Problems with DOE’s proposed “plan” for Contract for Excellence funds and upcoming hearings

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 C4E law requires.

The first hearing is this Thursday, July 22 in Brooklyn at 6:30 PM at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math & Science for Young Women, 283 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11201

Other hearings will follow the week of Aug. 2-Aug 5 in the other boroughs:

Monday, August 2, 2021 – Bronx – PS 306 – 40 West Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453

Tuesday, August 3, 2021 – Staten Island – The Michael J. Petrides School, 715 Ocean Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301, – ABP Hall of Science

Wednesday, August 4, 2021 – Queens – P.S. 212 – 34-25 82nd St, Queens, NY 11372

Thursday, August 5, 2021 – Manhattan – TBD

Wendy Lecker and I followed up with two emails to Robin Singer, DOE attorney, that are posted in their entirety here.

Wendy wrote that allocating all the additional C4E funds to Fair Student Funding (FSF), as the DOE implied they would in this summary does not comply with the law in that the C4E law requires the spending in six specific areas, including class size reduction, while FSF provides principals with almost unlimited flexibility as to the use of these funds.

This lack of adherence to the intent and language of the law is more important than ever as the city will be getting about $530M in additional C4E funds this year, approximately doubling the usual amount, following the Legislature’s decision to fully fund the CFE decision over the next three years.

My email pointed out additional problems, including that there is much missing financial information in what is posted online about the DOE proposal, and no information as to how the public can provide comments via writing, which the regs require.

We have additional serious concerns regarding DOE’s proposal would allow for supplanting , meaning the state funds could be used to replace city budget cuts, which is prohibited by law. There are also real problems with the way in which the Contracts for Excellence School Allocation memo allows principals to use these funds to support all sorts of activities and programs that are not specified in the C4E law.

If people are able to speak at the Brooklyn hearing or subsequent ones, please let us know by emailing [email protected]  If so, we’d be happy to supply you with some talking points which you can use if you like.

Also: School Leadership Teams are supposed to be meeting over the summer to give input about how their schools will use their Fair Student Funding. These meetings are open to any parent or community member who would like to attend. If you are a SLT member or a parent or teacher who would like to urge your school to use additional funds to lower class size, please let us know.

Thanks Leonie