Buy your tickets now! Annual “Skinny” award dinner & disappointing school capital plan
May 11, 2015
Dear Friends,
1. Our “Skinny” award dinner this year will be held on Tuesday June 9, and will honor the parent organizations that led NY’s historic testing opt-out movement: NY State Allies for Education, Change the Stakes and NYC Opt Out. The dinner will includes a four course dinner with wine, and is always one of the most fun evenings of the year. And Diane Ravitch will be there to speak as well!
Please come and celebrate the terrific parents who are leading not just our state but the nation in massive resistance to the damaging Common Core tests. For more information and to buy your tickets now, please click here.
2. Last week, the NYC school capital plan was released. Despite being more than three months late, there were few if any improvements from the November version. Though the mayor plans to build or preserve 200,000 new affordable housing units, and 160,000 additional market-rate units, the DOE only added 100 seats from the November plan for K12 – while adding 4700 preK seats. The DOE proposal to expand the community schools initiative will also need more space for wrap around services in schools where students are already squeezed to the max. Our analysis in our Space Crunch report reveals that the total number of K12 seats in the plan are fewer than half of those needed just to alleviate the worst school overcrowding and address expected enrollment growth.
The Independent Budget Office estimates that it would cost only $150 million in annual expenses to double the number of seats in the plan. Given that a few weeks ago, the DOE proposed to pay $225 million per year for internet wiring to a company that had been involved in a kickback scheme — before the city cancelled the contract after Class Size Matters brought media attention to the proposal –surely the DOE can afford these additional funds to provide our children with the space they need for a better and more equitable chance to learn.
Thanks,
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
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