent in the 2002-2003 fiscal year to 19.99 percent this fiscal year.

Now, education advocates are hoping to see the state follow through on a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity that the state is appealing. The campaign had estimated that the city needed $5.6 billion more in funding to provide students an adequate education. A judge sided with the campaign and ordered the state to create a new funding system for schools. But Gov. George Pataki is appealing that decision, probably delaying the implementation of a new funding formula for at least a year.