the State truly puts adequate resources into the classroom , it satisfies its constitutional promise under the Education Article, even though student performance remains substandard" (majority opn at 8 [emphasis supplied]). If "outputs" are irrelevant as long as funding is adequate, it seems inconsistent for the majority here to look to the same outputs to measure whether the "sound basic education" standard has been met in the first place. Judge Smith, of course, straightforwardly embraces the RLSs. 36 This stands in marked contrast to Kentucky, the state always cited as the success story for school finance reform litigation (see Rose v Council for Better Educ., Inc., 790 SW2d 186 [Ky 1989]). In the 1980's Kentucky ranked forty-eighth among the states in per pupil and per capita expenditures on public schools ( see Molly A. Hunter, All Eyes Forward: Public Engagement and Educational Reform in Kentucky, 28 J L & Educ 485 [Oct. 1999]). In the 1980's Kentucky also “was fiftieth among the states in adult literacy and adults with high school diplomas, [and] fortyninth in college-going rate, * * *. [I]n the Appalachian counties over 48% of the population was functionally illiterate” ( id. at 486). The Kentucky Supreme Court in Rose declared the state's entire statutory framework for the common schools unconstitutional; that is, for example, statutes or regulations bearing on teacher certification as well as those bearing on finance. 37 For this reason as well as the sheer relative size of the New York City school district, I view the majority's forbearance from a Statewide remedy, which Judge Smith would straightforwardly adopt, as illusory in practical effect as is the majority's standard to define a sound basic education. 38 Paynter is instructive on the point of whether increased funding is a panacea for poor educational outcomes. According to the Paynter plaintiffs at oral argument, the Rochester City School District has had the highest paid teachers in the State since 1997, all of whom are certified, as well as new buildings and books, yet graduates only 26% of its students. Thus the Paynter plaintiffs claimed no funding inadequacy. The Rochester City School District, however, filed an amicus curiae brief on this appeal, stating that it "continues to suffer from grossly inadequate State and local funding" (brief, p 16). 39 For example, as part of a comprehensive effort to improve special education, "long * * * the source of the most intractable and costly of the city's education ills," the Chancellor plans to streamline the screening process by eliminating an additional