July 20, 2021 Late Friday, the DOE finally posted a schedule for Contract for Excellence (C4E) borough hearings, in response to a letter from Wendy Lecker of the Ed Law Center and I sent nearly a month ago, urging them to schedule timely hearings and to take public input seriously in their plan, as the […]
Friday June 25, 2021 Dear folks — It’s down to the wire. The City Council negotiations with the Mayor over next year’s budget are in their final stages, as the budget is due next week. Reportedly, the Mayor is dragging his feet over the Council’s proposal to allocate $250M towards lowering class size. We have […]
See our letter written with the Education Law Center to the DOE Chancellor about the need to hold prompt hearings to gain input from parents and others on how the C4E funding will be spent next year. This public input is legally required and is especially critical now, given that our schools are finally getting […]
NYC educators, parents, students, elected officials explain how class size has a profound impact on learning and the quality of education, especially for disadvantaged and high needs students, and that for the sake of true equity, class sizes should be reduced in NYC and nationwide. If you agree, please sign our petition to the […]
Updated June 14, 2021. Below is our summary of the positions of the leading candidates for NYC Mayor on a range of critical education issues. For maximum readability, download it and read at 100% of its size. Please share with others!
Below and here is our May 25, 2021 testimony before the NYC Council Finance Committee on the FY 2021 budget, in support of a separate allocation of $250 million for class size reduction. Below that is the testimony of Shino Tanikawa, co-chair of the Education Council Consortium, which represents the members of the parent-led Citywide […]
Please ask your legislators to support S.6296 and A. 7447, the bills that would update NYC’s obligation to lower class size by clicking here. The bills have growing support, but time is short! We only have less than two weeks before the Legislature adjourns for the year. Memos of support for these bills have now […]
On Sat. May 22, 2021, we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC and Teens Take Charge, to brainstorm on how parents, educators and students would like the $8B in additional federal and state funds should be spent to meet our students’ needs. Thanks to all her participated! Our terrific keynote […]
May 10, 2021 Exciting news to report! The bill S. 6296 to require NYC to renew its commitment to lowering class size has 10 co-sponsors in the NY State Senate, and a “same as” bill has now been introduced in the Assembly by AM Jo Anne Simon, A. 7447. Please send letters to your legislators […]
We gave this power point presentation to the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council on 5.6.21 on why next year, because of the big increase in state and federal funding, we will have the best opportunity to lower class size, at a time when students will need smaller classes more than ever before. Here it is a […]
Please join us on Wed. June 18 when we will honor Dr. Betty Rosa, former Bronx principal, District Superintendent, Board of Regents member and now NY State Education Commissioner for courageously standing up against the Trump administration on the importance of preserving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in our public schools. Wine and food will be served!
Sign up here for our Annual Parent Action Conference on June 7th 2025, with keynote speaker Jamaal Bowman!
Sign here to urge NYC to implement a real, multi-year strategy to lower class size, as the law intends, without exempting up to half or more of all students.
Talk out of School radio show and podcast airs Sunday night at 7 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM or online at www.wbai.org when Leonie Haimson and Daniel Alicea interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
