“At a time when the Regents have imposed higher standards for graduation throughout the State's public schools, it is important that State aid to school districts must be better targeted on those districts with the highest costs and the farthest to go to meet the standards. * * * Throughout history, State Aid to education has not been distributed in a manner that both recognized student need and provided incentives for academic improvement. In addition, schools and districts were not held accountable for the results of education spending. Rather, State Aid has been distributed based primarily on the wealth of a district as measured by its real estate assessments and income of residents (the lower the value of its combined wealth, the more the aid) and its student attendance. Accordingly, State Aid has been distributed on a district's theoretical capacity to pay for education, with limited regard to educating its students to desired levels. The New York City School District has been affected by this process with its near-average wealth and high student need. The result is that the district has never enjoyed State Aid increases that reflect the costs of educating all students to levels accepted in the rest of the State. Student results have shown that many schools have great difficulty in meeting student needs. The State and the nation must face the exorbitant costs for public assistance, criminal justice and lost productivity that such education failure requires.” The current Chancellor of the Regents, Dr. Hayden, was asked, “Do you believe that you have a thorough understanding of the state aid formula system?” He replied, “I do not.” When asked why not, he said, “I think it defies scrutiny * * * quite frankly, I think there are very few people in the State of New York who understand the state aid formula and how it works * * * I believe