April 25, 2023 It’s crunch time for the budget. We are now getting word from insiders that a budget deal may be finalized soon that would include allowing 22 more “zombie” charter schools above the cap, the number of charters which closed or never opened, which could turn into 66 more charters, due to a […]
Our education budget priorities for next year, FY 2024, along with Alliance for Quality Education, NYC Kids PAC and the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council are here and below . They are focused on the need for schools to have their budgets restored and the cuts made this year reversed, and for the capital plan for […]
Updated March 5, 2023 You can send an email to your Legislators here, in opposition to Gov. Hochul’s proposal to lift the NYC charter cap and that instead the charter law needs to be strengthened, to eliminate NYC’s onerous and unfair obligation to provide all new and expanding charter schools with space, remove loopholes which […]
Feb. 7, 2023 Last week, Gov. Hochul proposed raising the cap on charter schools so that 100-300 more could be authorized statewide and in NYC, since every new charter school is allowed to expand to all grade levels. Charters are already costing the city about $3 billion per year, and this could double the cost, […]
Oct. 21, 2022 Dear all: 1. Last spring, the Legislature overwhelming passed a class size bill, S9460/ A10498, requiring that NYC implement a five-year class size reduction plan beginning in the fall of 2022. On Sept. 8, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law, based upon an agreement that the five-year phase-in period […]
On June 2, 2022 the Legislature overwhelming passed the class size bill, S9460/ A10498, by a vote of 59-4 in the Senate and 147-2 in the Assembly. The bill required that NYC implement a five-year class size reduction plan beginning in the fall of 2022. On Sept. 8, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill […]
May 20, 2022 Dear folks — 1. The State Legislature will be in session only for twenty more days. Please call your Legislators today and urge them to pass the bills that would require NYC to phase in smaller classes in all grades. Tell them to support and bring to the floor for […]
April 27, 2022 Yesterday, Mayor Adams announced his executive budget, and though he he added $1.2 billion for various initiatives, including even more funding for the police, he is still planning to cut school budgets by $375 million over the next three years, which combined with unidentified school budget “efficiency savings” of this year, would […]
Since this post was written, the Education Law Center has released a similar analysis . According to an estimate from the Independent Budget Office, NYC schools have lost more than $2 billion in state aid between 2012 and 2020, because they are the only district in the state that is exempted from receiving state transitional […]
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 […]
Sign the petition asking for a moratorium on the use of AI until rigorous safeguards are established to protect student privacy, learning and the environment.
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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, Daniel Alicea and Kaliris Salas Ramirez interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here at Simplecast; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
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.
