Below is the letter sent out on February 13, 2020 to NYSED about Earth Day and the state middle school math test. Class Size Matters, Senator Jackson’s office, Teachers for the Future, and various other organizations and officials signed off on this letter to reschedule the math exams and support student climate strikes, as well […]
Feb. 11, 2020 Please help us urge the Speaker and NYC Council to invest $100 million in hiring additional teachers to lower class size, starting first in the early grades and in struggling schools. This would pay for the salaries of about 1,000 new teachers, which could reduce class size in as many as 4,000 […]
Update: 10/26/2023: The SCA has posted a spreadsheet that shows how many seats were lost in the 2021-2022 school year that includes the seats lost in 2019-2020, but has added no other information required by law. The spreadsheet lists “0” for the number of seats lost in a D75 school on Staten Island, at 669 […]
The Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department are re-examining the use of Regents “exit exams” as a requirement for high school graduation, and are holding a series of regional public sessions to gather input from parents, teachers and other stakeholders before making any changes to the current policy. These meetings will […]
You can download a PDF version here. What are we proposing? Class Size Matters is urging that the Mayor and NYC Council allocate $100 million to be allocated towards hiring teachers to lower class size, starting first in the early grades and in struggling schools. That amount could pay for the salaries of about 1,000 new […]
Jan. 14, 2020 1.Yesterday, the class size lawsuit against the city and the state that we filed more than a year ago, along with nine NYC parents from every borough and the Alliance for Quality Education, was heard in the Appellate court in Albany. Our pro bono attorney, Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center, […]
Dec. 31, 2019 Dear Friend: I wanted to let you know that we just heard yesterday that the appeal of our class size lawsuit vs the DOE Chancellor and State Education Commissioner, Agostini vs. Elia, will be heard on Monday, January 13 at 1 PM in the Appellate Court in Albany. We filed the […]
Here are power point presentations explaining why class size is important, and with data showing citywide and district-specific class size trends since 2006. Class size in NYC schools including citywide long term trends and what should be done Here are class size trends for every community school district over time, organized by borough and by […]
The NY Assembly Education chair Michael Benedetto and other members of the Education committee held hearings today on Mayoral control which the Legislature renewed with minor changes last spring until June 2022. More on these hearings on the NYC public school parent blog here. My testimony is below; but in response to questions I also […]
Dec. 3, 2019 My testimony to the NY Senate on the Foundation aid funding to schools in NYC and statewide is below.
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 .
