Update on DOE class size proposals & more

December 16, 2024

Please sign our petition if you haven’t already, urging DOE to implement a real five-year class size plan, including providing more space for those schools that need it. More than 600 people have so far, but we’d like to get to a thousand signers before the New Year.

Last week, we briefed the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council on the ways in which the DOE has refused to implement a real five-year class size plan. This is especially true for the 495 schools that enroll nearly half of all students, but in DOE’s estimation do not have enough space for smaller classes at their current enrollment.  Our briefing is here; here’s also a video, with our presentation starting at about 10 minutes in.

And yet the DOE is only allowing schools with sufficient space to apply for funds to lower class size; with a deadline of this Friday, Dec. 20 to submit their applications. One update of note: at a recent CEC meeting, a DOE official did say that elementary schools could ask to shift their PreK or 3K classes into nearby Community Based Organizations, whose programs have thousands of empty seats and are generally rated superior in quality to those in public schools. If your child’s school is an elementary school with excessive class sizes and no space to lower them, but has classrooms devoted to 3K/PreK classes, please forward this message to your SLT and principal to let them know they can request to shift those classes in their applications.

2. Finally, Class Size Matters needs your help to keep fighting for smaller classes and the close support that every student needs. We also focus on budget oversight, defending student privacy, and much else, filling in gaps where advocacy is desperately needed to ensure that every education dollar is well spent and that the privacy and safety of students is not jeopardized by irresponsible data practices.

We survive on a bare bones budget and a tiny staff, but even so, we are falling behind what we need to keep going, forcing us to dig into very limited reserves. Several education advocacy groups have recently closed their doors due to lack of funding; it would be awful if we were forced to do the same.

If you value the work that we do, please contribute a tax-deductible donation in any amount you can afford. It would be truly appreciated!