June 13, 2017 1. The NY State Ed Department has been holding hearings on its ESSA plan. You can check out my account of the Brooklyn hearings; my testimony is here. You can send your own comments through through June 16 on what you think the State should measure to assess the quality of schools […]
May 25, 2017 It’s that time of year again! Our 2017 Annual Skinny Award Dinner will be held Tuesday, June 20 at 6:30 PM at Il Bastardo/Bocca di Bacco, 191 Seventh Ave., in Manhattan. We will be serving a three course dinner with wine, and will honor those individuals who gave us the real “skinny” […]
July 20, 2017 Some important news to report. First the bad news: 1- The House Appropriations Committee voted yesterday to zero out and totally eliminate more than $2 billion in Title II funds, which are used in many schools to reduce class size, keep teachers on staff, and/or improve teacher quality. If the full House […]
News articles about our legal complaint were reported by in WNYC Schoolbook: Parents Push NY to Enforce Smaller Class Size Law, NY1: Here’s how parents aim to reduce class sizes of city public schools, and the Queens Chronicle: Obey the Law, School Parents Tell City DOE For Immediate Release: July 6, 2017 Contact: […]
Here is data on the increase in class size since 2007, including class sizes of 30 or more, and the long term trend since 1998.
June 16, 2017 Only a few days are left in the NY legislative term, and the NY State Senate leadership and now Gov. Cuomo are pushing a deal to exchange the extension of Mayoral control in NYC for more charter schools and/or a tuition tax credit for religious and private schools. One of the bills […]
This testimony along with the Opportunity to Learn index is downloadable as a pdf here. Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters June 6, 2017 Good evening, Regent Cashin, Regent Reyes, and Commissioner Elia. My name is Leonie Haimson and I’m the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing class size in […]
It was just reported that Congress will vote early this week on an education budget that would cut Title IIA funds by $300 million — which are used by districts across the country to keep teachers on staff and prevent class size increases. In NYC, 100% of these funds or $101 million are spent […]
Yesterday afternoon I attended an amazing School Leadership Team meeting at Central Park East I, the renowned East Harlem progressive elementary school founded in 1974 by Debbie Meier. Since Monica Garg was appointed the principal last year, the school has devolved into angry accusations by parents, teachers and alumnae that she is intent on undermining […]
Tomorrow Wed. April 5 at 4:30 PM we will rally outside Governor Cuomo’s office at 633 3rd Ave. (40th/41st), to protest his refusal to adequately fund our public schools and his insistence on expanding charters and raising their funding. Please join us; come with your kids and bring signs! The NY state budget is deadlocked […]
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.
