Testimonies & Comments

Our comments on the DOE’s class size reduction plan & their inadequate response

August 28 update:  The Daily News published an article about our letter and the fact that DOE omitted its only promise for the coming school year from its revised class size plan, and no longer promises that schools that complied with the class size caps in the law last year would receive support and funding […]

August 22, 2023 in Testimonies & Comments, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Urge the DOE to take positive steps to lower class size & comply with the law!

August 15, 2023 Dear all – I hope you are having a delightful and restful summer. I wanted to bring to your attention that the DOE has posted an updated draft class size reduction plan that omits the only promise made in their previous plan – that they would help ensure that the schools that […]

August 15, 2023 in Newsletters, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Comments on class size paper by Matthew Chingos and Ariella Meltzer

August 3, 2023 Comments on paper by Matthew Chingos and Ariella Meltzer, “Class Size Reductions May Be Inequitably Distributed under a New Mandate in New York City” The primary claim made in this paper is that lowering class size would inequitably benefit white and Asian students rather than Black and Hispanic students, who tend to […]

August 14, 2023 in Testimonies & Comments, Updates by

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Comments on IBO brief on class size reduction costs

Articles about the IBO estimate were published in the Daily News and Gothamist. July 12, 2023 Comments on IBO brief on class size reduction costs: It is surprising that the IBO came out with a higher estimate of the staffing cost for the new class size reduction law than the city’s estimate– $1.6- $1.8 billion […]

July 12, 2023 in Testimonies & Comments, Updates by

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Analysis of NYC school budget cuts; updated

Updated 6.29.23 with new analysis excluding summer school cuts and D 75 schools While the DOE stated that no initial school budgets for next year would be cut compared to initial budgets this year, more than a third (33.8%) of NYC public schools show a cut in their total Galaxy budgets for next year as […]

June 23, 2023 in Reports & Memos, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Our 2023 Parent Action Conference was a great success! 

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 22, 2023 in Events, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Initial school budgets for next year are $824 million less than their total budgets this year; check out your school’s budget here!

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 […]

June 16, 2023 in Reports & Memos, Uncategorized, Updates by

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Check out how many school seats are being cut from your district here!

Check out the table below and here to see how many seats are being cut from your district, according to the DOE’s proposed capital budget, which slashes spending for new capacity by $2.3 billion and the number of new seats by 38%. If you school district is not mentioned, that’s because DOE is planning to […]

June 12, 2023 in Reports & Memos, Updates by

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The Mayor claims his budget contains no cuts to schools; but that is not true.

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.

June 11, 2023 in Presentations, Uncategorized, Updates by

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The new class size law: is DOE prepared to comply?

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.

June 11, 2023 in Presentations, Uncategorized, Updates by

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