Tonight’s Talk out of School, new capital plan cuts to schools, the charter cap and more!

March 5, 2023

• Tonight, Sunday on the WBAI radio show #Talk out of School at 7 PM EST,  I’ll be interviewing new PEP member Naveed Hasan on the influx of refugee children in NYC schools – are they getting enough support? Also, parent advocate Cassie Creswell will talk about the fascinating Chicago mayoral race in which Paul Vallas, former Chicago schools CEO & privatizer, is facing off against Brandon Johnson, former Chicago teacher & union organizer. Please listen at wbai.org and/or 99.8 FM and call in!

• The newest proposed amendment to the capital plan was released last week, and compared to the capital plan adopted in June 2021, the DOE/SCA wants to cut the number of seats funded to be built by 38% — or over 21,000. Here is a chart.  These reductions are inconceivable, especially considering more than 300,000 students are enrolled in overcrowded schools according to the latest available data, and DOE is required to start lowering class size next fall. Yet nowhere in the hundreds of pages of the capital plan is the new state class size law even mentioned. For a briefing on the overcrowding in your district, and what these capital plan cuts would mean for your your schools’ ability to lower class size, email us at info@classsizematters.org

• The resolution we helped draft in opposition to the Governor’s proposal to raise the charter cap has now been passed in different versions by CECs in Districts 4, 21, 28 and the Jamaica branch of the NAACP, and will be voted on by CPAC this week. We also have an updated version of our presentation on the history of the charter cap and the many abuses of the charter industry. Let us know if you’d like us to brief your CEC or other community group.  And remember to  send an email to the Governor and your legislators in opposition to raising the cap.

• Finally, this Tuesday March 7 at 11 AM in front of Tweed, the People’s Plan and many other organizations including Class Size Matters are co-sponsoring a rally to oppose the Mayor’s austerity budget for next year, which includes big cuts to education and other agencies. Please join us;  more information here.

thanks Leonie

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
phone: 917-435-9329
leonie@classsizematters.org
www.classsizematters.org
Follow on twitter @leoniehaimson
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Host of “Talk out of School” WBAI radio show and podcast at https://talk-out-of-school.simplecast.com/