Testimonies & Comments

Why Mayoral control needs to be amended

March 4, 2022 Check out my  testimony below and here, on why Mayoral control needs to be amended at the March 4 joint legislative hearings , which were the best in twenty years since this undemocratic and dysfunctional governance system was established. I explain why in my account of the proceedings; you can also  watch […]

March 11, 2022 in Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized by

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Support the bill that would make the Board of Regents the final arbiter of charter school approvals!

Below is the memo of support for S7666A and A8801 that we just sent the bill sponsors, Sen. Liu and AM Benedetto.   Organizations should send in their own memos of support for this important bill.

February 23, 2022 in Reports & Memos, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Please urge your legislators to require NYC to lower class size via the state budget!

See the letter below, sent today to NY state legislators from Class Size Matters, the Alliance for Quality Education, the Education Law Center and NYC Kids PAC, urging them to require NYC to lower class size  in their one-house budgets, so that the additional state funding our schools are due to receive will be invested […]

February 14, 2022 in Campaigns, Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Tomorrow is the deadline for comments on urging the Office of Civil Rights to collect data on class size

Feb. 10, 2022 Accurate data on class size is nearly impossible to find in many districts across the country.  The Office of Civil Rights of the US Dept. of Education is asking the public what additional data they should collect, with a deadline of tomorrow Friday Feb. 11 at 5 PM. If you’d like to […]

February 10, 2022 in Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized, Updates by

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State budget testimony on class size and the broken Contracts for Excellence program

January 26, 2022 Today the state budget hearings are being held for education.  Below are the testimonies submitted by Class Size Matters and the Education Law Center, mostly focused on class size. Clearly the Contracts for Excellence process is broken, with non-compliance by DOE and lax enforcement by the State Education Department.  This probably needs […]

January 26, 2022 in Testimonies & Comments, Updates by

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Letter from CSM, Education Law Center & AQE to DOE & NYSED about their inadequate C4E plan

January 13, 2022 Check out the letter below and here from the Education Law Center, Alliance for Quality Education and Class Size Matters on the inadequate DOE proposed Contract for Excellence plan for the current school year, which is not aligned with the law,  as well as the faulty schedule of hearings and public comment […]

January 13, 2022 in Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized, Updates by

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why reduce class size especially now? UFT Queens parent presentation

On Saturday, 11/20/21,  I gave the following presentation to participants at the Queens parent conference on why we must reduce class size in NYC schools and how you can help.  Also downloadable at https://tinyurl.com/Queensclasssize. If you’d like to invite us  to your meeting, please email us at [email protected].  thanks!

November 20, 2021 in Presentations, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Compelling testimony on the need to lower class size from Regent Cashin, Diane Ravitch, Elsie McCabe Thompson and others

Oct. 28, 2021 Much of the testimony yesterday at the City Council was compelling about the importance of lowering class size and the need to pass Intro 2374 for the sake of NYC students.  Class Size Matters testimony is here. Testimony of Michael Mulgrew, UFT President, is here. An article about these hearings is here.  […]

October 27, 2021 in Reports, Testimonies, Etc., Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Class Size Matters testimony in support of class size reduction bill Intro 2374

Oct. 27, 2021 Video of Leonie Haimson is above, testifying on behalf of Intro 2374 at the Oct. 26 NYC Council hearings. Class Size Matters written testimony is below.  The bill would effectively lower class size by enlarging the per student space required in classrooms.  The testimony and videos of some of the other witnesses […]

October 27, 2021 in Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized, Updates by

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DOE Instructional footprints shrinking through time

The original 2007 DOE Instructional Footprint, used to guide space allocation and changes in school utilization including co-locations, assumed class sizes of twenty students per class in grades K-3, and 25  students in grades 4-5 in non-Title One schools.  (It did not say what class sizes were assumed for Title One schools). In 2009, however, […]

October 26, 2021 in Reports & Memos, Uncategorized by

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