Below and here is our May 25, 2021 testimony before the NYC Council Finance Committee on the FY 2021 budget, in support of a separate allocation of $250 million for class size reduction. Below that is the testimony of Shino Tanikawa, co-chair of the Education Council Consortium, which represents the members of the parent-led Citywide […]
On Sat. May 22, 2021, we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC and Teens Take Charge, to brainstorm on how parents, educators and students would like the $8B in additional federal and state funds should be spent to meet our students’ needs. Thanks to all her participated! Our terrific keynote […]
We gave this power point presentation to the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council on 5.6.21 on why next year, because of the big increase in state and federal funding, we will have the best opportunity to lower class size, at a time when students will need smaller classes more than ever before. Here it is a […]
Check out the fact sheet here or below. If you support smaller classes, please urge your CEC or community group to support this resolution. Please also sign our petition here.
This model resolution is also posted as a pdf here. The Chancellors Parent Advisory Council passed a similar one in 2021, as did Community Board 2 , Community Board 5 and Community Board 12, all in Manhattan, Community Education Council 8, Community Education Council 15, CEC 27 and the Education Council Consortium. Community Education Council […]
UPDATE: 4/7/21 Thankfully, the completed state budget does NOT have any increase in the number of charter schools allowed under the cap; nor does it revive the “zombie” charters! April 5, 2021 I just heard from a connected source that raising the charter cap and/or reviving the “zombie” charters is still on the table in […]
The NY Daily News and WCBS-TV covered the lack of matching funds issue. We summarized our findings in Gotham Gazette on both the DOE overspending on charter rent and underspending on facility enhancements for co-located public schools. In March 2022, State Senators Liu and Jackson along with Council Education Chair Rita Joseph sent a letter […]
City Council Education budget hearings were held yesterday. See our testimony below, advocating for a billion dollars of the federal funds NYC will receive of the $2.5 billion be used for smaller classes below for the sake of health, safety and to address the damage done by more than a year of remote learning.
By law, the DOE is supposed to report on class sizes twice a year, the first time on Nov. 15 and then again on Feb. 15. We had heard from parents of egregiously large classes sizes this fall for many students engaged in remote learning of sixty students or even more, either full-time or part-time. […]
A pdf of this testimony is posted here. Class Size Matters Testimony on Impact of COVID-19 on Student Learning and Academic Achievement January 20, 2021 Thank you for holding these oversight hearings today. My name is Leonie Haimson and I am the Executive Director of Class Size Matters. Recent articles in the NY Post [1], […]
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.
We held our annual Skinny award dinner Wed. June 28, 2023, honoring Rep. Jamaal Bowman, former Bronx principal and now a progressive trailblazer who is fighting in Congress to protect and improve our public schools. More photos on Facebook .
