On Saturday, June 10th we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids Pac. Many committed parent and teacher activists met via Zoom. We began the conference with powerful remarks from Council Member Alexa Avilés about her decision as a PTA co-president to run for office, and what the biggest challenges she faced […]
June 20, 2023 Eight days from now, on Wed. June 28th, we will be holding our annual Skinny dinner in honor of Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a former NYC principal and a great force for change in the US Congress. Rep. Bowman has sponsored two terrific bills that would change the face of education in NYC […]
Though the DOE claims that there are no cuts to schools’ initial budgets for next year compared to their initial budgets this year, their total Galaxy budgets are $824 million less than they were at the end of this year, according to our analysis as of June 14th. Check out that link for a spreadsheet […]
Our presentation at our annual Parent Action Conference on June 10, 2023. Here we explain why the fact that schools are not seeing initial budget cuts compared to last year doesn’t mean they are not facing serious cuts that may lead to the further loss of teachers and critical programs.
Here is our presentation from our Parent Action Conference on June 10, 2023; where we ask if the DOE is making preparations to comply with the new class size law. The answer is no. You can also read my new piece in Gotham Gazette on the same subject.
The data is the latest DOE has made available from last year’s 2021-2022 Enrollment, Capacity and Utilization Report 2021 – 2022 or the “Blue Book.” For a larger view that is easier to use with a few more features, check out the CSM github map here. By using the dropdown box on the upper right […]
May 23, 2023 Though the NYC Comptroller and others continue to use figures for school budget cuts this year that refer only to the reductions made to their Fair Student Funding allocations, for the last year or so we’ve been calculating the actual level of the much larger cuts to their entire budgets, called their […]
May 22, 2023 On Friday, DOE posted what is purported to be their draft five- year class size reduction plan, in accordance with the new state law. As I was quoted in the Daily News, “It’s a big nothing burger. There is no plan. They’re hoping just to coast on enrollment decline until it’s too […]
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 […]
Corrected link to Feb. capital plan and Michelle Joseph’s email address below. I have also added the email of another PEP member Lily Chan. Unfortunately, eight out of 23 PEP members still do not have their email addresses posted on the DOE website. Please also speak at tomorrow’s PEP meeting if you can about the […]
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 .
