20 years of mayoral control: a failed reform
Here and below.
Testimonies & Comments
Testimony on the huge unnecessary cuts to the FY 25 education budget & 5-year capital plan
March 18, 2024 Today, the City Council is holding hearings on the education budget; public testimony begins at about 2:30 PM. You can sign up to speak in person or remotely here, to protest the looming budget cuts, the rising class sizes, and the fact that the DOE has slashed billions from the capital plan, […]
The rally for smaller classes followed by three misleading claims from the DOE & SCA at the class size hearings
By Leonie Haimson & Michael Rance On February 29, dozens of public officials, teachers, parents, and advocates gathered at City Hall and spoke up passionately for smaller classes and the class size law. We’ve included a video of the press conference above, which includes some remarks by Leonie, our Executive Director. Thanks to everyone who […]
Our testimony at yesterday’s Council hearing on class size, where the DOE refused to commit to any action to lower class size, now or in the future
March 1, 2024 The DOE performance at the class size hearing yesterday at the City Council was very depressing. Despite urging by Council Education Chair Rita Joseph and other Council Members, Senators Liu and Robert Jackson, UFT leaders, and many parents, DOE officials refused to commit to any steps to lower class size. Instead, COO […]
New hand-out! FAQ on the new class size law & myths vs. facts.
Our new hand-out with an updated FAQ on the new law, complete with a brief rebuttal of some of the myths surrounding the law here and below.
Our class size presentation at Caucus Weekend; the Road Map towards Compliance with the State Law
Here is the brief presentation I gave as part of a Workshop at the Black and Hispanic Caucus weekend in Albany on Feb. 17, entitled “Every Student Deserves Small Classes: The Road Map towards Compliance with the State Law.” Please share with others if you can!
DOE is moving backwards not forwards on class size; our testimony to the Legislature
Feb. 7, 2024 Here and below is our Feb. 1 testimony to the State legislature on the budget, and how DOE is doing nothing to comply with the new class size law. In fact, as we point out below, class sizes have increased in most schools over the last two years, a trend that is […]
Our 20 year experiment with Mayoral control: comments to the State and to NYC Bar Association
Feb. 6, 2024 Below is the presentation I gave last night to the Education Committee of the NYC Bar Association, on the history and the myths surrounding Mayoral control. Below that is my longer testimony on Mayoral control to the State Education Department, that goes into more depth on these issues. NYSED is supposed to […]
Revenue options for NYC to prevent big budget cuts
Jan. 5, 2024 NYC has plentiful options for raising billions in more funding with the help of the state, including more than $170 million annually if our district was treated the same as any other district in the state by being eligible for charter transition aid and exempt from being forced to pay for charter […]
Please help us continue our work in 2024!
December 20, 2023 In June 2022, NYC students, parents, and teachers had a great victory with the passage of a new state law that would require class sizes be lowered in our public schools, starting this fall. In 2023, we at Class Size Matters worked to try to ensure that the law will be followed […]
Sign up for our annual Skinny Awards on June 12th!
You’re invited! Class Size Matters will hold our annual Skinny Awards on Wednesday, June 12th. You can sign up for the event here.
Take our 5-minute class size survey!
Talk out of School: WBAI Sunday at 7 PM EST or as a podcast
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.
Skinny award dinner honoring Rep. Jamaal Bowman!
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 .
