Feb. 12, 2023 Below see Class Size Matters’ testimony from last week’s State education budget hearings, which describe some of the many reasons we are extremely concerned that the DOE is not prepared to meet the class size limits in the new state law, especially in the out years, given repeated cuts to school budgets, […]
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, […]
January 25, 2023 For my account of these hearings, and the disappointing testimony of Deputy Chancellor Weisberg, see the NYC Public School Parent blog here. You can also read Jenn Choi’s testimony at that link, about the hurdles students with disabilities face being admitted to schools that meet their needs and allow them to reach […]
January 13, 2023 Yesterday, the Mayor released his preliminary budget for next year. DOE as a whole would be cut by another $800 million, over and above a cut of an additional $176 million made in November. Though more than $500 million of these reductions appear to relate to the decision to halt the further […]
January 12, 2023 Yesterday, we re-ran the numbers on the Galaxy cuts to schools for this year, and the total net cuts at this point compared to last year are now at $823 million. Fully 86% of schools have experienced cuts to their budgets totaling $893 million, averaging about $655,000 each. See the table below. […]
December 19, 2022 It’s been something of a banner year for Class Size Matters, as we helped get a new law passed that will obligate NYC schools to lower class size in all grades, to be phased-in starting next fall. This has been our top priority since we launched our organization over twenty years ago, […]
Nov. 29, 2022 Dear all — I know you must be bombarded with emails today about Giving Tuesday, but Class Size Matters would truly appreciate your support, so we can continue our work for smaller classes and a more accountable Dept of Education in 2023. Please donate today. Here is just some of what we’ve […]
A summary and most of the legal filings in the case are posted here. Here are news clips from the NY Times, the Daily News, Chalkbeat and Gothamist. For immediate release: November 22, 2022 For more information: Laura Barbieri, lbarbieri@advocatesny.com; 914-819-3387 Leonie Haimson, leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329 Attorney and plaintiffs express regret at Appellate Court decision […]
For immediate release: Nov. 16, 2022 For more information: Leonie Haimson, leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329 NYC class sizes this year increase sharply in all grade spans except for high school Parent leaders, advocates & elected officials demand DOE create a Task Force to develop plan to lower class size in compliance with new state law […]
Updated 11/18/2022. See our press release about the new class size data, which has sparked concerns among electeds, parents, teachers that the DOE is not prepared to comply with the new state law, and urging the Chancellor to form a task force as soon as possible to help develop the class size reduction plan.
You’re invited! Class Size Matters will hold our annual Skinny Awards on Wednesday, June 12th. You can sign up for the event here.
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 .
