Chalkbeat

Preschool funding, school food, and other key education issues take center stage at budget hearing

2024-05-15T22:39:24+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

As New York City schools stand to lose nearly $1 billion in the next fiscal year, City Council members pressed Education Department officials on how the looming drop in funding could impact the city’s early childhood system, school cafeteria menus, and other key education programs.

The Wednesday hearing came as City Council members and Mayor Eric Adams continue to negotiate the city’s budget for the next fiscal year, which is due by July 1.

Last month, Adams unveiled a budget proposal that would see the city’s Education Department funding shrink by 2.4%, or $808 million, next year — largely spurred by the expiration of billions of dollars of one-time federal COVID relief funds. Despite that drop in funding, the proposed budget devotes half a billion dollars in city and state funds to preserve several education programs currently propped up by the expiring federal dollars, including money for hundreds of social workers, the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds, and new staffers working in homeless shelters.

Other programs that have relied on the federal funds, however, remain at risk.

Education Department officials acknowledged the difficulties presented by the expiring federal funds, noting that they’ve advocated for the continuation of all such programs. Specific decisions about which programs to devote long-term city funding to have been made by the city’s Office of Management and Budget, said Emma Vadehra, the department’s chief operating officer.

Questions also centered on how the city’s schools would be impacted by sweeping cuts that Adams has ordered city agencies to enact over the past year to help cover costs for services to an influx of migrants. Under that separate directive, the Education Department faces more than $700 million in cuts to city funding for specific programs next year, including roughly $170 million slashed from early childhood programs. (The city’s overall contribution to the Education Department’s budget would still rise by nearly $1.6 billion under Adams’ proposal, though it’s not enough to offset the vast drop in federal funding next year.)

Schools Chancellor David Banks told council members it’s been “very challenging” to select certain programs to prioritize.

“I mean, it’s like, ‘Which one is your favorite child?’” he said. “These are all wonderfully, amazing programs. We don’t want to lose any of them.”

Here’s a look at some of the key education issues that arose during the hearing:

Council member clashes with DOE over preschool programs

Though Adams’ proposed budget would replace $92 million of expiring federal funding for 3-K — the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds — it does not restore a separate $170 million cut to city funding for early childhood programs. City Council members repeatedly expressed concerns over that cut during the hearing, seeking further details from Education Department officials about the potential impact of reduced funding.

Building up the free prekindergarten system for the city’s 3- and 4-year-olds was a centerpiece of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. Under Adams, the sector has been plagued with problems, including declining enrollment and lengthy payment delays to community organizations running programs.

On Wednesday, Education Department officials contended those issues had been inherited from the prior administration. They pointed to some improving metrics in the city’s early childhood system, stating enrollment in such programs had grown to roughly 114,000 children. That was up from 97,000 children earlier this year, according to city data released in November. Meanwhile, the average processing time for payments for early childhood providers had decreased to roughly 11 days.

Officials added they’ve worked to shift existing seats to neighborhoods with higher demand.

Capacity for the city’s 3-K program is roughly 53,000 seats, with about 44,000 filled, according to figures shared by Education Department officials during the hearing.

In one particularly contentious exchange, Brooklyn Council Member Lincoln Restler questioned why Education Department officials were unable to say definitively how many seats the city’s preschool programs would be able to offer next year after the $170 million cut.

“These are the cuts that the mayor has proposed that he wants to implement to your agency: What would be the impact of them?” he said. “How many fewer seats would you have? This is like the most plain, simple, obvious question that we were going to get all day. I’m a little disappointed that we’re not getting a straight answer.”

Education Department officials said any reductions would be focused in areas where seats aren’t filled.

Restler also pressed department officials for details about the full release of a report on 3-K seats. City officials hired the consulting firm Accenture last year to “map out needs and seats” as the program grappled with thousands of vacancies.

Officials previously said Accenture would be paid $760,000 to compile the report. But on Wednesday, Education Department officials cited a significantly lower figure of “$350,000 or $250,000.” They did not provide a precise timeline for the release.

City officials did not immediately explain the discrepancy between the two figures.

Budget cuts prompt concerns over school food

City Council members also expressed concerns over how budget cuts to school food would affect students next year. A $60 million November cut to the city’s school foods budget sparked outcry earlier this year, as the reduced funding forced cafeterias to remove popular items like chicken dumplings and bean and cheese burritos from their menus.

Though the city later restored some of those menu items, council members questioned whether the lingering cuts would impact cafeteria menus in the coming school year.

“We are monitoring this very closely,” Vadehra said. “We are very invested in making sure all of these food options stay on the menu for students next year.”

City officials express concerns over state funding

Education Department officials noted multiple times during the hearing that although state funding for the city’s schools increased for the coming fiscal year, the city is getting less than expected. A change to the formula determining how much money is sent to districts left New York City schools with $126 million less than anticipated.

Over the coming year, the state’s Education Department will partner with the Rockefeller Institute to conduct a longer term examination of that formula, in hopes of implementing further changes, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last month.

“Our costs do continue to grow each year, which is why it’s important the state’s contribution — which is a lesser proportion of our budget now than it was 20 years ago — continues to increase,” Vadehra said.

City Education Department officials also told council members they had not yet received sufficient funding to fully implement a state law mandating smaller class sizes. But the department will continue to invest in hiring additional teachers and expanding classroom space to remain in compliance with the law, officials said.

An additional $180 million will go to school budgets, with around $135 million explicitly earmarked for compliance with the state class size law, Vadehra said. She estimated those funds would allow for hiring between 1,200 and 2,000 new teachers.

“Assuming those teachers can be found,” she added.

Education programs still at risk as fiscal cliff looms

City Council members drew attention to several education programs that have relied on expiring federal funds and are not included in the mayor’s proposed budget — including $65 million funding roughly 400 contracted school nurses, as well as millions of dollars to support restorative justice programs.

Education Department officials were unable to say during the hearing how many schools would be left without a nurse as that funding dries up later this year. Currently, every public school in the city has at least one nurse in the building.

Meanwhile, restorative justice programs, which aim to resolve conflict through peer mediation and other less punitive methods, are at risk of losing more than half of their current budget as the federal funds expire. Education Department officials said roughly $8 million of the $13.6 million committed to restorative justice programs this year comes from expiring federal dollars.

At the hearing, Banks encouraged council members to advocate for the funding to be restored.

“You all are still engaged in the process,” he said. “You can certainly, as you are engaged in this conversation and negotiations, push to make sure that [restorative justice] gets restored.”

In total, the city’s Education Department faces a gap of more than $200 million in expiring federal funds for education programming next year, officials said.

Alex Zimmerman contributed reporting.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

As NYC’s education budget hits a fiscal cliff, Adams saves several school programs

2024-04-24T21:51:44+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

New York City public schools would see its budget shrink by 2.4%, or $808 million, next fiscal year under a more detailed budget presented by Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday.

The smaller budget is largely the result of expiring federal relief dollars, and Adams’ proposal saves a slew of programs that were on the chopping block because they were financed with one-time money that flooded into city coffers in the wake of the pandemic.

Officials announced last week that they will use more than $500 million in city and state funds to keep hundreds of social workers, new staffers working in homeless shelters, and an expansion of preschool for 3-year-olds, among other initiatives.

“We inherited fiscal cliffs,” Adams said during a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday. “We had to continue to fund these programs in a real way.”

Overall, the city’s contribution to the Education Department’s budget would rise by nearly $1.6 billion under Adams’ proposal, though not enough to completely offset the $2.4 billion drop in federal funding next year. The state’s contribution is set to increase by $202 million. The mayor’s proposed operating budget for the department is $32.2 billion.

Advocates and City Council leaders have praised Adams’ efforts to find funding for programs that were operated with one-time money. But he has also faced criticism over the past year for ordering sweeping cuts to city agencies to help finance services for an influx of migrants.

Those reductions have not been fully reversed, and the Education Department faces over $700 million in cuts next year under that directive, including $170 million less for early childhood programs and the elimination of vacant non-classroom positions.

Adams’ budget replaces expiring 3-K funding, but advocates say it’s not enough

Adams has faced significant blowback for scaling back the city’s ambitious plan to offer universal free preschool programs for 3-year-olds, also known as 3-K, a promise made by Mayor Bill de Blasio and financed with the one-time federal dollars.

Adam’s budget replaces $92 million of expiring federal funding for 3-K, but does not restore the broader $170 million cut in city funding for preschool programs. Schools Chancellor David Banks said during a City Council hearing last month that those cuts are “extremely hurtful to the entire enterprise of early childhood” and predicted that they would be restored.

But even without replacing those early childhood cuts, Adams insisted on Wednesday that every family who wants a 3-K seat will have access to one. Officials are now planning to spend $5 million on outreach efforts to get the word out about the program, though Adams previously argued that vacant slots suggested the program needed to be “right-sized.”

“How do you have 23,000 vacant pre-K, 3-K, seats and we see that as a great program?” Adams said. “No. A great program is when we place those babies in those seats.”

Early childhood advocates were skeptical that the mayor’s efforts would be enough to guarantee every child a seat. They pointed out that the $92 million commitment to replace federal funding for 3-K expansion is for one year only, though city officials said they’re looking for longer-term funding sources.

“Without further investments in the child care system, the City will not be able to fulfill the Mayor’s crucial promise,” Gregory Brender, the chief policy and innovation officer at the Day Care Council, wrote in a statement. “The Executive Budget remains a perilous proposal for New York City’s early childhood education system.”

Advocates also pointed out that the city has only partially replaced federal funding that Adams used to bolster special education preschool programs, even as officials acknowledged last month that hundreds of students with disabilities don’t have access to seats to which they’re legally entitled.

The Education Department’s budget could still change

The mayor’s budget is still subject to negotiations with the City Council, which must pass a final budget by July 1.

Advocates and local lawmakers are pushing for Adams to fund a handful of other initiatives whose funding is not guaranteed after this year.

Those include restorative justice initiatives that encourage peer mediation and other methods of resolving conflicts to reduce punitive methods like suspensions; a mental health program for students at 50 high-need high schools; and a program that offers subsidized child care for undocumented families. City Council officials also pointed to the need for more funding for school building upgrades, as fewer than 1 in 3 of the city’s schools are fully accessible to people with physical disabilities.

“We are relieved that many of the education programs supported with federal stimulus funding are no longer in jeopardy,” Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, an organization that works on behalf of low-income families, wrote in a statement. “We urge City leaders to go further to prevent the loss of other critical supports that students and families need.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams commits $500 million to partially avert fiscal cliff for NYC schools

2024-04-19T17:01:03+00:00

Mayor Eric Adams is cobbling together more than $500 million in city and state funding to plug a hole in the Education Department’s budget left by the federal COVID relief funding that’s expiring this year, he announced on Friday.

The money will prop up a range of education programs that were set to be cut because of the disappearing federal dollars, including hundreds of social workers, an expansion of free preschool for 3-year-olds, and new staffers working in homeless shelters.

By far, this marks the city’s largest commitment to date to replace the dwindling pandemic aid. Adams previously found $80 million to continue funding Summer Rising, the city’s summer school and recreation program, for one year.

Adams indicated that the city was able to restore programs through a variety of funding sources, and he credited the city’s “strong fiscal management” and “booming” economy.

“We are sticking our fingers in the cushions of our couches, finding every quarter we can find,” Adams said at a press conference Friday at P.S. 34 in the East Village, flanked by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, D-Queens, and schools Chancellor David Banks.

“We won’t be relying on temporary funds,” he added. “You can’t have a ‘cross your finger’ government and hope for the best.”

The announcement came as city officials were pushing state legislators to finalize a deal extending mayoral control of city schools, a major priority for Adams.

The city received more than $7 billion in one-time federal education funds during the pandemic and is spending roughly $1 billion of those dollars this school year on ongoing initiatives that ran the risk of being cut when the federal aid expired this summer.

The $514 million dollar commitment will temporarily stave off some of those cuts for another year, while making longer-term investments in other programs. It won’t, however, cover the entire $1 billion fiscal cliff set to hit this summer, meaning significant cuts are still expected.

The final, adopted budget agreement between the City Council and Adams isn’t due until June 30, leaving time for changes.

Still, Council Speaker Adams, who has sparred with her former Bayside High School classmate Mayor Adams in recent months over budget cuts to schools, libraries, and more, struck a celebratory note Friday.

“If I could still do backflips like when we were in high school, this would be the moment,” she said.

15 programs get new sources of funding

City officials committed to new funding for a total of 15 programs currently funded by federal aid.

The initiatives that will get committed city funding for more than one year include: roughly 450 social workers and 60 school psychologists; dozens of school staffers who work with families in homeless shelters; 113 new community schools that partner with nonprofits to provide extra services to families; new internship and career preparation programs in high schools and new literacy initiatives, including Banks’s signature NYC Reads program and dyslexia screening, according to city officials.

The city will also give multiple years of dedicated funding to bilingual education programs, an expansion of the Public Schools Athletic League, and translation and interpretation services.

Several other big-ticket education programs funded by federal pandemic aid will get city funding for next year, but don’t have committed funding in future years.

Those programs include: A roughly $92 million expansion of 3-K, the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds; additional arts programs; the Learn To Work program that supports students at risk of dropping out; the Project Pivot program partnering schools with community organizations to reduce violence; and money to support the city’s “Affinity” high schools, which receive support from outside organizations like the Urban Assembly.

Adams has been dogged by criticism for scaling back proposed expansions to the city’s early childhood system, including former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to offer universal pre-K for 3-year-olds — a plan that relied on the one-time funds. Adams said the city will spend $5 million on outreach efforts for prekindergarten and 3-K as thousands of seats remain unfilled, and $8 million will go toward improving a portal for families applying for child care vouchers.

But officials have only committed to funding the 3-K expansion for one additional year.

“Our goal is to look for ways to fund it in the long term,” said Jacques Jiha, the city’s director of the Office of Management and Budget. For his part, Adams vowed that all families who want a 3-K seat will have access to one.

The city has also not reversed $170 million in cuts to early childhood education enacted in earlier versions of Adams’ budget.

Rebecca Bailin, the executive director of New Yorker United for Childcare, a group lobbying for expanded 3-K and pre-K, said the mayor’s decision “is a step in the right direction,” but “falls entirely short of the investment and infrastructure needed to fund a truly universal 3-K and pre-K.”

The city will also commit $56 million to increase the pay for providers of special education pre-K programs, which have long struggled to adequately pay staff and have seen major seat shortages as a result. Though that amount is less than the roughly $96 million in federal pandemic aid the city spent on special education pre-K this year, the city is separately committing $25 million for special education pre-K to create classes and help provide services in district schools such as speech and occupational therapy in an effort to rely less heavily on outside providers.

Adams had previously vowed to offer a pre-K special education seat for every child who needed one, which is required by law, but the city has still failed to provide seats for hundreds of students.

Cuts still ahead

New York City’s efforts to ease the impact of the fiscal cliff have been far more successful than other municipalities, according to Banks.

“Across the country, school districts are taking very painful measures to adjust to the loss of their stimulus funding,” Banks said, citing layoffs in Washington D.C., Houston, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. ”New York City has not laid off any staff, and there has been no reduction to school budgets.”

But there are still painful cuts likely ahead.

Among the items covered by stimulus money that city officials did not commit to propping up is $175 million in “hold harmless” funds to prop up the budgets of schools that lost enrollment during the pandemic. School budgets are usually tied to enrollment, but officials paused that practice during the pandemic and have been gradually phasing it back in.

That money went directly into the budgets of nearly 600 schools, with some receiving as much as $1.7 million more than they would have this school year.

Advocates for Children, a group that works with low-income families, has mounted an aggressive campaign to convince city officials to restore expiring federal dollars, and largely celebrated the mayor’s announcement.

Still, the organization pointed to some programs that remain in limbo, including restorative justice programs that offer alternatives to suspensions, some mental health supports, and an initiative that provides subsidized child care to undocumented families.

“Students and their families rely on these programs, and we cannot afford to lose them,” wrote Kim Sweet, the group’s executive director.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams cuts $100 million from Education Department, despite partial reprieve

2024-01-17T00:12:06+00:00

A new round of budget cuts announced Tuesday won’t hit New York City schools as hard as Mayor Eric Adams initially outlined, but will still add up to more than $100 million for next fiscal year, including further cuts to early childhood education.

Adams said last fall that the Education Department, like other city agencies, would have to trim its budget by 5% of the city’s contribution in January, following a previous 5% cut in November.

But during Tuesday’s announcement of the preliminary budget, Adams said the city’s fiscal situation has significantly improved since last fall, thanks to higher-than projected revenues and lower-than-projected spending on supporting the influx of migrants and asylum seekers.

As a result, several city agencies including the Education Department got full or partial reprieves from this month’s 5% cut. New cuts to the Education Department totaled about 0.6%, according to budget officials.

Still, the Education Department will face more than $100 million in new cuts starting next fiscal year, on top of the $600 million in cuts announced in November.

The new cuts include $50 million from the city’s prekindergarten and 3-K programs. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio dramatically expanded the free program for the city’s 3-year-olds using an infusion of one-time federal pandemic aid, but 3-K struggled to fill the new seats. Adams already announced in November a $120 million cut to the early childhood education budget next year, and the new $50 million cut outlined Tuesday could involve eliminating unfilled seats, according to budget documents. Budget officials said Tuesday that about 30% of 3-K seats are unfilled.

Those reductions represent “the biggest cuts to early childhood in more than a generation,” said Gregory Brender, chief of policy and innovation at the Day Care Council of New York, an organization that represents roughly 200 child care centers and other programs. “When you look at the magnitude, it’s hard to not see it having a drastic effect on services for children and families.”

Brender acknowledged that some seats are unfilled, but argues the city should be doing much more to fill them, especially given the high cost of child care and the city’s broader affordability crisis that is driving some families away.

The new cuts also include $51 million in reduced spending on non-staff costs in some central offices, according to budget officials. They didn’t elaborate on what those cuts will entail.

Advocates have raised alarms that a smaller Education Department budget could affect a range of day-to-day services. Hundreds of fewer staff on hand could mean it will “take longer for immigrant students to get a school placement, for students who are homeless to get a bus route, and for students with disabilities to get services,” Kim Sweet, executive director at Advocates for Children, said in a statement.

Additionally, though the city’s Education Department is expecting to chip in $80 million to run Summer Rising — which had largely been funded through federal COVID relief dollars — the popular program will still see a big cut. The Education Department runs the morning instruction while the Department of Youth and Community Development oversees the afternoon enrichment, which is run by community based organizations. The city is calling for a $20 million cut from DYCD’s budget for the program.

Aside from Summer Rising, the preliminary budget offers no other commitments to use city money to replace expiring federal pandemic aid – leaving the fate of hundreds of social workers, staffers supporting homeless students, and other programs up in the air.

“At a time when we have a youth mental health crisis, record-high student homelessness, systemic violations of the rights of students with disabilities, and an increase in newly arrived immigrant students enrolling in our schools, we cannot afford to roll back these important programs,” Sweet said.

Overall cuts to Education Department less than expected

Adams attributed the rosier fiscal picture to “responsible and effective management,” including previous cuts that helped balance the budget as well as the city’s new policy limiting shelter stays for migrant adults and families. That directive, which forces people staying in shelters to either reapply for space in a different shelter or find an alternate housing arrangement, has slowed the pace of migrants entering the shelter system, Adams said.

In the days leading up to Tuesday’s preliminary budget release, Adams had reversed several of the cuts announced in November, including a $10 million cut to community schools, citing the improving fiscal conditions.

But critics have contended that the budget situation was never as bleak as Adams claimed, and have accused the mayor of implementing unnecessarily draconian cuts to ramp up the pressure on the state and federal governments to increase aid to the city.

“Setting your house on fire and then putting it out doesn’t make you a hero,” Ana Maria Archila and Jasmine Gripper, co-directors of the New York Working Families Party, said in a statement.

Adams’ preliminary budget announcement came the same day that Gov. Kathy Hochul released her own budget plan, which includes $2.4 billion in aid to the city to provide housing and other basic services to migrants.

Adams said the city is still reviewing Hochul’s budget. He floated the possibility of canceling another round of budget cuts that’s supposed to come in April if aid from the state is sufficient.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

School staffers in shelters are a lifeline to NYC’s homeless families. Now their jobs are at risk.

2024-04-04T10:00:00+00:00

Dollie and her daughter were living in a Queens homeless shelter in January when the first grader came down with a severe bout of mononucleosis.

Dollie, who asked to use only her first name, was overwhelmed by the task of managing her daughter’s medical care and mounting school absences on top of her own work and housing search.

Fortunately, there was a staffer from the city Education Department working in her shelter to help with exactly this kind of situation.

The staffer, called a community coordinator, helped connect Dollie with medical care for her daughter, showed her what records she needed to provide the school to excuse the absences, and calmed her down when it all became too much.

“I would’ve been lost,” without her, Dollie said. She credits the community coordinator with getting her daughter better treatment, ensuring she returned to school quicker, and helping Dollie avert an investigation from the Administration of Children’s Services.

But the roughly $12 million in funding that pays the salaries of 100 community coordinators working across the city’s network of homeless shelters is set to run dry this summer, leaving the fate of the staffers up in the air even as the city confronts record numbers of homeless kids.

Seventy-five of the community coordinators are funded with one-time federal pandemic aid that expires in June, and the remaining 25 are supported with city funds that have not yet been renewed.

The position of shelter-based community coordinator was created in 2022 at the urging of advocates. Prior to the pandemic, community coordinators were only based in schools. The Education Department also employs other staffers called “family assistants” who work in shelters and are not funded with federal aid. But advocates say those staffers, who make less than community coordinators and work only 10 months a year, often can’t meet all the complex needs of families in shelters.

The community coordinators are among a long list of critical staff members and programs whose funding is tied to expiring federal aid – a list that includes 450 school social workers, free preschool for 3-year-olds, and community schools that partner with community organizations to provide extra services to families.

As budget deadlines approach, families and advocates are urging the city to preserve the community coordinators, arguing they play a critical role on the frontlines of two colliding crises: the exploding number of students – many of them newly arrived migrants – living in homeless shelters, and elevated rates of chronic absenteeism in the wake of the pandemic.

“It is unthinkable that funding for shelter-based community coordinators is in jeopardy at a time of such tremendous need,” said Jennifer Pringle, the director of the Learners in Temporary Housing project at the nonprofit Advocates for Children, which works to support the education of homeless youth.

Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle said the coordinators “provide critical resources and supports to our young people in temporary housing.

“We are extremely grateful for the stimulus funding that we used to support a range of programs and roles that support student wellbeing, especially as we continue to respond to the ongoing migrant crisis,” she added. “We will review these priorities as we go through the budget process.”

NYC sees a record number of homeless students

The number of city children living in a shelter or doubled up last year hit a record high of roughly 120,000 – a 14% increase over the previous years – thanks in large part to an influx of tens of thousands of migrant families.

Many of those families need immediate support enrolling their kids in school, getting evaluations for special education services, and coordinating transportation – particularly if they have to move to a shelter in another part of the city under Mayor Eric Adams’s 60-day shelter limit rule.

That’s where the community coordinators come in. They work directly from the shelters, though they often have to bounce between multiple locations.

Having staffers knowledgeable about the school system physically in the shelters, rather than having to rely on phone calls or visits to the school, makes a huge difference for parents like Dollie.

“You have eye communication. You have more understanding, you don’t have to go to two to three people to get a direct answer,” she said. Knowing that her community coordinator had seen firsthand the conditions she was living in at the shelter also made Dollie more willing to open up to her, she said.

The community coordinator ended up helping not just with school issues for Dollie’s daughter, but also with Dollie’s own work, education, and housing needs.

“I had lost hope, I had lost a lot,” Dollie recalled. “She went above and beyond with helping me. She brought my self confidence back in me where it was able to help me with my child.”

Coordinators combat chronic absenteeism

Job one for community coordinators is helping families regularly get their kids to school.

Citywide, rates of chronic absenteeism remain far higher than before the pandemic, with students in shelters logging among the highest rates of absenteeism in the city. In the 2021-22 school year, 72% of students living in shelters were classified as chronically absent.

But figuring out how to support individual families means earning the trust of families and unraveling multiple, overlapping challenges keeping kids from school.

In one case, according to advocates, a community coordinator learned that a child was embarrassed to attend school because he’d outgrown his wheelchair, and helped fit him for a new one. In another, a coordinator helped connect a student who’d just had a baby to a public school with a day care on site.

When Dollie’s daughter fell ill with mononucleosis, she dealt with high fevers and lethargy that made it impossible to concentrate on schoolwork. The school called to warn Dollie about the mounting absences, which stretched to almost a month. But Dollie was most concerned about getting her daughter the care she needed and ensuring she wouldn’t infect other kids.

The community coordinator, meanwhile, checked in regularly, asking about the girl’s fever and helping connect Dollie with doctors. She didn’t pressure Dollie about the absences, but made sure she had everything she needed to feel ready to send her daughter back to school, Dollie said. Without that support, the absences would have likely extended even longer, and could have triggered additional consequences like a child welfare investigation, Dollie added.

The family left the shelter recently and moved out of the city, but Dollie worries what will happen to other families in similar positions if the community coordinators aren’t funded next year.

“I really hope they do keep her there,” she said. “Without them, these shelters are nothing.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

City Council calls for reversals of cuts to early childhood programs, more money for school food

2024-04-01T19:07:25+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

New York City Council members unveiled their response to Mayor Eric Adams’ budget proposal on Monday, calling on the city to reverse recent budget cuts and provide millions of dollars in additional funding for school food, early childhood education, and other programs.

Adams’ preliminary city budget cut about $100 million in funding from the city’s schools in January. Those cuts — though less severe than anticipated — came on top of roughly $600 million in cuts announced in November.

Under the mayor’s proposals, early childhood education programs have seen steep cuts in recent months — with roughly $170 million slashed. Though schools Chancellor David Banks hinted at a possible reversal last month, Adams later put a damper on that prospect.

The council’s April budget response calls on the Adams’ administration to restore that funding — and to increase the number of seats offered in the city’s 3-K and prekindergarten programs through an added $45 million investment.

“Together with housing, early childhood education has risen to the top for working and middle class families,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said at a Monday press conference. “We need to strengthen our early childhood education system, which has been beset by bureaucratic challenges and undermined by budget cuts.”

In the budget response, council members said their assessments had identified significantly higher tax revenues and available funds than projected by the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget — opening up further funds to restore proposed cuts and replace expiring federal relief funds.

“Against all odds, New York City’s post-COVID economy has proven to be durable and resilient,” said Finance Committee Chair Justin Brannan. “We maintain that the administration’s blunt cuts were never necessary in the first place, and we’ll be fighting for and expecting to see full restorations across the board, from 3-K, to CUNY to our libraries, to our cultural organizations, and everything in between.”

Council members called for $60 million for the city’s school food program — including $17 million to restore cafeteria staffing to pre-pandemic levels, among other items.

Earlier this year, budget cuts led schools to scrap popular cafeteria menu items, including student favorites like cookies, chicken dumplings, and bean and cheese burritos. The decision sparked a backlash from students and families, prompting the city’s Education Department to reverse course on some of those changes.

With federal relief funds set to dry up this year and the city’s schools facing a looming fiscal cliff of more than $1 billion, City Council members are seeking additional funding to protect programs and services propped up by federal dollars.

For example, council members called for $33 million in funds for the city’s Learning to Work program — a long-standing initiative that is currently supported by the expiring federal funds. The program, which pairs alternative schools with community organizations to help students get back on track to graduate, has been called a lifeline for high-need students who enroll in transfer schools and evening classes.

Council members also sought to replace expiring federal funds for preschool special education programs and services, community schools, school social workers and psychologists, restorative justice programs, shelter-based community coordinators, and more. In total, council members called for about $550 million in city funding to replace expiring federal relief funds, according to a press release.

Among other investments, council members called for an additional $9 million in funds for Promise NYC, a free child care program for low-income, undocumented immigrant families — which would bring total funding to $25 million.

The council’s budget response is a required step in the city’s ongoing fiscal planning process. Council members and the mayor must reach a budget agreement by the end of the fiscal year in June.

The mayor’s executive budget — the next milestone in the process — is due by April 26.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools chancellor hints at reversal of hundreds of millions in preschool cuts

2024-03-18T21:11:10+00:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams could soon reverse a major budget cut to early childhood education, schools Chancellor David Banks hinted Monday.

Adams previously announced $170 million in cuts from city funding to free early childhood education programs effective next fiscal year as part of sweeping citywide cuts in November and January.

On top of that cut from the city’s coffers, prekindergarten programs are due to lose one-time federal pandemic aid that expires this summer. Roughly $92 million in federal aid is going toward supporting this year’s 3-K program for the city’s 3-year-olds, and another $90 million is helping pay for special education programs for preschoolers.

The city is facing a total “fiscal cliff” of nearly $1 billion next year, and advocates have been sounding the alarm for months on the need to come up with new funding to replace those disappearing federal dollars.

At a City Council budget hearing Monday, Banks called the city cuts “extremely hurtful to the entire enterprise of early childhood,” and said he was “fighting like heck to get these cuts restored.”

Though he didn’t commit to anything specific, Banks said, “I have great confidence in the coming weeks we will have really good news around early childhood.” He added, “The mayor’s office, City Hall, feels the same way.”

Asked later in the hearing by Council member Jennifer Gutiérrez (D-Brooklyn) which specific funding streams he’s fighting to get restored, Banks named the $170 million city cut. He also cited the expiring $92 million in federal funding for 3-K this year. Deputy Chancellor Emma Vadehra mentioned the $90 million in federal money for preschool special education seats that will dry up after this year.

The early childhood cuts, if reversed, would be the latest item slashed by Adams in recent months to get restored thanks to what city officials describe as an improving budget picture.

Adams has also announced restorations of cuts to the police, fire, and sanitation departments, as well as a $10 million cut to community schools that partner with community organizations to provide extra support to families. More recently, the city promised to allocate additional funding to bring back popular food items that were cut from school cafeteria menus in February.

Adams had initially planned another round of city budget cuts in April, but canceled those cuts last month.

Critics of the cuts have long contended that they were never necessary in the first place, and that city officials were being overly pessimistic with their financial predictions to create more pressure on the federal government to boost funding for the city’s influx of migrants.

The cuts and subsequent reversals have created a whiplash that’s been disorienting even for seasoned budget watchers.

Early childhood education advocates have warned that the early education cuts could have devastating consequences and force the city to permanently close seats.

If the city comes up with money to replace the expiring federal money for 3-K and special education preschool programs, it would mark the city’s largest commitment yet to replace an education program at risk from the fiscal cliff.

So far, the city has only committed $80 million to keep Summer Rising, a free academic and recreational summer program, going this year. Promising to prop up 3-K and special education preschool funding after the federal aid expires would prevent significant cuts to seats and drastic pay cuts for preschool special education teachers.

Even if cuts are reversed, preschool program face challenges

City officials conceded Monday that some 600 preschoolers with disabilities are still languishing without adequate preschool seats, despite federal legal mandates and the city’s own promise to get every child a seat.

And even before this year, Adams had already curtailed former Mayor de Blasio’s plans to aggressively expand the city’s free 3-K program to make it universal. De Blasio’s vision was largely funded with one-time federal pandemic aid, raising questions about its sustainability, and when Adams took office, he seemed to be hobbling the program. Program providers complained of rising payment delays and lackluster outreach from city officials.

Adams administration officials have contended that they’ve simply been right-sizing the program, and that they still plan to be able to offer a 3-K seat to any family that wants one. They have also argued that the existing seats aren’t properly distributed, with some neighborhoods seeing lots of open seats, while others have much more demand than supply.

Deputy Chancellor Kara Ahmed, who oversees early childhood education, said the city has cut roughly 8,000 seats that weren’t being used and redistributed 7,000 to other programs to parts of the city where they’re more likely to be filled.

Making matters more complicated, officials said Monday they’re still waiting on the results of a $760,000 study commissioned more than a year ago from the consulting company Accenture mapping out the city’s preschool seat needs. Banks said he expects the Accenture report in early April.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Programs for high school students at risk of dropping out face ‘catastrophic’ funding cliff

2024-02-28T21:58:52+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

After one of Clara Delgado’s students gave birth late last year, she quickly arranged a home visit.

A staffer at Downtown Brooklyn’s Young Adult Borough Center — one of the Education Department’s evening programs for students who are behind in credits or can’t attend school during the day — Delgado arrived with a counselor in tow, donated baby clothes, and made sure the student could log in to Google Classroom to complete assignments remotely.

Delgado hoped the message was clear: The school would do whatever it could to help the teen finish the two classes she needed to graduate.

But staff like Delgado — along with funding for about 3,000 paid work slots — could soon disappear from a network of Young Adult Borough Centers and transfer schools that collectively serve nearly 15,000 students who have struggled at traditional high schools, are behind in credits, and are at risk of dropping out. That’s because a bevy of counselors, social workers, and internship coordinators, are paid through a city initiative called Learning to Work, which is predominantly funded by federal dollars that will expire at the end of this school year.

Educators and advocates say the services provided through Learning to Work are a lifeline for high-need students who enroll in transfer schools and evening classes. Those students include those who have struggled to pass classes at traditional schools, are caught up in the criminal justice system, are parents themselves, or are living in temporary housing.

To help get those students back on track, Learning to Work pairs alternative schools with community organizations that provide extra staff who help ensure students show up to school, get connected to social services, and even help craft college and career plans. It also funds thousands of paid internships, which can give students valuable work experience and create an incentive to attend school rather than dropping out to support themselves.

“A lot of [our work] is social-emotional,” said Delgado, a program manager at Good Shepherd Services, a nonprofit organization that partners with the Brooklyn night program. “They need somebody to take that off their plate so they can be successful with the academics.” The student who gave birth earned a diploma last month and plans to enroll at the Borough of Manhattan Community College this fall.

If the program’s funding is cut, Delgado said it will be a blow for students who have already struggled with the city’s education system. “It’s just someone writing them off again – they’re getting another back turned on them,” she said.

Jobs for students and staff could be lost

Learning to Work has existed since 2005, unlike other programs funded with federal dollars that were intended to address the pandemic’s fallout, such as Saturday programming for students with disabilities or expanded summer school.

But the city began using federal money to finance most of the program two years ago. Nearly 70% of Learning to Work’s budget, or about $32 million, now comes from one-time federal pandemic relief funds, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office. (The program faced a 25% cut in 2020, but its budget has since returned to pre-pandemic levels.)

Without an infusion from the city, “on July 1 these young people lose their support system and lose money they’re paying their bills with,” said Michael De Vito Jr., executive director of the New York Center for Interpersonal Development, which operates three Learning to Work programs across Staten Island and Brooklyn. “This is also going to cause layoffs of hundreds of nonprofit workers.”

Ariana Rivadeneira, 22, said the paid work experiences helped her re-engage with school and ultimately earn a diploma. Before the pandemic hit, she took on a job working at a veterinary clinic to help her mother pay rent after her parents split up. She began missing school and fell behind academically.

But after switching to West Brooklyn Community High School, a transfer school, the staff helped line up paid work experiences and training, including solar panel installation. There was suddenly less of a tradeoff between school and work.

Ariana Rivadeneira, 22, graduated from West Brooklyn Community High School in 2023.

“I was able to focus and redirect my whole education path to school,” Rivadeneira said. She graduated a year ago and now works as an EMT.

The work experiences helped Rivadeneira and her peers “experience what life could be for them – not just school, not just this responsibility of, ‘you have to graduate,’” she said.

Transfer schools could be hit hardest

The previous mayor, Bill de Blasio, made the decision to use one-time federal funding to support the Learning to Work program, but it’s unclear how Mayor Eric Adams will proceed. Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks have made career education a centerpiece of their agenda, and many advocates hope city officials will see the program’s connection to that work.

Still, community organizations worry that the program is not on the city’s radar, as Adams said in January that he “had no clue of the extent of how many programs were being funded by stimulus dollars” until he was briefed by Banks. And while Adams has restored some initiatives that were funded with one-time federal money, there are many remaining programs that are competing for city dollars, including preschool for 3-year-olds.

“We constantly have to remind people that we even exist,” De Vito said. “It seems like the network [of alternative programs] at large is just an afterthought.”

The city has not made a final decision about the program’s future, Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull wrote in an email. “We are engaging with Learning to Work providers as we plan for the future and recognize the importance of this impactful programming for our city’s young people,” she said. “We continue to advocate to our state and local partners to identify new funding to sustain these programs after this year.”

But even if the funding is restored in the city budget, which is finalized in June, some staff are already heading for the exits, as workers realize that funding for their jobs is uncertain, De Vito said.

If the cuts go through, they could add to an existing funding threat to the city’s network of transfer schools, which serve older students who are off track to graduate and may face smaller budgets next year. Enrollment at transfer schools was roughly 12% lower last school year compared with pre-pandemic levels, while traditional high school rosters fell just 2%. Federal relief funding that kept school budgets afloat despite enrollment losses is also set to expire.

With the possible cut to Learning to Work, one Brooklyn transfer school principal said the consequences could be “catastrophic.”

The principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that the community organization that partners with the school and is funded by Learning to Work, helps students with everything from getting clean clothes to lining up a paid internship “so they don’t have to choose between school and earning a living.”

Without those efforts, the school would have to entirely rethink its approach. “From the beginning our school has been designed with a [community organization] partner – not just as an appendage,” the principal said. “You can’t tear off a chunk of your school and assume that there’s some way to replace it.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Drama at NYC performing arts school over loss of its celebrated theater program

2024-03-13T22:17:29+00:00

The curtain is expected to close next month on a long-running acting program at a Manhattan performing arts school serving grades 6-12, due to a funding shortfall, the program’s education and artistic director told parents this week.

But students from the Professional Performing Arts School in Hell’s Kitchen want the show to go on and launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $20,000 in less than 24 hours.

They’re hoping they can tap famous alumni, who include Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, Claire Danes, and Jesse Eisenberg. Already, Jeremy Allen White from “The Bear” shared the GoFundMe on his Instagram account (after texting a teacher there to make sure it was legitimate, a parent said).

For 13 years, the Waterwell drama program has worked with the Professional Performing Arts School, often called PPAS, offering conservatory-style acting classes led by professional actors: High school students take drama for two hours a day, five days a week; for middle school, musical theater classes run 1½ hours each day. (Waterwell’s co-founder is Arian Moayed, from “Successsion.”)

Earlier this week, Waterwell’s education and artistic director, Heather Lanza, emailed PPAS parents and students, letting them know the program would wrap up April 12 and urged families to advocate on the program’s behalf.

She blamed the program’s early departure on citywide budget cuts, but the Education Department disputed that, saying that Waterwell was charging more from the get-go than the school could afford.

“We love the students dearly, and this has been unbelievably painful,” Lanza told Chalkbeat. “We deeply believe in this training model.”

Some of the students stay in the program for seven years and have gone on to Broadway or other professional roles. Whether the students want to be professional actors or not, learning through theater helps them develop into “empathetic human beings” and helps them tap into “the power of storytelling,” Lanza said.

Lanza told Chalkbeat that the organization’s budget was short by $102,000. Based on what the school told her in a meeting last week, she said, the funding shortfall was a product of the overall cuts in the city and were tied to a midyear adjustment to the school’s budget for the current school year. The principal told families this week that the school needed about $80,000 to save the program, parents said.

Education Department officials disputed the claim that budget cuts were to blame for the program’s gap, saying that the program’s work order was above what the school could afford, and this was communicated to Waterwell in December.

The school did lose money because of an enrollment dip. But that cut only amounted to about $20,000, according to a teachers union database. The school’s current roster is about 520 students, according to public data, down about 20 students from the year before.

“A rigorous theater arts program continues to be a priority for PPAS,” Education Department spokeswoman Jenna Lyle said in a statement. “The school will host end of year performances, and dedicated staff will continue to support students in their drama education through the end of standard academic year program, which ends on April 30, while the school sources a new partner for the next academic year.”

The school is committed to ensuring the theater program will remain strong even if Waterwell leaves next month. Teachers are willing to do “double time” and “step in and fill the gap if we can’t raise the money that Waterwell needs,” said Shawn Dell, the school’s PTA president.

“PPAS is one of a kind. It’s a unicorn. There’s nothing like it,” Dell said. “LaGuardia has DOE teachers that are seeking tenure. Our teachers are seeking Broadway. That’s why we love it.”

Students crushed by news, but elated Jeremy Allen White took notice

“This program brings so much joy to a lot of people,” Tennyson Artigliere, the seventh grader who launched the GoFundMe campaign, said on her way to dance class after the school day ended. “It really brings us so much joy to be able to do what we love to do.”

Tennyson launched the campaign after texting with friends in her group chat about how to take action.

They also immediately changed the group chat name from “PPAS peeps” to “S peeps,” saying that the removal of the theater program “took the ‘PPA’ out of PPAS.” Now it was just “the school,” the students joked.

Before the school day had started, she had tagged White, the “Bear” star, on Instagram, and when she got her phone back at the end of the day, she was ecstatic to see that he had shared the GoFundMe link in his Instagram story.

White wrote: “This is where I went to high school. It’s an incredible program with some incredible teachers. Please help IF YOU ARE ABLE. I have donated.”

His support felt meaningful. “These are the people that are going to be the future of entertainment,” Tennyson said of her classmates, “the next celebrities.”

Marcus Artigliere, Tennyson’s dad, felt frustrated that parents learned about the cuts only from the theater program and not the principal, who is in her first year at the school. But he beamed about his daughter’s drive to launch the fundraising campaign.

“As a parent, I’m really proud of her collective action,” said Artigliere, an education professor at Hunter College. “It’s a public school. We shouldn’t have to fundraise … but there is a lot of beauty in being scrappy and seeing how the kids are taking off.”

Current and prospective PPAS families worry about school’s future

David Glick’s daughter travels about 1½ hours from Staten Island to PPAS for this program, he said.

“I don’t have my daughter do a crazy commute to just do academics. She could go 10 minutes away for that,” he said of his seventh grader. “She’s got this amazing voice and is talented. She was thrilled when she got in, but she also has anxiety and ADHD, and it’s been really nice for her to have these small classes.”

The news about the program has also reached prospective PPAS families.

Sarah Muir, a parent of an eighth grader at Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, was delighted to learn last week that her son was accepted into PPAS, and the family is weighing it against an offer at the famed LaGuardia performing arts high school.

“It is distressing and concerning to have gone through the lengthy and arduous application process now to find that the school he will be attending may be radically different from the one he applied to,” Muir said. “The school’s core mission and identity as a performing arts school depends on this training.”

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Summer Rising will face reduced hours this year. Here’s what NYC families should know.

2024-03-04T22:22:20+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Applications for New York City’s free summer programming opened Monday to all children in kindergarten through eighth grade.

But in the wake of budget cuts ordered by Mayor Eric Adams, middle schoolers will face significantly fewer hours of enrichment programming this summer.

Launched in 2021 with federal pandemic relief funding, the Summer Rising program was designed to help students readjust to in-person learning and expand summer school opportunities beyond children who were traditionally mandated to attend. The initiative includes a mix of academic instruction provided by Education Department teachers and enrichment activities supported by a network of community-based organizations.

Summer Rising will once again include up to 110,000 slots — and is open to all New York City children currently enrolled in grades K-8, including those who attend charter or private schools.

But there will be a few changes this year. The application process is starting about a month earlier, with placements announced in mid-April, to give caregivers more time to plan for the summer and arrange child care if necessary. And families will now apply using MySchools, the sometimes glitchy website that manages the public school application process from prekindergarten through high school.

The most significant change, however, concerns reduced hours for middle school students.

Here’s what you should know about this year’s Summer Rising program:

How does the Summer Rising 2024 application work?

Using the MySchools portal, families can rank as many different Summer Rising sites as they want — choosing from roughly 360 options across the five boroughs. The seats are not issued on a first-come, first-served basis, so families can apply any time until March 25.

In line with the admissions policy last year, some students will receive priority for summer slots. That includes certain children with disabilities, those who live in temporary housing or foster care, children who are behind academically, and students applying for Summer Rising sites that are housed in their regular school.

What is the schedule for Summer Rising, and when does it start?

For students in grades K-5, Summer Rising operates 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from July 2 to Aug. 16.

For middle schoolers, Summer Rising will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. — two fewer hours — and will no longer operate at all on Fridays. The program for those children runs from July 2 to Aug. 8.

Some students with disabilities are entitled to year-round schooling and those programs operate during slightly different times. Children who attend schools in districts 1-32 generally attend summer classes from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. from July 2 to Aug. 12. Those who attend District 75 schools, which are for children with more significant needs, will attend 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. from July 3 to Aug. 13.

And those who attend programs for students with autism — including Nest and Horizon — attend 8 a.m. to noon from July 2 to Aug. 8.

Students with disabilities who attend school year-round have the option to attend the extended day enrichment programs operated by community organizations that run until 6 p.m. (or 4 p.m. for middle school). Interested families must apply through MySchools and students with disabilities in the categories listed above will receive priority for seats.

Why are there fewer hours for middle schoolers?

Summer Rising is one of a slew of programs initially funded with federal pandemic relief money that is now running out, forcing city officials to either find new funding to replace those expiring dollars or make cuts.

So far, Adams has done a bit of both. The mayor chose to keep the Education Department’s contribution to the program, which helps fund the academic portion of the day, using about $80 million in city money to replace federal dollars.

But the afternoon enrichment portion of the program is funded by a different city agency — the Department of Youth and Community Development. Adams cut $20 million of DYCD’s roughly $149 million contribution to Summer Rising, forcing reductions in programming for middle school children.

Some advocates worry that fewer hours, and the elimination of Fridays, will make the program less popular and hurt its quality.

“Friday was usually when they did field trips and things outside of the school building,” said Nora Moran, the director of policy and advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses, which represents community organizations that operate some of the city’s summer programming. She emphasized that community organizations are able to quickly restore hours if the city makes additional funding available.

“We’re certainly hopeful the mayor reverses his decision to shorten the program day,” she said.

How popular is Summer Rising in NYC?

In a city with few affordable child care options, Summer Rising has been quite popular. Last year, there were about 45,000 more applicants than available slots, officials said (though some of those children eventually won a seat).

Students generally spend their mornings on academic work and in the afternoon participate in enrichment activities, including art, science projects, and trips to cultural institutions. For elementary school children, the final week of the program is dedicated to enrichment activities and trips operated by community organizations.

Many parents have praised the program, noting it gives their children something to do other than expensive camps, watching TV, or spending countless hours scrolling the internet. But others have been disappointed and even pulled their children, citing boring assignments during the academic portion of the day, limited time outside, and few opportunities for field trips.

Here’s what parents told us about their Summer Rising experience last year.

What about students with higher needs?

Students with disabilities are supposed to continue receiving the services they need to access summer programming, such as health and behavioral paraprofessionals, and their schools must devise a “Summer Rising Accommodation Plan” before the program begins.

Still, not all services are available for the afternoon enrichment programming — such as paraprofessionals who help manage student behavior — and community organizations are instructed to provide support “as needed.” In practice, some advocates said community organizations aren’t always well-equipped to serve students with special needs, leaving some families to avoid the program entirely.

“The community based-organizations don’t necessarily have the knowledge, and skill, and staff to help support students with behavioral needs,” said Maggie Moroff, a senior policy coordinator at Advocates for Children, which helps students with disabilities navigate the special education system. “A plan from the school that is supposed to be put in place by the [community organization] leaves a whole lot of room for mistakes.”

Officials also noted that English learners will receive “instruction targeting language and literacy development to support them with grade-level content” during the morning sessions, including in small groups or one on one.

What’s the transportation situation?

Students who already receive yellow school bus service during the school year should generally receive bus transportation for Summer Rising. And students with MetroCards during the school year will continue to receive them for the summer.

But for students who ride the bus, there’s a catch: The city’s yellow bus service stops rolling at 3 p.m., so students who participate in the extended enrichment portion of the day until 6 p.m. (or 4 p.m. in middle school) will instead have access to a prepaid rideshare service.

A caregiver must accompany their child in the rideshare to and from the summer school site, which some advocates have criticized as inaccessible for working families who don’t have time to ride to and from a Summer Rising site at the end of the day.

“I think a lot of families opted to forgo the opportunity because they didn’t have a way of getting their child back home,” Moroff said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC Education Dept. sues state over order to pay for charter school’s ‘inflated’ rent

2024-03-06T21:13:07+00:00

New York City’s Education Department is accusing a Staten Island charter school of “artificially inflating” its rent costs to collect more reimbursement from the city – and it’s taking the state education commissioner to court for greenlighting the arrangement, according to legal filings.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Albany Supreme Court, city lawyers allege that Hellenic Classical Charter School took advantage of a state law that requires the city to either offer charter schools space in city-owned buildings or pay for their rent in outside facilities.

The school leased space from a church in Staten Island and then turned over the lease to an affiliated group, which subleased the space back to the school at a price three times as high as what the school originally agreed to pay the landlord. The school then asked the city to reimburse it at the inflated rate, the suit alleges.

New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa is the subject of a new lawsuit from the city Education Department over her ruling in a dispute over charter school rental reimbursement.

The extra rental income was used to subsidize the costs of constructing a brand-new building for the school on the premises, city lawyers claim. Such costs, they said, aren’t covered by the rental assistance law.

The arrangement amounts to “self-dealing…in which the School in effect pays itself an artificially inflated sub-rent and pockets the difference,” city lawyers said.

Lawyers for Hellenic conceded that the dramatic rise in rent was driven by the cost of “improvements” on the facility, according to court documents. But Hellenic’s lawyer, Kevin Quinn, argued that the city has no right under the law to “second guess” the price of a charter school’s rent, and that the reason for the increase is irrelevant.

State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa largely agreed.

In an October ruling, she wrote that Hellenic’s financial arrangement was “certainly concerning,” but fell within the bounds of the law.

“That is the system the Legislature has created,” Rosa wrote. “Any change must come from that body.”

This instance, “is merely an exaggerated example of the goal of the rental assistance program: the public financing of New York City charter schools,” she added.

James Merriman, the director of the New York City Charter School Center, a group that advocates on behalf of charters, argued that, much in the way the public subsidizes the cost of public school construction, charters should be able to use rental assistance for the same purpose.

The Education Department’s lawsuit marks the first time the city has brought a legal challenge against the state Education Department over a charter rental dispute, according to a spokesperson from the city’s Law Department.

“There is no evidence that the Legislature intended” for the law to require the city to “cover what this charter school is seeking,” the spokesperson said.

Critics have flagged inflated rental costs for years

The city’s obligation to subsidize charter rents stems from a 2014 state law, passed as former Mayor Bill de Blasio took office. The legislation was meant to shore up protections for the publicly funded, privately run charter schools against a city executive viewed as more hostile toward charters than his predecessor, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The law compels the city to offer a new or expanding charter school space in a public school building or cover the cost of rent in an outside building up to a certain amount. If the rental costs are greater than 30% of what the city receives from the state for a charter school’s enrollment, the reimbursement from the city is capped at that level.

The state reimburses the city for 60% of what it pays for charter rental costs.

The city paid about $75 million for charter rental reimbursements in fiscal year 2023, after factoring in the state’s portion of the payments, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office. Year-over-year growth in the city’s total outlay on charter rental reimbursements has begun to slow as the city nears the state-mandated cap limiting the number of charter schools in operation, the IBO said. But the subsidy will likely continue to tick up in future years as rental costs rise and enrollment at charters increases overall.

Critics have for years alleged that some charter schools are taking advantage of the law by overcharging the city on rent and “self dealing.”

A 2021 report from the group Class Size Matters, which advocates for lower class sizes, pointed out several instances of charters renting space from affiliated organizations with subsequent sharp increases in rental rates.

The report cited an example of two Success Academy charter schools in Hudson Yards subleasing space from the network. In that case, the rent jumped from less than $800,000 in the 2019 school year to $3.4 million the following year, allowing Success to collect more than $3 million from the city in rental subsidies. (The report said Success owned the space, but a spokesperson said they rented it and then sub-leased it to the schools.)

Success Academy spokesperson Jessica Siegel said that even with that increase, the network has lost money on the lease because “facilities reimbursement has covered far less than our total costs including rent and the cost of the necessary renovations we had to incur to make the space safe and functional for learning.” She added that Success asked the Education Department for space in a city-owned building but was denied.

In Hellenic’s case, the school originally agreed to pay the landlord roughly $660,000 in rent during the 2021-22 school year for its Staten Island space. But the school subsequently transferred the lease to an entity affiliated with the school called “Friends of Hellenic,” which then sub-leased it back to the school at a price of over $2 million a year.

Quinn, the school’s lawyer, said using a “Friends Of” entity is a “common practice.”

In response to the 2021 Class Size Matters report, state Sens. John Liu (D-Queens) and Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) and City Council member Rita Joseph (D-Brooklyn) sent a letter to city Comptroller Brad Lander asking him to audit the Education Department’s charter rental reimbursement payments to ensure they’re based on fair market value.

A spokesperson for Lander said the comptroller’s office couldn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Leonie Haimson, the founder and executive director of Class Size Matters, called Hellenic’s arrangement “outrageous” and urged the state legislature to amend the rental assistance law “to disallow any self-dealing and ensure that any rents charged to DOE by charter schools are no more than fair market value.”

Rental reimbursement law draws renewed scrutiny

The rental reimbursement law has recently come up in conversations about how the city plans to comply with a separate state law mandating lower class sizes in many schools.

At a town hall in Brooklyn on Monday night, some parents pushed schools Chancellor David Banks on the possibility of moving charters out of public school buildings to clear out more space for district schools to spread out and lower their class sizes.

But Banks warned such a move would ultimately drive up the city’s expenses because of the rental reimbursement law.

“If I take a charter school and move them out of your building so that now you have more space for class size, I now have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent for that charter school,” he said. “Guess where that money is going to come from ...The funding that we use to pay for your music program and your art program.”

New York City is the only city in the state required to reimburse charter schools for rental costs – a fact critics have long seized on in arguments to repeal the legislation.

But other state legislators want to move in the opposite direction: State Sen. Luis Sepulveda (D-Bronx) and Assembly member John Zaccaro Jr. (D-Bronx) recently introduced legislation to expand the charter rental reimbursement law so it will also apply to charter schools opened before 2014.

Advocates and educators previously told the Bronx Times that charter schools that don’t receive the rental reimbursement have to divert significant chunks of their budget to covering rent and away from teachers and programs benefiting kids.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC budget director blames cafeteria menu cuts on too many kids eating

2024-03-04T23:26:19+00:00

New York City slashed popular items like chicken tenders, dumplings, and cookies from cafeteria menus in February because too many kids were eating, a city official said Monday.

Jacques Jiha, director of the Office of Management and Budget, offered the surprising explanation at a City Council budget hearing in response to questions from Education Committee chair Rita Joseph pressing officials about why “high demand items are being swapped for heat-and-serve options.”

“Bear in mind, the city made some significant investments in school cafeterias,” Jiha said, referring to a $50 million initiative to upgrade middle and high school cafeterias to make them resemble food courts – a project explicitly designed to increase student meal participation.

“So what you end up with, you have a lot of kids hanging out in cafeterias now and eating more and more and more and more,” Jiha continued. “So therefore what they did was, they basically cut some of the items from the menu … because more kids are eating.”

A school food staffer told Chalkbeat in January that the items removed from the February menu were among the pricier offerings.

The menu cuts have already had significant effects – both on kids who were crushed to lose their favorite lunch foods and on manufacturers struggling with the loss of business.

Jiha claimed that the menu trimming was not the result of a budget cut. The $60 million in city funding slashed from the Office of School Food and Nutrition Services in November as part of a sweeping, citywide budget cut ordered by Mayor Eric Adams, was “swapped” for $60 million in new federal funding, Jiha said.

But critics say the city still hasn’t provided a satisfactory explanation for why the midyear menu reductions were necessary if the budget wasn’t cut.

“The City’s November 2023 budget documents included a clear $60 million cut to school food operations,” said Rachel Sabella, the Director of No Kid Hungry New York, in a statement. A budget update in January included the same figure, and the cuts to the February menu “followed soon after, removing higher-priced items that kids loved and that contributed to higher participation--like burritos, dumplings, and French toast sticks.

“If the cut has now been filled with federal revenue … we look forward to seeing the budget updated accordingly,” she added.

An Education Department spokesperson previously told Chalkbeat that costs went up because of a 9% increase in student meal participation compared to last year and rising expenses in unspecified other areas.

But food manufacturers who spoke to Chalkbeat in January said that’s not a convincing rationale for making major menu cuts in the middle of the school year, since the Education Department has significant power to set its own prices, and costs are largely set before the start of the school year.

And when Education Department officials were asked directly about the possibility of menu reductions in January, they appeared to blame the mayor’s budget cuts.

“We are going to have to cut back a little bit due to the [cut],” said Chris Tricarico, senior executive director of the Office of Food and Nutrition Services in a January meeting with the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council. “As all agencies had to reduce a little bit, we’re going to have slight reductions to the menu as far as choices.”

Jiha said the city is currently “modifying the budget and adding federal resources” to support school foods. But when pressed on why that wasn’t translating into the restoration of slashed cafeteria menus on the ground, Jiha said only that Joseph could “trust what I’m saying to you.”

An Education Department spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about if and when any of the axed items would return. There are some minor changes in the March school cafeteria menu compared to February, including the addition of mozzarella sticks as a daily backup options for food court cafeterias. But many of the big-ticket items axed in February like french fries, chicken tenders, cookies, and chicken dumplings, still don’t appear on the March citywide menu.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC students, advocates call for school-based restorative justice, mental health funding

2024-02-23T20:06:06+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

During a lesson on the Black Lives Matter movement in her first year of high school, Lexi Greenberg was shocked to hear two students in her class making insensitive and offensive remarks.

“I left the lesson feeling angry and alone,” she said, noting she was the only Black student in the class. Lexi approached staff at Millennium Brooklyn High School, where just 14% of students are Black, and asked for the students to be suspended.

Instead, the school counselor and principal urged her to meet with the students before the school pursued any potential disciplinary action.

She was reluctant at first, but Lexi said meeting with her classmates helped her quickly realize they’d spoken from a place of ignorance, rather than harm. They were “extremely apologetic and regretful,” and after the meeting, they became her first friends in high school.

Lexi, now a senior, remains close with those students today, and is a founding member of her school’s Restorative Justice Action Team.

“None of the wonderful things that have happened to me in high school would have happened if I had pushed for suspension,” she said. “I made a choice to listen and see the people on the other side of the problem instead of burying myself in resentment and hate, and that opened me up to a whole new universe of joy and acceptance.”

Lexi is one of the dozens of students urging the city to increase funding for restorative justice — a philosophy rooted in providing students and staff space to talk through conflicts without resorting to more punitive measures. She shared her story Thursday as part of the “Dignity in Schools” coalition, a group of New York City students, families, educators, and advocates that are calling for the city to invest millions of dollars in restorative justice and mental health programs in schools, while diverting funding away from policing.

Roughly 30 students gathered in Manhattan at the YA-YA Network, a non-profit organization that promotes youth advocacy, to launch their new budget campaign. It comes amid broad fiscal concerns surrounding the city’s school system.

Though Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday that a planned third round of budget cuts will no longer be necessary, previous cuts have slashed more than $700 million from the Education Department’s budget for the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, the school system stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars as federal pandemic relief funds will soon expire.

“What is unconscionable is that we’re in the midst of a youth mental health crisis,” said Tina Zeng, a Brooklyn high school senior and YA-YA student organizer. “Having these proposed budget cuts will have devastating impacts on restorative justice, student mental health … and so much more.”

As part of the campaign, the coalition is urging city officials to protect critical programs propped up by the federal funds, and make further investments in restorative justice programs.

In particular, the coalition called on the city to protect $21 million invested in restorative justice programs, $5 million that went toward mental health services, and $77 million that helped hire counselors, social workers, and mental health professionals.

Students also called for $75 million to support hiring school-based restorative justice coordinators at 500 high schools — increasing by an additional $55 million annually for three years — as well as $75 million to hire community members into positions that support schools, such as youth advocates, parent coordinators, paraprofessionals, community outreach coordinators, counselors, and social workers.

Under the investments the campaign is seeking, $10 million would also be put toward restorative justice training, curriculums, and other school-based resources and opportunities.

The coalition wants the city to redirect more than $400 million in school police funding to other school resources — calling for the city to stop all recruiting and training of new school police officers and end funding for new or existing student surveillance and scanning equipment. Students argued that police are ill-equipped to defuse tension and conflicts in schools, and that their presence disproportionately harms students of color and others from marginalized communities.

Tensions between students and school-based police officers can often be fraught, and advocates have long pointed to data showing Black and Latino students can be disproportionately subjected to police interventions in the city’s schools.

One student who spoke at the campaign launch said despite having school safety agents and a robust surveillance system on campus, it still took roughly 15 minutes for an officer to arrive when a fight broke out, and students had to work to defuse the situation in the meantime. When the students involved returned from suspension, the dispute continued.

Some schools have moved toward embracing restorative justice practices in recent years. Still, city data showed suspensions spiked during the last school year, returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for the city’s Education Department, said in a statement that the department would continue to prioritize restorative justice.

“Education and safety is at the core of all we do,” she said. “We continue to prioritize our restorative justice work, as well as programs like Project Pivot, which puts additional funding in the hands of our schools to engage independently selected community organizations directly, made up of individuals from the very communities they serve and in accordance with participating schools’ needs.”

City Councilmember Rita Joseph, chair of the council’s education committee and an attendee of the Thursday campaign launch, encouraged students to continue their work and help sway her colleagues in City Hall.

“You already got me,” she said. “But we have 50 other people we need to bring on board.”

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams cancels new round of budget cuts, but fiscal cliff for NYC schools looms

2024-02-21T23:06:13+00:00

New York City’s Education Department won’t see another round of city budget cuts this spring, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.

But the school system still stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of expiring federal aid by this summer unless city and state officials act quickly to replace it, advocates warned.

Adams said he will not move forward with a third round of planned budget cuts to city agencies, citing better-than-anticipated revenue and shrinking spending on migrants. The previous two rounds of cuts slashed a total of more than $700 million from the Education Department’s budget for next fiscal year.

Advocates celebrated Wednesday’s news, but warned it does nothing to reverse the massive cuts already coming through previous reductions in city spending and the approaching fiscal cliff of expiring federal aid.

“We are relieved that there is not going to be another round of cuts to the New York City Department of Education,” said Randi Levine, the policy director of Advocates for Children of New York. “But we are deeply concerned about the cuts that are currently being proposed. We need the city to make a substantial investment … to ensure that we don’t have devastating cuts to education programs come July.”

Among the programs that could be partially or fully eliminated when the federal money runs out: 450 new social workers, whose salaries are covered by the one-time federal aid; the city’s recently expanded free preschool program for 3-year-olds; and more than 100 “community schools” that partner with community organizations to provide extra support to families. Funding that propped up the budgets of schools whose enrollment fell during the pandemic is also drying up.

Advocates for Children is one member of the recently formed Emergency Coalition to Save Education Programs, which is calling on the city and state to come up with more than $1 billion dollars in this year’s budget to replace the expiring federal aid.

One hundred and sixty community groups signed onto a letter last September sounding the alarm about the fiscal cliff. There was some movement in January, when Adams announced $80 million in city funding this summer to help continue Summer Rising, the academic and recreational summer program that began during the pandemic.

But advocates say that’s only the tip of the iceberg – and worry that the urgency of the situation hasn’t yet sunk in for city and state officials.

In fact, at the January briefing announcing the Summer Rising funding, Adams said he “had no clue of the extent of how many programs were being funded by stimulus dollars” until schools Chancellor David Banks had briefed him earlier that month.

Here are some of the biggest programs currently funded by federal aid, and a glimpse at what could happen if the money runs out without a replacement:

Social workers and school psychologists on the chopping block

The salaries of 450 social workers and 60 psychologists were covered by nearly $80 million in relief money this year as part of a pandemic effort to bring mental health support to schools without full-time help.

The influx brought social workers to roughly 194,000 students who previously didn’t have a full-time social worker in their school, advocates estimate. If schools lose the federal money funding these positions, they’ll either have to scrounge up money from elsewhere in their budgets – an unlikely prospect with school budgets poised to shrink next year – or “excess” them, sending them to a central pool where they’d have to wait to get picked up by a new school.

One Brooklyn principal who hired a full-time social worker for the first time with the pandemic aid said it’s made an “enormous” difference to have a staff member who can focus on behavioral issues, freeing up other administrators to focus on academic needs.

“I’m very worried about what will happen if we lose her,” said the principal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There is no way I can keep her unless the funds are replaced.”

Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle said the agency is “extremely grateful” for the relief money and is “working with the administration to identify new funding sources.” The department will “provide guidance to schools so they can appropriately plan for the upcoming school year,” she added.

$160 million to prop up school budgets amid enrollment losses

During the pandemic, former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration paused the normal process of slashing school budgets when enrollment fell, and instead spent $375 million in federal aid to keep school budgets steady, even as enrollment cratered.

Adams began tapering off that support in 2022, cutting $215 million from the “hold harmless” pot, which left it at $160 million. That $160 million will disappear next year unless city and state officials replace it – and it will come directly out of the budgets schools use to pay for staff and supplies. If a school’s enrollment increases next year, the accompanying budget bump might offset some of that loss. But if their enrollment shrinks or stays steady, they’ll feel the full effects.

An expanded preschool program

De Blasio used federal relief money to advance a long-standing goal of expanding the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds in the same way he built out the city’s heralded universal prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds.

The 3-K expansion has been rockier, with more empty seats – but it’s still brought free preschool to more than 20,000 new 3-year-olds since the start of the pandemic.

If the city’s current proposed budget passes unchanged, spending on the 3-K and pre-K programs will fall by $263 million next year, according to advocates’ budget analysis. About $170 million of those cuts come from the city’s own budget trims, which officials have said will only affect seats that aren’t currently filled.

But there’s also $93 million in federal aid for 3-K that could disappear next year. The city’s cuts alone could reduce the number of 3-K seats by between 9,000 and 15,000, according to projections from the Citizens’ Committee for Children. Even if the seats that get cut were empty, losing so much funding could make it impossible for some providers to keep their lights on at all, said Jennifer March, the Executive Director of the Citizens’ Committee for Children.

“It could have a detrimental impact on the fiscal viability of that provider long term,” she said.

The clock is ticking for other programs

There are many other critical programs paid for with federal aid, including 100 staff members working directly in homeless shelters to help students with transportation and other needs, and more than 100 new community schools that partner with nonprofits to provide social services and extra support to families. A recent effort to reduce the long-standing shortage of preschool special education seats is also in jeopardy.

There’s also precious little time for city and state officials to salvage those programs. The state’s budget deadline is April 1. Advocates say things are moving the wrong direction so far: A revision to the state’s funding formula is leaving the city Education Department with $130 million less than expected.

The city’s budget deadline is further out in June. But there’s a perhaps even steeper climb to reverse some of the $700 million in cuts Adams has proposed in recent months – while also coming up with new money to replace the sunsetting federal aid.

But advocates said the stakes are too high for lawmakers not to act.

“We are talking to everyone at both the city and state levels,” said Levine. “A parent who doesn’t have access to 3-K doesn’t care if they lost the seat because of federal, state, city funding … they care that they’re losing that seat.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Empty display cases, hungry kids, disrupted production: NYC’s cafeteria cuts send shockwaves

2024-02-06T18:57:31+00:00

The effects of New York City’s recent school food budget cuts are already rippling through city cafeterias and beyond, even threatening jobs at the manufacturer of the chicken dumplings pulled from February’s menu.

A $60 million November cut to the Education Department’s school foods division forced the agency to chop a number of popular items, including cookies, bean and cheese burritos, and roasted chicken, Chalkbeat first reported last month. Middle and high schools with cafeterias that resemble food courts lost chicken tenders, French fries, burritos, and grab-and-go salads – items that were previously available on most days.

New York City’s school system runs the largest daily food program in the country outside the military. It serves approximately 880,000 daily “free, nutritious, and delicious meals,” according to Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle, who downplayed the impact of the menu changes. She said the agency “will continue to work to prioritize student choice wherever possible.”

But the cuts were felt immediately by many students.

Alec Lopez, a 17-year-old senior at Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters in the South Bronx, went to the cafeteria last week to grab the chicken tenders and French fries she usually takes only to discover that they weren’t available.

“I didn’t eat anything. I was like, ‘Ooh maybe I should get a salad,’ but they cut that out too,” she said. “For the rest of the day, we’re tired, we’re hungry, energy levels are so down and it makes everyone feel like crap.”

A container with veggie nuggets at Bronx Academy of Letters on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024 in Bronx, New York.

Previously full display cases sat empty, and the slim offerings on shelves contained meager portions, said David Garcia-Rosen, the dean at Bronx Letters.

“I’ve never seen that all school year,” he said, adding that some of the containers held what appeared to be just a handful of veggie nuggets.

At Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology in Hell’s Kitchen, the recent menu cuts exacerbated long-standing issues with broken cafeteria equipment and food shortages. Parents and school officials have tried in vain for years to get busted display cases fixed, said Diane Tinsley, a parent of a senior and Parent Association president at Urban Assembly Gateway.

On a recent Friday afternoon, multiple broken display cases sat empty and unstocked, while only one was filled with hot food for a building with five schools and more than 2,000 students.

“I come in and it just looks like a desert,” Tinsley said. “This is child abuse.”

Food manufacturers feeling pain, too

The effects of the cuts are also spreading beyond school cafeterias. The city’s decision to yank major menu items midyear sent shockwaves through food manufacturers.

“We’re all just kind of frustrated and befuddled,” said Kirk Jaudes, chief operating officer of International Food Solutions, the company that produces the chicken dumplings for city schools. The company first found out about the change when a staffer noticed that the dumplings were missing from the Education Department’s February menu, he added. An Education Department spokesperson said vendors were notified on Dec. 19 and Dec. 22 of the changes.

International Food Solutions produces the dumplings exclusively for the city Education Department from a factory in Long Island that can churn out somewhere in the ballpark of 2 million servings a month, at a cost of around $1 a serving, Jaudes estimated.

But the Education Department’s abrupt decision to pull the plug is upending the company’s operations, Jaudes said, taking a bite out of revenue, slowing production, and forcing the company to consider layoffs.

“You could potentially have students in the New York City Department of Education whose parents are going to lose their jobs,” he said. The company, moreover, is still stuck with about $350,000 in leftover inventory that it can’t sell anywhere else because the product is reserved exclusively for New York City schools. Company officials are trying to work out a deal to distribute it in city schools, but said they haven’t gotten anywhere.

“Unless there’s major policy changes, we won’t be doing business with New York City” any more, Jaudes said. “We can’t take that risk.”

An Education Department spokesperson noted that the agency asked all vendors whose items were removed from the February menu for a “voluntary price reduction,” and that International Food Solutions declined. But Jaudes said his company had already agreed to the price suggested by the Education Department before this school year, and had even offered an additional discount, also before the start of the school year, on top of that.

“We didn’t have any margin to provide further cost reductions,” he said. The Education Department spokesperson said nine vendors offered price reductions, which are currently being reviewed by city officials to see if any items can be added back to the menu.

The dumplings are, by many accounts, one of the most popular items served in schools.

At one Manhattan elementary school, 31 out of 46 fourth- and fifth- grade students surveyed last week by the school’s principal said dumplings were the best lunch meal, the administrator said.

And in a recent Reddit thread about the school menu cuts, the top comment reads, in part: “I work in the schools. The dumplings are popular and most kids eat them.”

Reasons for budget cut raise questions

The circumstances surrounding the school food budget cut are still somewhat murky. The $60 million cut to school foods was part of a larger $550 million budgetary blow to the Education Department that Mayor Eric Adams said was prompted by increased spending on the wave of migrants who have arrived in the city over the past year-and-a-half.

But budget documents appear to suggest that the cut to school foods from the city’s budget was going to be offset by federal food revenues that “exceed budgeted amount.” Administration officials told the City Council that the cut to city school food funds wouldn’t affect the division’s overall operating budget because it would be offset by federal money, according to a council source.

“It’s mystifying why schools are seeing these removals of menu items,” the council source added.

An Education Department spokesperson confirmed that the city is indeed replacing the missing city money with federal funds, and said the overall $580 million budget for school foods is still higher than what the city spent last year. Costs are up this year because of increased participation compared to last year and increases in unspecified “other areas,” according to the spokesperson. Labor contracts prevent the Education Department from laying off workers, “which meant a reduction in food options,” the spokesperson added.

Some observers worry that the cuts could have long-term implications for the city’s school food program.

The number of city students eating lunch on an average day, while higher than last year, is still down significantly from the 2019-20 school year, according to city data.

If even fewer students eat lunch because of the menu changes, that could lead to lower reimbursement from the federal government, which in turn can lead to cuts that further diminish the quality of the food, in what Jaudes called “a never-ending cycle to the bottom.”

The Education Department spokesperson said, “The current menu still provided high demand items, a decrease in meal participation is not expected.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Millones en beneficios de comida por la pandemia podrían caducar el mes que viene

2024-01-31T17:57:05+00:00

Read in English.

Millones de dólares en beneficios de comida por la pandemia en Nueva York que no se han usado podrían empezar a caducar el mes que viene, ya que la fecha límite para que las familias los usen se está acercando.

Los fondos — conocidos como Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer, o P-EBT— se enviaron a todas las familias de las escuelas públicas de Nueva York en varias rondas durante los últimos cuatro años. El propósito de los fondos es ayudar a cubrir los costos de las comidas que de otro modo serían recibidas en la escuela.

El año pasado, el estado distribuyó múltiples rondas de fondos, incluyendo $120 por niño para el verano de 2023, y por lo menos $391 por niño para el verano de 2022 y el año escolar 2021-22. (Los fondos de este último pago podrían ser de hasta $1,671 por niño según las ausencias relacionadas con el COVID o los días de aprendizaje remoto durante el año.)

Ahora, el último pago está por caducar para las familias que no los han usado todavía. En octubre, al menos 90,000 beneficios en la ciudad no habían sido canjeados por las familias, lo que significa que al menos $35 millones estaban en riesgo de caducar.

David Rubel, consultor de educación que ha seguido de cerca los beneficios de comida, teme que miles de familias perderán dentro de poco tiempo los beneficios que quizás no sepan que tienen.

“Imagínate que mañana por la mañana leamos que los principales programas de distribución de alimentos perdieron la mitad de su presupuesto”, dijo. “En realidad, esa es la magnitud de lo que estamos hablando”.

Las preocupaciones de Rubel surgen en parte por los datos que pidió y obtuvo bajo la Ley de Libertad de Información del estado, y que los funcionarios estatales confirmaron. Los datos mostraron que para los beneficios P-EBT emitidos para el verano de 2021, casi 600,000 estudiantes en todo el estado nunca canjearon el dinero.

Eso significa que más o menos un 27% de los más de 2.2 millones de estudiantes que recibieron los beneficios nunca los usaron — un total de beneficios sin usar de aproximadamente $222 millones.

A Rubel le preocupa que el estado no haya tenido suficientes actividades para informar a las familias sobre cada ronda de los fondos. Dijo que les ha pedido a los funcionarios estatales que soliciten al gobierno federal una enmienda a los plazos del programa.

La Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance del estado, o OTDA, que supervisa el programa P-EBT, dijo que el vencimiento de los fondos se basó en estatutos y regulaciones federales.

“La fecha de caducidad no se puede extender”, dijeron los funcionarios en una declaración.

En otros estados, los funcionarios han enmendado sus programas P-EBT para efectivamente extender la fecha límite para que las familias usen sus beneficios. En California, por ejemplo, los funcionarios permitieron que los hogares pidieran el restablecimiento de sus beneficios si se habían caducado sin que las familias los usaran.

Los funcionarios de Nueva York, sin embargo, dijeron que no tenían planes de pedir una aprobación federal para enmendar el programa P-EBT.

Esto es lo que las familias deben saber:

¿Cuándo empezarán a caducar los beneficios?

Los beneficios de P-EBT caducan automáticamente 274 días después de la última vez que se usaron, es decir, unos nueve meses después. Más del 60% de los beneficios del verano de 2022 se distribuyeron a las familias en mayo pasado, lo que significa que los fondos de quienes no los hayan usado todavía s empezarán a caducar en febrero.

Cuando las familias utilicen los beneficios, el plazo para caducar empieza a contar desde 0 nuevamente y tendrán otros 274 días antes de que los fondos corran riesgo de vencerse.

¿Cómo las familias pueden reemplazar sus tarjetas?

Las familias que hayan perdido su tarjeta P-EBT pueden obtener una de reemplazo llamando al 1-888-328-6399.

¿Por qué algunas familias no están usando los fondos?

Desde que comenzó la pandemia, la OTDA ha emitido más de $6,300 millones en beneficios P-EBT, de los cuales cerca del 60% han ido directamente a las cuentas existentes de hogares que ya estaban recibiendo beneficios del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria (SNAP). Otras familias recibieron los fondos en tarjetas P-EBT emitidas por el estado.

El estado mantiene información detallada sobre los beneficios en su sitio web y opera una línea de ayuda: 1-833-452-0096.

Los funcionarios de la OTDA le dijeron anteriormente a Chalkbeat que han llevado a cabo una extensa campaña de información para el público y han trabajado con grupos de defensa para ayudar a crear conciencia sobre los beneficios de comida. El Departamento de Educación del estado también envió mensajes sobre los beneficios a todos los distritos escolares locales, añadieron los funcionarios.

Las familias con números de teléfono válidos registrados en su distrito escolar también deberían haber recibido un mensaje de texto cada vez que había beneficios nuevos disponibles, según los funcionarios estatales.

Algunas familias, sin embargo, dijeron que nunca recibieron mensajes de texto, y otras han tenido dificultades para tener acceso a los beneficios.

“Debemos lograr un 100%”, dijo Angela Trude, profesora de la NYU que ha estudiado el acceso a comida y beneficios del gobierno. “Queremos que todo el mundo aproveche los beneficios”.

Trude dijo que ella ha trabajado con familias que suponen falsamente que usar los beneficios podría restarles dinero a otras familias más necesitadas, o que el gobierno en algún momento les pedirá que devuelvan los fondos.

Es crítico combatir estos conceptos erróneos, dijo ella, y a la vez comunicar que todas las familias deben utilizar los beneficios.

“Si estas familias sienten que les están quitando a otras, entonces en vez de no utilizarlos, pueden comprar alimentos no perecederos y donarlos a organizaciones comunitarias y despensas de alimentos”, añadió Trude.

Rubel cree que casi todas los beneficios caducados del desembolso del verano de 2021 ocurrieron entre familias que no son beneficiarias del SNAP, ya que los hogares del SNAP recibieron los beneficios en sus cuentas existentes y pudieron seguir gastando como de costumbre para utilizarlos.

Para las familias que han podido aprovechar los beneficios, los defensores han dicho que pueden tener enormes consecuencias. Rachel Sabella, directora de No Kid Hungry New York, dijo que los fondos del P-EBT “pueden ser la diferencia un niño que pasa hambre o uno que tiene una comida sana y nutritiva”.

“Sabemos que las familias están sufriendo — 3 de cada 4 nos han dicho que ahora ha sido más difícil poder comprar alimentos que en 2022 — así que esperamos que todos los hogares con derecho al P-EBT aprovechen este beneficio”, dijo en una declaración. “Sabemos cuán importante es dar a conocer estos fondos antes de que caduquen, y les pedimos a las familias a que revisen sus cuentas de EBT y tengan sus tarjetas a la mano”.

Nueva York necesita más programas de información, dice un experto

Wendy De La Rosa, profesora adjunta de marketing en la Wharton School de la Universidad de Pensilvania que ha estudiado los beneficios públicos, dijo que Nueva York y otros estados deberían hacer más para comunicarse de forma eficaz con las familias.

Usar mensajes de texto para avisarles a las familias sobre sus beneficios es un método “fundamentalmente defectuoso”, según De La Rosa.

“Las estafas están por las nubes, y todos los expertos en seguridad nos dicen que tengamos miedo”, dijo. “¿En qué mundo pensaríamos que un solo mensaje de texto — que con frecuencia proviene de un número desconocido — va a lograr que más gente lo reciba y capte?”

Agregó también que, en el caso de estudiantes con vivienda inestable, los números de teléfono que están en los archivos de los distritos escolares pueden tener errores o no estar actualizados.

“Tiene que ser un mensaje de texto, y un email, y una carta, y llamadas telefónicas, aparte de realmente determinar ¿A qué padres no hemos llegado?”, dijo De La Rosa. “Y luego hay que hacer un esfuerzo concertado para llegar a ellas y que todos estén informados”.

Algunas familias también responden mejor a cierto tipo de comunicación cuando se trata de beneficios. Lograr que las familias sientan más de los beneficios son suyos puede hacer que los aprovechen más, dijo De La Rosa. Es más probable que las familias usen beneficios presentados como un derecho, que los presentados como un programa de ayuda.

Programa permanente de beneficios de comida de verano a la vuelta de la esquina

A pesar de sus preocupaciones, a De La Rosa le satisface que Nueva York está entre los estados que han optado por adoptar un programa permanente federal de beneficios de comida en el verano. En todo el país, 9.5 millones de estudiantes que hubiesen sido elegibles para los beneficios probablemente se quedarán sin ellos este año, ya que por lo menos 12 estados no quisieron participar en el programa.

“Cuando se pone en ese contexto — que los niños de familias en algunos estados están pasando hambre porque los legisladores no han querido adoptar esta política — es evidente que Nueva York les lleva ventaja”, dijo ella.

Julian Shen-Berro es un reportero que cubre la ciudad de Nueva York. Comunícate con él enviándole un email a jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

When schools assign substitutes the wrong status, the error suppresses their pay

2024-01-31T10:00:00+00:00

This story was published in partnership with New York Focus, a non-profit news site investigating how power works in New York state. Sign up for their newsletter here.

This is the second installment in a two-part series reported with support from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. You can read the first part here.

When the Queens public school where she was working assigned Antonietta Auriemma to seven classroom sections, she realized something was wrong.

Between January and June 2023, Auriemma, a substitute teacher, filled in for two different teachers on long-term leaves of absence, on top of extra classroom periods as needed.

According to her handbook, she should have been classified as a “long-term sub” — and qualified for the requisite pay and benefits.

In the nation’s largest public school system, most substitute teachers work day-to-day, filling in for short-term absences at a fixed daily rate of roughly $200. But amid a teacher shortage made worse since the pandemic spurred educators to flee in droves, more and more New York City schools have come to rely on substitutes on longer-term assignments. Because they are more like regular teachers, these long-term subs are supposed to earn around $100 extra per day, which can add up to roughly $25,000 more per year, according to the teachers union. Some accrue sick time, vacation time, and even get health insurance.

Auriemma wasn’t receiving any of that.

“I was basically a full-time teacher,” Auriemma told New York Focus. “I was lesson planning for these classes, entering grades for these students, speaking to parents for parent engagement, all while making the [lower] sub pay of $200 a day.”

For years, subs like Auriemma have been underpaid for their long-term services — a violation of the New York City Department of Education’s teacher contract with the United Federation of Teachers, or UFT.

Interviews with 10 former and current substitute teachers or substitute paraprofessionals suggest that the practice is systematic and widespread across the city, and that since the pandemic began, violations may have increased. In a Sept. 11, 2023, UFT executive board meeting, Mark Collins, the union’s grievance director, stated that schools paying substitutes at an incorrect rate is “probably the most common grievance we have in the city.” A UFT spokesperson confirmed that it is one of the top grievances in the union.

Nearly all the interviewed substitutes, whose labor spans multiple city boroughs, said they knew of schools that underpaid subs because of misclassification. Five of them said they had filed grievances related to these issues; three have won back pay as a result, while the others’ grievances are still pending resolution.

Those who don’t grieve their wage shortages may choose not to because they’re unaware of the contract provisions. Others, because of their relative precarity: Many subs depend on the work as their primary income and cannot miss days for fear of falling behind on bills. Six subs described a culture of retaliation that might get them fired or suddenly removed from the classroom if they complain.

“Once you file, you’re essentially blacklisted at a school.”
JOE DIODATO, SUB WHO FILED A LABOR GRIEVANCE

Even if subs get to stay in the same school, they might get moved from classroom to classroom to preserve their place in the arcane classification system that keeps pay down. And when teachers get shuffled, students suffer.

Beth Ellor, who retired from full-time teaching in 2009, has subbed regularly since. She said she covered a class whose students blamed themselves for their lack of a regular teacher.

“They said, ‘Everybody hates us. Nobody wants to stay with us. We are a terrible class,’” Ellor recounted. Later, she found out that another substitute teacher had previously worked 27 days with that class before being moved to another assignment.

Ellor believes it was done to prevent that substitute from achieving the higher-paying status.

Asked about the problem, Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle acknowledged the “critical support” that subs provided during the pandemic.

“Thanks to temporary stimulus funding, we were able to provide additional financial support to schools to take on the additional costs of hiring more substitutes and have worked with the UFT and individual employees to address any outstanding pay issues from this period,” Lyle wrote in an email.

She declined to comment on the widespread, sometimes intentional practice of misclassifying subs, which existed before the outbreak of COVID.

In the education system, it’s not uncommon for subs to fall through the cracks, said David Bloomfield, an education law professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. “Those cracks widened during the pandemic,” he said. “This seems like a situation that hasn’t been given adequate attention by either the union or the central administration.”

Pay scale for subs varies by assignment length

The teachers union contract establishes various letter-coded “statuses” of service to which a substitute teacher can be assigned.

The most common sub classification, “O-status,” is for day-to-day subs who cover short-term absences. Subs are assigned “Z-status” or “Q-status” when working full-time for schools, filling in for longer-term teacher absences or vacancies. Those subs receive higher pay and limited benefits that are unavailable to O-status subs. The Education Department’s payroll system automatically grants the higher-paying Z-status to substitutes so long as they teach a class without an absence for 30 days.

When subs are told to miss a day, it resets the clock.

“What happens is a lot of principals know that [subs] get paid more money” under higher tiers of sub service, said a former school payroll secretary, who asked to remain anonymous because she still works in the school system and fears retaliation. “They don’t want to pay them the higher status, so they’ll tell a sub, don’t come in on this day, for whatever reason, and that defers them back to the old status so they can’t get paid more money.”

“You want to use money to hire more teachers, more supplies, or to get air conditioners. Nobody even thinks of subs.”
JOHN WENK, FORMER PRINCIPAL IN MANHATTAN

The substitutes who spoke to New York Focus described a widespread practice of either denying qualified substitutes Q- or Z-status, actively preventing subs from qualifying, or displaying incompetence in staffing subs under the appropriate status.

“It’s a known thing that principals have tight budgets … and [forcing a missed day] is one way they cut corners in saving money,” said the former payroll secretary. “It doesn’t even get discussed.”

When Joe Diodato subbed for a semester at an elementary school in the Bronx, it found a way to underpay him — without forcing a missed day.

Instead, according to documents Diodato shared with New York Focus, the school periodically changed the code in the payroll system associated with his work assignment. The action incorrectly made it seem like he wasn’t teaching the same class over the course of his employment, a condition required to earn Z-status.

Diodato didn’t learn about the higher-paying sub statuses until a couple months into the job. When he asked his payroll secretary about them, they said he didn’t qualify.

“Every day I came in I documented what I did,” Diodato explained. “I saved my classroom Zoom meetings, I saved my Google Classroom posts, my parent engagement. Everything that showed I did the job of a classroom teacher, I saved.”

At the end of the year, he used his records to file a 187-page grievance. He eventually won nearly $6,000 in a settlement with the Education Department.

Joe Diodato won nearly $6,000 in a settlement with the DOE. He’s now a full-time teacher.

Diodato intentionally waited for the school year to run out before filing his grievance. “Once you file,” he said, “you’re essentially blacklisted at a school.”

Now a full-time teacher, Diodato runs a private Facebook group for substitutes and a blog about the city Department of Education. He believes that more substitutes have likely been filing grievances on long-term status issues since the pandemic began, when the DOE increased its reliance on subs. But most violations, several subs explained, likely go unchallenged.

Without the higher pay and benefits, subs often quit mid-assignment, Diodato said.

Several subs who spoke to New York Focus requested anonymity because they were pursuing full-time teaching positions at their schools. They described a common belief that contesting their status would endanger their chances of full-time employment — or get them fired from their temporary positions.

One substitute, who requested anonymity, subbed regularly at a high school for seven years until she tried to claim increased benefits and wages.

When the sub challenged a principal’s reasoning as to why she could not earn Z-status, “she fired me on the spot,” the sub said. “She said, ‘You are on my last nerve … Yeah, I lied to you. I know what the rules are … but I’m the principal and I make the decisions, and you’re just a sub.’”

John Wenk, a former principal of a Manhattan high school, said that retaliation against subs is unsurprising behavior for some principals and can be done with impunity.

A principal, he explained, is free “to get rid of the sub for any reason whatsoever.”

“I’ve seen that happen,” said the former payroll secretary. But in most cases, she said, subs don’t bring the issues up in the first place. “They need a job. They need money,” she said, “so they’re not going to rock the boat.”

A UFT spokesperson acknowledged that most subs grieve pay violations after their assignment has finished, presumably out of fear of retaliation. They emphasized, however, that subs are already covered by contractual and legal anti-retaliation rules, and that the union is trying to add further protections so they are comfortable filing grievances as soon as the violation occurs.

Pointing fingers at Education Department red tape

Although it falls on individual school payroll secretaries, principals, and administrators to carry out pay violations, some argue that the DOE’s bureaucracy is to blame.

The money to pay substitutes comes from the DOE central administration, but once schools receive it, principals can use the money however they please. Operating under strained resources, with dozens of budgetary items to attend to, a principal may be incentivized to use the money intended for subs on resources deemed more necessary.

“You want to use that money to hire more teachers, or for more extracurricular activities, more supplies, or to get air conditioners,” Wenk said. “Nobody is thinking about this problem. Nobody even thinks of subs.”

Joe Diodato in the South Bronx. Though he's now a full-time teacher, he still runs a Facebook group for subs.

Bloomfield believes principals and individual schools are not equipped to deal with the problem in the first place.

“Principals have neither the expertise nor the budgetary acumen to make the substitute puzzle pieces fit together with all the other pressures they’re under,” he said. “It’s therefore incumbent on the central administration, both the DOE and the city, to offer clear guidance consistent with union contracts and other legal provisions to assist in filling these positions.”

A UFT spokesperson said the union has been working to shift the burden of ensuring correct pay from the subs to the Education Department. The spokesperson referenced an agreement the union won in recent contract negotiations to establish guidance to re-train and educate administrative staff on substitute hiring — to ensure correct classification, pay, and health coverage.

But some subs told New York Focus that they attribute the ubiquity of pay violations in part to the UFT’s inadequate representation of substitutes.

“While [UFT reps] seem to be helpful and they want to be that point of contact for when situations need to be escalated, a lot of them are just at a loss,” said a former substitute teacher in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who requested anonymity.

“We disagree that UFT reps are ‘at a loss,’” a teachers union spokesperson wrote in a statement. They noted that any substitute can receive immediate representation for a grievance.

Bloomfield sees the problem as baked into the DOE’s treatment of its workforce.

“Just that very term ‘substitute’ reeks of second-class citizenship in the personnel constellation,” he said. “They’re an afterthought.”

Teddy Ostrow is a journalist from Brooklyn. He was the host of The Upsurge podcast and his work has appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, In These Times, and elsewhere.

Cookies, chicken tenders, dumplings: NYC cost-cutting axes faves from February school menu

2024-01-24T20:00:23+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get the latest news on NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox.

Mayor Eric Adams’ school budget cuts will soon hit New York City students square in the stomach.

A $60 million November cut to the city’s school foods budget is forcing the Education Department to thin out next month’s school cafeteria menu by removing a host of pricier items, including student favorites like cookies, chicken dumplings, and bean and cheese burritos, according to an email from a school food official obtained by Chalkbeat.

Additionally, at the growing number of middle and high schools with cafeterias that resemble food courts (part of an initiative expanded by Adams to improve the lunchroom experience), students will no longer get chicken tenders, grab-and-go salads, and French fries – items that are currently offered multiple days a week as options for kids who don’t want that day’s main course.

Other items that will be taken out of rotation in February include roasted chicken thighs and legs as well as guacamole and salsa, the message said. Breakfast meal kits, French toast sticks, bagel sticks, ciabatta bread, and sweet potato oatmeal muffins will also be scratched.

In a recent meeting with parent leaders, Chris Tricarico, the Education Department’s head of school foods, acknowledged that the menus would be impacted by the budget cuts, but promised “minimal changes.”

But to many parents and kids, the cuts feel anything but bite-sized.

“To me, that’s like 75% of the menu,” said Jose Santana, a 17-year-old senior at Dr. Richard Izquierdo Charter School in the Bronx, which offers the same menu as district schools. French fries were “definitely one of my favorites,” he said. “For that to be gone is huge.”

Without the chicken tenders, fries, and grab-and-go salads, the remaining daily backup options at high schools with food courts are pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, and hummus and crackers, according to the February menu. There will also still be a daily salad bar, but Santana said he doesn’t see many students use it.

“At least the pizza is still there,” he said.

Clarissa Kunizaki, a 15-year-old sophomore at Brooklyn Technical High School, was similarly shocked to hear the list of menu items getting chopped.

“The chicken thighs and legs were the best option for lunch in my opinion, since the other hot meals usually do not taste great,” she said. The bean and cheese burritos were also “pretty good and very popular among other students,” she added.

Menu cuts come after school food investment

Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks pledged $50 million a little over a year ago to turn 80 more school cafeterias into food courts – a change advocates have contended can increase the number of students who eat. More than 100 school buildings serving 140,000 students now have an enhanced cafeteria, according to the Education Department’s school kitchens dashboard.

Adams has made school food a major priority, launching an initiative to serve vegan offerings on Fridays and a recent program to bring professional chefs into schools to help develop new recipes.

But with the variety in the food court lunchrooms getting significantly diminished next month, some students wondered whether more teens would turn to other options.

“I see every day a good group of students that just don’t eat school lunch,” Santana said. “I wonder if this budget cut will cause students to spend more money” outside schools at nearby bodegas or delis.

“I personally don’t want to waste five to 10 dollars every day,” he added.

Liz Accles, the executive director of Community Food Advocates, a nonprofit that led the charge to expand the city’s cafeteria enhancement program, said in an email she’s “hopeful that the funds will be restored … given the unprecedented commitments that the Mayor and Chancellor have made in creating an innovative and leading edge school meals program.”

An Education Department spokesperson said items that don’t appear on the February menu may still be added back in subsequent months.

“Our school food team has worked diligently to respond to budget reductions without sacrificing nutritional standards and with a continued focus on student choice,” said spokesperson Jenna Lyle. “Daily options, including a salad bar, continue to be available, and our young people continue to benefit from enhanced cafeterias, halal certified kitchens, plant-powered Fridays and other school food programs.”

Students and parents concerned about more school food waste

At many high schools and even some middle schools, students are allowed to leave campus for lunch and buy food at local eateries.

But for younger students, there’s no option to leave school – it’s either eat what’s on the school menu, or bring food from home.

Ana, a 6-year-old student at P.S. 289 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, said she’s “going to be sad” if the cookies disappear from her school menu.

“They took things off the menu that I really enjoy,” said Mia Ueoka, a 9-year-old fourth grader at P.S. 295 in Brooklyn. “My favorite thing on the menu was the cheese and bean burrito and the chicken thighs. I actually felt like I could get protein from it.”

Ueoka’s dad, Elton Dodson, worried the changes could exacerbate equity issues, “with more affluent parents able to pack lunches to compensate for this policy atrocity.”

News that the chicken dumplings are falling victim to the budget cuts also hit hard for some students and adults.

Jake Jacobs, a middle school art teacher in the Bronx, allows students to eat lunch in his classroom, and gets a first-hand look at what they like and what they don’t based on what ends up in his trash can.

“They throw the vast majority of it away,” he said. But the dumplings were one bright spot. “They get double portions and they’re fighting over them,” he said.

The $60 million cut to school foods was part of a total of roughly $550 million chopped from the Education Department budget in Adams’ November budget. Adams ordered all city agencies to trim their budgets by 5% as part of what he described as a bleak fiscal situation driven by increased spending on services for migrants and asylum seekers.

But Adams significantly revised that financial forecast in January. He reversed $10 million of the November cuts to the Education Department, but still announced $100 million in new cuts set to take effect next fiscal year. Additional cuts to the police, fire, and sanitation departments were put on hold.

Officials have emphasized that they have done everything possible to keep the cuts from directly affecting services. But several parents said the cuts to the school menus would have an immediate impact on their kids.

“Our schools have already seen after-school programs decimated, arts programs eliminated,” said Dodson, the parent at P.S. 295. “Now they won’t have adequate fuel for the day.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams boosted pay for special ed pre-K teachers. Now they face deep cuts.

2024-01-22T11:00:00+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

In his first year on the job, Mayor Eric Adams vowed to fix a glaring inequity in the city’s prekindergarten system. His predecessor’s universal free pre-K program, widely celebrated as a national model, did not provide a seat to every child with a disability, despite a legal requirement to do so.

“The previous ideas of universal 3-K and pre-K did not account for children with disabilities — it was just wrong,” Adams told reporters in December 2022. The mayor promised every child with a disability would have a placement the following spring.

To meet that goal, officials began pouring roughly $134 million into private community organizations that operate the vast majority of the city’s preschool special education seats. It was a shot in the arm for providers that have struggled to keep their doors open due to years of anemic funding and staff churn, allowing them to raise teacher salaries by thousands of dollars to bring them closer to their public school counterparts.

But despite the funding influx, more than 1,100 preschool students with disabilities languished without a placement at the end of last school year. And this coming spring — a year after every child was supposed to have a seat — the Education Department anticipates needing between 866 to more than 1,400 additional seats, according to a new analysis of city data by Advocates for Children, a nonprofit that helps families navigate the special education system.

The problem may soon get worse. The funding Adams used to boost preschool special education programs flowed from one-time federal pandemic relief money that will expire in June — and city officials have not committed to replacing it. Providers say that could lead to a spate of classroom closures, leaving even more children with disabilities without placements at a key developmental stage.

“At some point, I’m going to tell my staff the money that we said was here is not here anymore,” said Jolene Gunther-Doherty, program director for The Guild for Exceptional Children, which operates a special education preschool program in Brooklyn. The additional city funding helped her program boost some teacher salaries from $48,000 a year to just over $68,000 a year, raises that would be reversed if the funding is not renewed.

“I may not get all the resignation letters the next day, but I might get them [in] mid-July or the beginning of August,” she added. “That’s when you begin to say you can’t keep the doors open.”

Teacher recruitment remains a challenge even with higher salaries

Preschool special education programs have long been the most neglected part of the city’s early childhood system.

The state provides a significant chunk of the providers’ budgets and officials approved flat or anemic funding for many years, below increases for traditional public schools (officials approved more generous increases during the last two years). As a result, teachers in the sector are often paid tens of thousands of dollars less than their peers in other schools, leading to high turnover and vacant classrooms, providers said.

Community organizations that operate general education preschool seats, the cornerstone of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s universal pre-K program, faced a similar funding disparity. After years of advocacy, those providers won big raises for their educators that brought them closer to their public school peers. But the special education teachers were left out, cementing their status as the lowest paid teachers in the city despite serving a high-need population.

Adams’ plan was designed to help fix that problem, providing extra funding to 86 providers to boost salaries closer to the minimum wages enjoyed by public school teachers, lengthen their school days from five hours to 6 hours and 20 minutes to match the district’s preschool schedule, and provide a slew of training and support.

The money is helping operators like HeartShare, which runs four preschool special education programs across Queens and Brooklyn. The organization lengthened the school day and increased many teacher salaries from about $50,000 a year to $68,652 a year, bringing them closer to the starting salary of certified teachers with a master’s degree in the city’s public schools. Teacher assistant wages increased to about $35,000 annually.

Carol Verdi, executive vice president of education services at HeartShare, said raises helped keep staff from leaving and enabled her to hire teachers for two classrooms that had been sitting empty because she couldn’t find anyone to run them.

“For retention, it was great,” Verdi said of the funding boost. “For recruitment, it helped a little bit.”

But strong incentives for teachers to work elsewhere remain. Under the new contract negotiated by the city’s teachers union, public school educators recently notched raises, leaving those in community-based pre-K classrooms below the new minimums. And for teachers with years of experience, they can earn thousands more by jumping to a public school.

Even with the recent salary boost for community organizations, Verdi still has seven classrooms she can’t find teachers for despite plenty of demand from families. “Our phone rings off the hook for seats,” Verdi said. “There are children out there in need.”

Sema Atilgan, who has worked at HeartShare for roughly two decades, said she has often considered leaving and briefly took a job at a public school in 2006. But she loves working with preschool students with disabilities, especially the feeling when students arrive with limited speech skills and leave the program speaking whole words.

“That gives me a lot of not only excitement to go forward ... but just gratitude,” said Atilgan, who has worked as a teacher and special education coordinator at the organization’s preschool program in Howard Beach, Queens.

Sema Atilgan, a long-time preschool special education teacher, is facing a pay cut this summer that may prompt her to quit.

But her salary would rise by more than $30,000 a year if she left for a public school teaching position, an enticing boost. Plus, she’d have a more generous benefits package and a summer break; preschool special education teachers in programs like HeartShare work year round. Instead, she’s facing a pay cut of about $3,700 this summer, which would bring her salary below $70,000 annually. That could be the final straw that pushes her into another job.

“If they give us a decrease in our salary there will not only be an uproar but also a mass exodus,” she said, adding that she works a side job on Sundays conducting evaluations for Early Intervention services to help make ends meet. “Who gives money and tries to take it back?”

The temporary nature of the funding took several providers by surprise, especially given Adams’ framing of the new money as a “historical leap forward” that would ensure every child with a disability has a preschool seat.

“We would have advised our providers to really seriously think about this unless the [Education Department] had a plan how to fund it” in the future, said Chris Treiber, who represents preschool special education providers through the InterAgency Council of Developmental Disabilities Agencies, an advocacy group. “If this funding ends, our teachers become the lowest-paid teachers in New York City again.”

Largest gaps are in NYC’s neediest neighborhoods

When the city fails to find a seat for a preschool student with a disability, they often sit at home, or wind up in a program that can’t provide intensive support and services, such as speech therapy, listed on a student’s learning plan.

The impact on the city’s youngest students is significant. A lack of special education services early on can lead to more significant learning deficits later — and increased costs for the city. The gap in seats this coming spring is projected to be highest in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, covering a swath of the South Bronx and central Brooklyn, including Brownsville and East New York, according to the Advocates for Children analysis.

“We need to hear a plan for how the city will provide a seat to every child who needs one this year,” said Randi Levine, the policy director at Advocates for Children. “The possibility of 1,400 seats being needed at the end of this year is extremely alarming.”

Nathaniel Styer, an education department spokesperson, said the city exceeded its goal of adding 800 seats by the end of last school year, mostly by helping providers raise salaries to recruit educators for classrooms that were sitting vacant. Still, those additional seats were not enough to meet demand, and officials have not detailed any new efforts to meet the projected gap this spring.

“We expanded access and increased pay for this critical sector at a time when it was suffering due to underinvestment and difficulty hiring staff,” Styer wrote in an email, pointing to “the extremely low base pay rate” offered by the state. “As the need continues to grow, we continue to pivot and shift.”

Bronx mom Diana Benavides struggled to find a special education preschool seat this year for her son Liam, who has autism. The 4-year-old attended a general education preschool program, which couldn’t provide all the support he needed this year, including speech therapy. Plus, his class of 17 students proved overstimulating, and he became much more withdrawn, she said.

“He’s more hesitant to go to school [and] has more separation anxiety,” Benavides said. After securing a new learning plan in November that called for a special education program with a class size of 12, she struggled to find a seat.

Benavides spent hours tracking down and calling roughly 20 programs. “It’s almost like a part-time job just trying to find that information and following up with the schools,” she said. She ultimately found just one program in Manhattan that could meet Liam’s needs, including speech and occupational therapy services on site.

Liam started at the new school this month, though Benavides worries about other children who are languishing at home or whose parents don’t have time to conduct their own exhaustive search.

“The need is just growing, especially coming out of the pandemic,” she said. The lack of seats, she said, “is going to have generational impact.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Hochul proposes more than $800 million funding increase for NY schools, 4-year extension of mayoral control

2024-01-16T19:03:49+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a more than $800 million increase in funding for the state’s public schools, while also calling for a four-year extension of New York City’s polarizing mayoral control system.

The proposals came Tuesday as Hochul presented her $233 billion 2025 state budget, building on the hundreds of policy initiatives announced last week in her State of the State address. Her budget proposal also set aside $10 million for teacher training to support a statewide literacy initiative that Hochul hopes will encourage schools to adopt new curriculums.

The governor’s call to extend New York City’s centralized school governance structure is in some ways unsurprising. She advocated for the same extension in 2022, though lawmakers eventually approved only a two-year extension and tasked the state’s Education Department with compiling a report on how effective the system has been.

But her support for mayoral control comes just months before the release of that report, and follows a series of public hearings in New York City where the status quo has been hotly contested. Scores of educators have flocked to the hearings to call for the system to be revised or overturned, citing grievances with the educational policies of Mayor Eric Adams and his predecessors.

Outside of the education budget, Hochul’s proposal also called for $2.4 billion to provide shelter and other basic services to migrants and asylum seekers — including providing humanitarian aid to New York City. That funding would draw $500 million from the state’s reserves, Hochul said. She also proposed millions to support mental health programs and services.

Hochul’s budget proposal marks the start of negotiations with lawmakers over how the state should allocate its funding in the next fiscal year, which begins in April. During a press conference after her budget presentation, Hochul affirmed to reporters that she would not consider raising income taxes to increase spending on schools or other issues, regardless of what lawmakers propose.

Here are the education highlights from Hochul’s budget presentation:

Increase to school aid, though smaller than previous years

Hochul wants to spend $825 million more on the state’s schools — a 2.4% funding jump from last year’s budget. That increase would bring the state’s total education tab to more than $35.3 billion — the highest level of state aid in history.

New York City would receive $13.3 billion under the proposal — a funding increase of roughly $341 million, or about 2.5%, according to figures released by the state.

The bulk of the spending jump comes from a proposed $507 million increase to Foundation Aid, the state formula that calculates how much funding each school district receives and sends more dollars to higher-need districts. Lawmakers committed to fully funding the formula for the first time in 2021, with districts seeing the additional funding phased in over three years.

The proposed increase to Foundation Aid was driven largely by inflation, but came as a smaller jump than previously anticipated.

Hochul’s budget proposal included two changes to Foundation Aid, according to the state’s budget director, Blake Washington. The first would alter how the formula accounts for inflation, shifting to using a 10-year average rate in calculations. It would also modify a provision that prevented districts who saw enrollment drops from losing money.

“Seventy-five percent of the districts that would experience a change under this recommendation have lost more than 20% of their pupil count since the Foundation Aid formula was adopted,” Washington said.

Hochul’s Tuesday proposal represented a more modest increase in school funding than in recent budgets — and less than the $1.3 billion increase that the state’s Board of Regents called for last month. Last year, for example, the state budget increased school aid by $3 billion.

“As much as we may want to, we are not going to be able to replicate the massive increases of the past two years,” Hochul said in her budget presentation. “No one could have expected the extraordinary jumps in aid to recur annually.”

An additional $20 billion had been funneled to schools over the course of the pandemic between federal and state aid, Hochul said, noting that K-12 enrollment had declined over the past decade.

In a statement, Alliance for Quality Education, a school funding advocacy group, questioned the governor’s decision to change the Foundation Aid formula, noting the budget proposal contained $475 million less in school aid than previously anticipated.

“We agree there needs to be an update to the Foundation Aid formula, but it must be a process involving the State Education Department and engaging communities, with the goal of more accurately capturing students’ growing needs, not as a penny-pinching budgeting strategy,” said Marina Marcou-O’Malley, the group’s interim co-executive director. “What now remains to be seen is which districts the nearly half a billion dollars that we expected to see in the Governor’s proposal for schools were taken from.”

Hochul’s proposal also comes as the city’s schools and districts across the state face the end of billions of dollars in one-time federal COVID relief funds, which are set to dry up in September.

Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, urged the state to commit further funding to support school districts that have relied on those funds to prop up essential programs.

“New York City alone is spending around $1 billion per year in expiring federal funding to pay for 450 school social workers, 3-K expansion, legally mandated preschool special education programs, 75 shelter-based community coordinators, community schools, 60 psychologists, bilingual programming, literacy initiatives, and more,” she said in a statement. “While we appreciate that the Governor is proposing to increase overall education funding, this moment in time demands more.”

Call to extend mayoral control

With the current New York City school governance structure set to expire on June 30, Adams will return to Albany this legislative session to make his case for retaining control of the city’s schools. With Hochul’s budget proposal Tuesday, it appears the governor remains the mayor’s ally in that effort.

Her budget called for a four-year extension of the current school governance structure, which gives the mayor the power to select the schools chancellor and appoint a majority of members to the city’s Panel on Educational Policy, or PEP, which votes on major policy proposals and contracts.

But that system has faced heavy critique at public hearings held by state education officials across four boroughs in recent months. Speakers who have called for the current system to be amended have repeatedly asked for further checks and balances to be placed on the mayor’s power, particularly when it comes to the PEP.

At a hearing in the Bronx last month, Naveed Hasan, one of five PEP members elected by the city’s parent councils, alleged his own role on the panel was “a farce.”

“The majority of the members on the PEP are appointed by the mayor and never act independently, always approving whatever City Hall finds politically expedient,” said Hasan, who represents Manhattan. “My role on the PEP is rendered meaningless under a rubber-stamp panel under mayoral control.”

Meanwhile, defenders of the current system — like schools Chancellor David Banks — have argued it creates accountability by centralizing decisions. They say it represents an improvement over the previous system, which relied on a fractured and sometimes corrupt collection of school boards across the city.

If enacted, the proposed four-year extension would represent the longest one-time extension of mayoral control since former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s time in office. Though the system has been renewed regularly (with some tweaks) over the past two decades, former Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly failed to secure the lengthy extension deals that had been given to his predecessor. (Bloomberg received extensions of six and seven years.)

In a statement Tuesday, state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat who chairs the Senate’s New York City education committee, criticized the governor’s decision to weigh in on mayoral control in her budget proposal.

“School governance and whether mayoral control should be continued or replaced by a more effective system must be informed by the [state Education Department] study,” he said. “It’s simply premature and senseless to lump mayoral control in with the state budget.”

Regardless of how the city’s school governance structure moves forward, Liu previously told Chalkbeat that lawmakers should seek to establish a more permanent system this year.

Reevaluating it at two- or four-year intervals is “destabilizing for the school system,” he said, adding, “There needs to be more certainty in the eyes of educators as well as families.”

Higher education, swimming instruction, and other initiatives

Hochul’s budget proposal also earmarked millions of dollars to support several policy initiatives that would impact the state’s young people.

It provides more than $200 million in new, recurring funding for state- and city-operated college campuses, commits $150 million to creating equitable opportunities for swimming instruction, and invests millions of additional dollars across multiple mental health initiatives.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

Recipe to help school budgets? NYC considers chopping bake sale restrictions

2024-01-12T22:53:40+00:00

Bring back the bake sales!

That’s one idea New York City education officials are weighing to help schools make up for the impact of steep budget cuts, according to a recent letter from Deputy Chancellor Kenita Lloyd to principals.

Education Department officials are considering relaxing a more-than-decade-old rule that restricts what food can be sold on school grounds and limits PTA bake sales with unapproved foods to once a month — a rule originally intended to cut access to unhealthy foods.

Waiving the rule would give schools “greater flexibility to conduct fundraising activities more frequently, thereby offering a vital resource in these financially stringent times,” Lloyd’s message said.

Parent leaders came to Education Department officials with the idea of relaxing the bake sale rules during an October meeting of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Committee.

Randi Garay, a Brooklyn parent and member of the advisory committee, noted that schools were previously issued a waiver from the fundraising rules to raise money for humanitarian relief in Haiti.

“Due to the budget cuts…our schools are now in crisis,” she said. “Parent associations and parent teacher associations would like to step up.”

But the Thursday letter from Lloyd left a sour taste in the mouths of some principals.

“I did a little math,” said one Manhattan principal who spoke on the condition of anonymity. With budget cuts projected to exceed $2 billion by spring, the principal estimated, each of the city’s roughly 1,600 public schools would have to raise more than $1.3 million to offset them.

“This is a real ‘let them eat cupcakes’ kind of moment,” the principal said.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, frankly,” added a Brooklyn principal.

Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull said, “We value the health and nutrition of our students, while welcoming the diverse perspectives of our families.” The agency is gathering feedback from principals, but no final decision has been made on if or how the rules will change, she said.

Like anything that involves PTAs, the proposal raises equity questions. Parent groups across the city’s segregated school system have wildly varying fundraising capacities, with some raising over $1,000 per student and others reporting no revenue.

“If each school is left to their own devices, the financially privileged districts continue to leverage their PTAs to bring them more,” said a third principal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Elton Dodson, PTA president at P.S. 295 in Brooklyn, said his school would likely take advantage of the additional freedom to offer more bake sales.

“A penny here, a penny there is better than nothing,” he said.

But his school community has parents with the time and resources to coordinate, stock, and staff the bake sales, and customers with enough disposable income to spend freely on the tasty treats – an advantage he acknowledged other schools may not have.

An Education Department spokesperson countered, however, that some parents suggested “that more flexibility would help schools that have historically struggled to fundraise.”

Reconsidering a longstanding rule

The bake sale regulation that Education Department officials are considering waiving dates back to 2009 — part of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s public health push to limit the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages.

The rule, which generated a healthy dose of controversy when it was introduced, limited what foods could be sold on school grounds to a pre-approved list, cutting out homemade goods like cupcakes and brownies.

Some parents and City Council members argued at the time that bake sales were a useful fundraising tool amid a previous round of budget cuts.

An amendment to the regulation issued in 2010 extended the hours that students could sell pre-approved snacks, and allowed PTAs to have one fundraiser a month with non-approved foods. Money raised by PTAs can fund school supplies, extracurricular activities, and the salaries of “supplemental” staff but can’t pay the salaries of teachers in core academic subjects.

Now, officials say they want to further relax the bake sale rules and are soliciting feedback from school leaders.

“As we navigate the challenges the possible upcoming budget constraints, it’s heartening to witness the proactive and innovative approaches our parent leaders are adopting,” Lloyd wrote. “In line with these efforts, we are currently considering an important initiative that could provide additional support to our school communities.”

Repealing rules that were meant to cut down on unhealthy foods in schools would be a curious turn for the administration of the famously health-conscious Mayor Eric Adams, who has touted his efforts to introduce vegan foods into school cafeterias.

Elena Tate, a Brooklyn parent and elementary school PTA president, said offering a few more bake sales would likely help the school’s bottom line. But she said that the concerns about limiting sugary foods that propelled the initial restrictions are still present for many parents.

“Some people do want to keep them to once a month or get rid of them” for health reasons, Tate said.

Adams announced roughly $550 million in budget cuts to the Education Department in November, and additional cuts are expected in January and later in the spring, reaching a potential total of more than $2 billion, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. The city also reinstated a policy of clawing back money midyear from schools with enrollment shortfalls.

For schools like Dodson’s, those cuts have had real impacts. The school almost lost its music program – until the PTA ponied up $70,000 to save it, he said.

“We shouldn’t have to have three extra bake sales a month to fund our music program,” he said. “That being said … if this is what we have to do, this is what we have to do.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC says it won’t move forward with tens of millions in cuts to District 75 schools

2024-01-11T22:27:06+00:00

New York City’s Education Department is pledging not to move forward with tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts to District 75 programs for students with significant disabilities – but school staffers say they’re still getting mixed messages about the cuts.

Staffers at multiple District 75 schools said last month that their principals were instructed to cut $1 million or more from their budgets as part of citywide budget cuts ordered by Mayor Eric Adams. The planned cuts totaled roughly $97 million across the district and would have forced schools to slash spending on extracurriculars, supplies, and paraprofessionals, people familiar with the discussions said.

Following an outcry from school staffers, parents, and advocates over the planned cuts, Education Department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said earlier this week “we can confirm that there are no school-based cuts happening to D75.”

Another Education Department spokesperson denied that there was a “change in course” and insisted that District 75 schools were simply asked to review their budgets to ensure they aligned with enrollment, a “recurring practice for all schools.”

“We are working with district leadership to ensure this understanding is clear for all principals,” the spokesperson added.

But school staffers said they are still getting conflicting messages, and news of the reversal hasn’t yet trickled down to some schools.

Jo Macellaro, a teacher and union chapter leader at P.S. 186X in the Bronx, the city’s largest District 75 program, said the school’s principal is “under the impression that they are still happening.” The principal didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another District 75 administrator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the reversal of the cuts has not been communicated to their school either.

Tameka Solomon, the chapter leader at P.S. 352X, another Bronx District 75 program, meanwhile, heard from her principal that the cuts are “on hold.”

The vague communication and confusion surrounding the cuts has left some worried that District 75 school budgets could still be vulnerable.

“In this top-down approach to school governance, there is very little that trickles down to actual schools,” said Paullette Healy, a parent of a District 75 student and long-time advocate. “Until I see it in writing, I still believe our students with disabilities are in jeopardy of losing their services because of these cuts.”

From the start, the specifics of the cuts have been mired in confusion.

In budget documents released in November, only $3 million a year in cuts was listed for District 75.

But staffers at four schools subsequently told Chalkbeat that their administrators were instructed by the district leaders to make far steeper cuts, effective immediately. The staffers added that their schools are not normally subject to big mid-year cuts, and pointed out that enrollment is up across the district.

The $97 million figure was communicated by District 75 Superintendent Ketler Louissaint in a meeting with principals, according to people familiar with the discussions.

News of the cuts drew outrage from staffers, parents and advocates.

One administrator warned that cuts to the school’s paraprofessional budget could pose safety risks for students with autism who are prone to run out of classrooms and buildings with no notice and need full-time monitoring by dedicated aides. That risk was underscored last week when an 11-year-old boy with autism ran out of his District 75 school in downtown Brooklyn and managed to board a train to Long Island. He was found four hours later unharmed.

Some advocates said the Education Department’s commitment not to enact District 75 school cuts was a positive step.

“We are relieved that what was rumored around cuts to the district serving those students isn’t currently in the cards and that, for now, the expertise the district offers should remain intact,” said Maggie Moroff, the senior special education policy coordinator for Advocates for Children. “Hard times can’t be an excuse for cutting services to those students who need support the most.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

School funding, mayoral control, class sizes: Education issues to watch in Albany’s new session

2023-12-22T18:52:09+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

With New York state’s legislative session set to begin in January, lawmakers are preparing to tackle a slate of contentious issues that could hold serious ramifications for New York City students.

The fate of the city’s school governance structure will once again be up for renewal, pushing Mayor Eric Adams to make his case in Albany for continuing mayoral control.

School funding may also play a major role in lawmakers’ discussions, as some education officials have called to overhaul the state’s school funding formula — and as New York City and other districts grapple with a looming fiscal cliff, with federal COVID relief funds expiring in the fall.

School safety initiatives, updates to the state’s learning standards, and other legislation likely appearing during the next session may also impact New York City students.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest education issues lawmakers could tackle:

Mayoral control in the hot seat again

After a two-year extension, mayoral control is set to expire on June 30, and legislators will need to decide whether and how New York City’s school governance structure should change.

Mayoral control — which consolidates power over the city’s school system in the hands of its mayor — has been regularly extended over the past two decades, but has faced some tweaks along the way. Under it, the mayor has the power to choose the schools chancellor and appoint a majority of people to the city’s Panel on Educational Policy, or PEP, a city board that votes on major policy proposals and contracts.

A forthcoming state Education Department analysis of mayoral control, which solicited public comments as part of its review process, will be key to discussions of how the city should move forward, said state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat who chairs the senate’s New York City education committee.

Whether lawmakers seek to continue mayoral control or adopt a new school governance structure, Liu said the city needs a more permanent system, noting that reevaluating it at two- or four-year intervals is “destabilizing for the school system.”

“There needs to be more certainty in the eyes of educators as well as families,” he said. Another critical consideration, he added: “Mayoral control should transcend whoever the mayor happens to be.”

Though public hearings have featured fierce criticism of the current system, some observers aren’t expecting sweeping changes.

David Bloomfield, a professor of education, law, and public policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, expects mayoral control to largely continue, with possible changes to lessen the mayor’s degree of control, like potentially granting additional oversight or power to City Council members or the city’s elected parent councils.

“It’s hard to imagine at this point what a radical change would look like,” Bloomfield said.

Other large cities have also grappled with their school governance structures in recent years. In Chicago, where mayoral control of schools was established in 1995, the city will transition to a fully elected school board by 2027.

Debate continues over school funding formula

Several years ago, in a major victory for state education officials and advocates, lawmakers committed to fully funding Foundation Aid, the formula that sends extra money to high-needs districts such as New York City. Since then, the conversation has shifted toward how to update the formula itself.

While the state already sends more money for schools with high-need students, the Board of Regents recently called for more than $250 million to revise the formula, proposing to update how students in poverty are counted, among other changes. The Regents have also called for $1 million to conduct a longer term study on how the formula can be improved.

State Sen. Shelley Mayer, a Democrat who chairs the senate’s general education committee, said she supports a cautious approach. She is in favor of funding further study, but hopes to better understand what potential changes would mean for school districts across the state before taking more definitive action.

“We have to know both how much it would cost the state, and also who would get less money than they currently get,” she said.

Expiring federal relief funds will dominate discussions

Both Liu and Mayer expect the looming fiscal cliff to play a major role in budget discussions during the next legislative session.

In recent years, about $7.7 billion in one-time federal pandemic aid has padded the city Education Department’s budget, helping to maintain critical initiatives like expanded preschool and summer enrichment programs. The funds have also helped schools hire social workers, psychologists, bilingual educators, and shelter coordinators, who have helped newly arrived migrants navigate the city’s school system.

But that money will expire in September, leaving many of those initiatives in jeopardy.

(Separately, Adams has directed the city’s Education Department to cut nearly $550 million from its budget, with further budget cuts still expected.).

Advocating for additional education funding as the state develops its budget will be her organization’s top priority, said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, a group that supports the city’s most vulnerable students.

“We need the state to step up and help to save some of these important programs,” she said. “All options need to be on the table.”

Liu said, “It may not be possible for the state alone to make up the entire altitude of that cliff. But maybe we can make it a more gradual downhill, instead of a sudden drop.”

Class size law remains a sticking point

The state law to reduce class sizes at schools across the five boroughs, which will phase in smaller class sizes each year up to 2027, garnered praise from teachers and education advocates. But Adams and other local officials have expressed concern over the city’s ability to meet the requirements.

At a recent town hall in Brooklyn, First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said the city would comply with the law, but warned that it would “require very painful tradeoffs.”

When asked whether lawmakers will consider amendments to the law if petitioned by city officials during the next legislative session, Liu said, “We will continue to watch this closely.

“It’s lamentable that they continue to hem and haw about this,” he said, adding it was “absolutely essential” for the city to meet the class size mandate.

Other legislative priorities:

An effort by some lawmakers last spring to reduce the number of school lockdown drills mandated under state law is expected to resurface. Parents have argued the drills harm student mental health without clearly proven safety benefits.
As the state’s Education Department seeks to further update learning standards, Mayer hopes to tackle how to educate students about the history behind modern-day conflicts. She’s alarmed that many students have learned about the Israel-Hamas war largely through social media and is deeply troubled by reports of rising antisemitism and Islamophobia. She believes schools need more support to robustly address these and other instances of discriminatory behavior. “We cannot have students afraid to go to school because they wear a yarmulke or they wear a headscarf,” she said. “I don’t have the answers, but we’re going to have to have answers.”
Other efforts — like a universal free after-school pilot program, potential shifts to literacy instruction, the state’s ongoing transition to zero-emission buses, and more — are also expected to arise in the next session.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

NYC teachers union sues Eric Adams to halt school budget cuts

2023-12-21T19:07:46+00:00

New York City’s teachers union is suing Mayor Eric Adams in an attempt to halt nearly $550 million in school budget cuts, according to legal documents filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Adams is violating a state law barring the city from decreasing its contribution to schools when the city’s overall revenue doesn’t go down, the United Federation of Teachers’ lawsuit argues. Revenues went up by $5 billion last year, the union claims.

The “draconian” cuts, the suit further claims, will infringe on students’ constitutional rights to a “sound basic education.” Three teachers and a speech therapist joined the suit as plaintiffs, outlining how they lack resources and supplies for their students, especially those with high needs.

The suit asks a judge to order the city to restore its funding of schools to last year’s levels.

It is the second legal challenge from a municipal union in the last two weeks seeking to stop the cuts. DC 37, the city’s largest public union, sued over the cuts last week.

“The administration can’t go around touting the tourism recovery and the return of the city’s pre-pandemic jobs, and then create a fiscal crisis and cut education because of its own mismanagement of the asylum seeker problem,” said union president Michael Mulgrew. “Our schools and our families deserve better.”

The city’s law department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Adams sought to downplay the conflict when asked about the lawsuit during an unrelated press conference Thursday morning.

“The UFT, they have to represent their members,” Adams said. “From time to time, friends disagree. Sometimes … it ends up in a courtroom.”

Lawsuit ramps up pressure on Adams

Adams has argued for months that the city is facing a fiscal crisis due to unanticipated spending on the influx of more than 150,000 migrants and asylum-seekers since last summer.

But critics of the cuts, including Mulgrew, have countered that the city is overstating how much the city will spend on the new arrivals. The administration’s claim that the city’s response to the increase in migrants will cost about $11 billion over the next two years is an “unverified estimate,” the lawsuit claims. The Independent Budget Office and the city’s comptroller’s office have projected lower costs.

The city routinely projects budget deficits that are ultimately erased plugged by higher-than-anticipated revenue, Mulgrew argued in a recent op-ed. That’s what happened last fiscal year when the city collected $8.3 billion more than projected in tax revenue, he said.

The move to file a legal challenge represents a significant escalation in the union’s efforts to reverse the cuts, which were originally announced in September and formally rolled out late last month.

Adams ordered all city agencies to find savings of 5% in the November cuts. Additional rounds of 5% cuts are expected in January and next spring, bringing the potential total losses to the Education Department north of $2 billion.

The November cuts, which totaled $547 million, slashed the city’s universal pre-K and 3-K programs, its free summer school program, and its community schools initiative.

Chalkbeat recently learned that the city was quietly targeting cuts in District 75 programs for students with complex disabilities. Staffers said they are facing budget cuts far greater than the $3 million reduction outlined in the November plan. People familiar with the discussions said the planned cuts in District 75 total about $97 million and could jeopardize extracurricular programs, supplies budgets, and the jobs of paraprofessionals.

Those cuts “threaten these schools and the 26,000 students, many of whom have complex disabilities” and “will exacerbate significant staffing and resource shortages,” the suit alleges.

An Education Department spokesperson previously said the agency was doing everything possible to shield schools from the impact of the cuts, and that District 75 schools were undergoing a normal process of reconciling actual enrollment with projections.

Suit hinges on claims of funding misuse

That higher-than-anticipated revenue is at the center of one of the legal claims in the union’s lawsuit.

The suit cites a section of the state education law that “prohibits the City from reducing spending in its schools from the level provided in the preceding year unless overall City revenues decline,” according to legal documents.

The city allocated $14.5 billion to schools in last year’s budget, and $14.1 billion in this year’s, according to the suit. That amount will fall to $13.9 billion if all the cuts go through, the union claims.

Union lawyers also allege that the city is misusing a historic influx in state aid, which has increased by about $1.3 billion in recent years after the state’s fully funded the Foundation Aid formula.

Because of the city’s budget cuts, the Education Department will have to tap state funds to support programs. But state law requires the city to use any increases in state aid to “supplement” what the city is spending on education, rather than “supplant” it, the lawsuit argues — meaning that the Adams administration would be violating this provision.

Three teachers and a speech therapist also joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs, sharing their experiences to illustrate how the cuts could be in violation of a “sound basic education.”

Miriam Sicherman, a third grade teacher at Manhattan’s Children’s Workshop School, has six Spanish-speaking migrant students, four of whom are not literate even in Spanish.

Without any additional resources from the Education Department, the lawsuit claims, she is “essentially running three classes within her third-grade class to accommodate and teach the migrant children with severe educational needs alongside her other third-grade students.”

Rebecca Lopez, a teacher at P.S./M.S. 279 in the Bronx, “cannot afford basic equipment for her high-needs and disabled students or curricular materials for her class,” according to the suit.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s District 75 schools for students with disabilities brace for tens of millions in cuts

2023-12-20T15:25:29+00:00

New York City’s Education Department has quietly been asking leaders of District 75 schools serving students with complex disabilities to slash tens of millions of dollars from their budgets, according to staffers at multiple schools.

The cuts, relayed to principals by schools Chancellor David Banks and District 75 superintendent Ketler Louissant, amount in many cases to more than $1 million per school, and are supposed to take effect immediately, according to staff from multiple affected schools. Across the district, they total about $97 million, and are supposed to help the Education Department achieve savings ordered by Mayor Eric Adams, people familiar with the discussions said.

The cuts would gut extracurricular programming, thin out supply budgets, and exacerbate an already severe paraprofessional shortage, potentially pushing schools even further out of compliance with students’ legally binding special education plans, staffers from four District 75 schools told Chalkbeat.

The roughly 26,000 students in District 75 often have complex disabilities that their local public schools are unable to accommodate, ranging from cerebral palsy to acute emotional challenges.

“They’re asking every principal in District 75 to cut close to $1 million from their budgets,” said a District 75 administrator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “There will be no paper or ink for the printers … children that are emotionally disturbed, autistic, will not be able to get a paraprofessional.”

Education Department officials didn’t confirm the amount of the cuts. But department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said, “We are in a fiscal crisis, and we are taking every action necessary to limit impact on schools.”

District 75 schools are undergoing a normal process of “reconcil[ing] enrollment with the number of classes needed to serve students,” he said. “Additionally, we are identifying vacancies, efficiencies, and underspending that can be used to meet the mayor’s savings target.”

But staff at District 75 schools said the steep midyear cuts are not typical. District 75 schools don’t get money through the Fair Student Funding formula used for other public schools and aren’t normally subject to “midyear adjustments” that require schools to give back money part way through the year if their enrollments are lower than projected, staffers said.

Moreover, the district’s enrollment has actually gone up in recent years, even as student numbers have cratered in much of the rest of the city. Enrollment in District 75 rose 3% between 2018-2019 and last school year, while K-12 schools lost 13% of their students citywide during the same period.

“We have so many students with referrals waiting for a new seat,” said Tameka Solomon, a teacher and union chapter leader at P352X in the Bronx.

District 75 cuts are larger than anticipated

The cuts far exceed what was outlined in the city’s November budget plan, which listed “savings” of $3 million a year in District 75 because of “lower than expected spending.” When City Councilmember Alexa Avilés, of Brooklyn, asked about a $97 million cut to District 75 during an oversight hearing last week, Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget Director Jacques Jiha pointed only to the $3 million cut outlined in budget documents.

But behind the scenes, the message from Education Department officials has been much different, educators said.

Solomon’s principal was asked to cut $1.3 million from the school’s budget, though subsequently the principal said the cut was on hold, she said.

The Bronx’s P186X, which is the city’s largest District 75 program with nearly 700 students, is also facing a $1.3 million midyear cut, according to teacher and chapter leader Jo Macellaro.

Many District 75 schools have already begun trimming overtime budgets that pay teachers to staff extracurricular programs and budgets for supplies, multiple staffers said. Those cuts are less painful than eliminating staff positions, but they still affect kids, staffers said.

“Even during COVID we always had an afterschool program, and now it’s like, ‘Don’t even think about it,’”said Allister Johnson, an adaptive physical education teacher and union chapter leader at a District 75 school.

“A lot of learning took place,” in the extracurricular programs, he added. “It’s sad for the kids and for the parents.”

Concerns grow over paraprofessional shortage

Reducing overtime and supplies budgets won’t be enough to achieve the required savings, however. Schools will likely have to slash the budgets for paraprofessionals, teaching assistants who provide extra support for students with the greatest needs, staffers said.

District 75 schools have already been experiencing a severe paraprofessional shortage.

The number of paraprofessionals working in city schools fell from roughly 25,700 in June 2020 to about 21,800 in November 2021, according to the state comptroller, a drop of roughly 15%.

As a result, many students with significant disabilities whose special education plans require a dedicated, one-to-one paraprofessional go without one, staffers said.

P186X is already short at least 30 paraprofessionals, according to Macellaro. On some days, one paraprofessional has to change the diapers of a dozen middle school students alone.

“People are getting injured. It’s already really not a good situation. And honestly we’re already rationing things like wipes,” Macellaro added.

Solomon’s school has largely been relying on substitute paraprofessionals. It’s better than nothing, but it often means investing extra time training people who may have never worked with kids, and less continuity for students who have to work with a rotating array of paraprofessionals, she said.

Further cutting the already diminished paraprofessional pool could have disastrous consequences, staffers said.

The District 75 administrator said their school has a number of students with autism who will attempt to run out of their classrooms and the school building with no warning. “Think about what’s going to happen” when those students don’t have a dedicated paraprofessional to follow them throughout the day, the administrator said.

An Education Department spokesperson acknowledged there is a paraprofessional shortage, but attributed it to “lack of talent,” not “lack of funds.”

The budget cuts laid out in November, which amount to 5% from each agency, include roughly $550 million from the Education Department. Additional 5% cuts are expected in January and again in the spring.

Among the Education Department cuts are $10 million from the community schools program, which pairs schools with community organizations to provide additional services to families, and $20 million from the city’s free summer school program.

But the cuts to District 75 appear to be the deepest so far to individual school budgets — a fact that’s baffled the District 75 administrator: “How do you justify asking the most vulnerable children in the city to go without?”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

$9.6 million headed to NYC schools serving homeless students after funding formula change

2023-12-18T23:01:36+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

New York City will send more than $9 million in additional funding to schools serving high shares of homeless students, after updating its policy for how students living in temporary housing are counted, according to the city’s Education Department.

The change comes after Comptroller Brad Lander sent a letter last month warning roughly 21,000 students were at risk of being left out of the city’s school funding formula.

The formula sends additional money to schools that serve a disproportionate share of students with disabilities, English language learners, and students who live in temporary housing. Schools saw their budgets adjusted based on how many students with disabilities and English language learners they served as of December this year. But for students living in temporary housing, the formula previously relied on data from Dec. 31, 2022.

With an influx of asylum-seeking and other migrant families entering the city’s shelter system over the past year, that meant schools serving higher shares of homeless students could miss out on millions in additional funding, Lander said.

But at a town hall in Brooklyn last week, officials from the city’s Education Department said the formula had been tweaked to allocate about $9.6 million in additional school funding.

“Folks should start seeing that,” said schools Chancellor David Banks. “That is happening in real time.”

The city’s Education Department confirmed it had updated school funding allocations for students in temporary housing to use enrollment figures as of Oct. 31.

“Due to the influx of newcomers, we’ve taken a hard look at our policy and revised it so we can more quickly provide resources to our schools to support our newly arriving students,” said Nicole Brownstein, a spokesperson for the city’s Education Department “We are pleased to say the funding was allocated to schools in early December.”

In a statement Monday, Lander praised the decision.

“This will reduce resource scarcity in schools with new arrivals and help ensure all students get the support they need,” he said.

Education Department officials also noted that prior to midyear budget adjustments, $17 million had also been distributed to schools experiencing higher than anticipated enrollment growth.

Officials did not immediately say how many additional students living in temporary housing were included in the school funding formula as a result of the change.

Though the city’s population of homeless students has long remained high, it surged to nearly 120,000 with the influx of asylum-seeking families last year — a record high for the city.

Concerns over the funding formula came as the city experienced broad financial challenges. The Education Department has been forced to cut nearly $550 million from its budget, as the city prepares for the looming expiration of federal pandemic aid next year. Schools where enrollment numbers fell short of projections also faced midyear budget cuts for the first time in four years.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

Thousands of NYC school staffers aren’t enrolled in a pension. A new law could change that.

2023-12-13T21:35:58+00:00

A quirk in New York City’s pension system has for years kept tens of thousands of the city’s lowest-paid employees from reaping the benefits of a city-subsidized retirement, according to pension fund and union officials.

New York City’s Board of Education Retirement System, or BERS, which covers school crossing guards, cafeteria workers, aides, parent coordinators, and other non-teaching school staff, stands alone among the city’s five pension funds in not automatically enrolling eligible members in a pension plan.

Many workers don’t know they have the option of signing up for a pension, or simply assume they were automatically enrolled, said Sanford Rich, the executive director of BERS. As a result, roughly 35,000 employees eligible for a pension are not enrolled, according to BERS data.

But new legislation signed over the weekend by Gov. Kathy Hochul is poised to change that system.

The law, sponsored by Queens Assemblywoman Stacy Pfeffer Amato, D-Queens, and Sen. Robert Jackson, D-Manhattan, will make enrollment in the BERS pension system “opt-out,” rather than “opt-in,” for the first time.

“I personally believe this corrects an injustice in the city,” Rich said.

Rich said he’s had to break the news to city workers who retired after decades of service and thought they were on track to receive pension benefits that “‘you never joined, you don’t have a retirement package, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’”

One woman was so distraught that he had to sit with her for hours so she could work up the courage to go home and tell her husband, he said.

But starting July 1 of next year, under the new law, all of the eligible but unenrolled members will be signed up automatically for a pension plan. They’ll have 90 days to opt out. If they hadn’t previously been paying into the pension, they have the option of purchasing previous years of service by paying greater installments.

Officials at DC37 Local 372, the union representing the affected workers, have pushed for years for state legislation to make enrollment in the Board of Education Retirement System automatic and bring it in line with the city’s other pension funds. But previous legislative efforts were met with vetoes from the governor, including one from Hochul in 2022.

A tragedy this year that sparked a new wave of advocacy may have helped turn the tide.

In October, Krystyna Naprawa, a beloved elementary school crossing guard, was struck and killed by a truck while on the job in Queens. The tragedy drew the attention of officials across the city, including Mayor Eric Adams, who called Naprawa “the best of us,” and delivered a eulogy at her funeral.

After Naprawa’s death, her son Tomasz Naprawa, a Port Authority police officer, went to collect the pension he assumed she’d been paying into, only to discover she wasn’t enrolled.

Tomasz Naprawa said it’s extremely unlikely his mom would have knowingly opted out of a pension, especially since she was planning to retire in her native Poland.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy,’” he recalled of the discovery that she wasn’t enrolled. “I honestly thought it was automatic.”

Tomasz Naprawa worked with officials at DC37 to bring renewed attention to the pension loophole and legislation to close it.

At Krystyna Naprawa’s funeral, Adams publicly committed to “sit down with the leaders of the Senate and Assembly to see how we can resolve” the pension issue.

But the battle didn’t end there. According to union officials, Adams administration officials initially objected to the bill on financial grounds. City officials say they’re facing a grim fiscal situation and have enacted cuts across all agencies – cuts DC37 recently filed a lawsuit to try to halt. An Adams spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The city will likely have to chip in between $17 million and $22 million extra a year in employer contributions for the new enrollees, according to an analysis by the chief actuary of the city’s pension funds.

When the legislation stalled in the governor’s office, Tomasz Naprawa and union officials renewed their push. Naprawa penned a Nov. 15 letter to Adams urging him to follow through on his commitment and support the bill.

The years of advocacy finally paid off last weekend. Adams administration officials rescinded their objection, and Hochul signed the bill on Dec. 8, union officials said.

“This was long overdue,” said DC37 Local 372 President Shaun Francois in a statement. “Persistence” overcame the “resistance,” he added.

The change is too late to benefit Tomasz Naprawa, but he thinks his mom would’ve been happy to know the advocacy she helped inspire will improve the lives of her colleagues.

“Me and my sister are getting none of these benefits … but going forward it’s nice to know if there’s another tragedy five,10,15 years from now that family will reap all the benefits they’re entitled to,” he said. “I think she’s looking down on us and she’s happy.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

David Banks has a top priority: improving literacy. Will his agenda be overshadowed by budget cuts?

2023-12-08T10:00:00+00:00

Before running the nation’s largest education system, David Banks had never been responsible for supervising more than a single school.

He had years of on-the-ground experience and often ticks off the jobs he held — safety agent, teacher, principal. He helped launch the Eagle Academy, a network of six district schools devoted to boys of color, ultimately running the foundation that supports them. When Eric Adams, a longtime friend, tapped Banks to be his schools chief, the incoming mayor said he didn’t seriously consider anyone else.

Adams, who often spoke on the campaign trail about his own experience with dyslexia, never staked out a detailed education agenda. At the event formally naming him chancellor, Banks spoke in broad strokes about a “fundamentally flawed” system and a sprawling bureaucracy that isn’t set up to serve vulnerable children. The question remained: What direction would this chancellor take the city’s roughly 1,600 schools?

In contrast with his early comments about transforming a broken system, Banks has narrowed his focus. He’s staked out a goal above all others: improving the city’s dismal literacy rates, particularly for Black and Latino children. He also wants to create a stronger path to the workforce by expanding students’ access to career-focused coursework and paid internships.

To Banks’ supporters, focusing on a couple key issues is more likely to yield results. Still, others say that the administration has struggled to define a clear vision for improving the system as a whole, as many schools aren’t part of his signature initiatives.

Meanwhile, a looming set of budget cuts threaten to overshadow Banks’ agenda, as more than $7 billion in one-time federal relief money is drying up and Adams has ordered up to $2 billion in cuts on top of that.

Banks may have to maneuver to maintain funding for his top priorities. And he’ll have to navigate steady drum beats from politicians and advocates who are pushing to save a range of programs that serve high-need children.

“They are going to need to make tough decisions,” said Mark Dunetz, president of New Visions for Public Schools, an organization that supports a network of city schools. The challenge, he added, will be to make those choices “based on evidence of effectiveness rather than the push and pull of politics.”

A ‘realist’ at the helm?

Two weeks into the school year, Banks took the stage at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, the mammoth auditorium packed with hundreds of department staff, union leaders, parents, and elected officials. With a slideshow at his back, and the mayor looking on, Banks was selling his vision — and in his element.

The “State of Our Schools” speech laid out his case for requiring all elementary schools to use one of three approved reading curriculums by next fall, ticking off statistics that show half the city’s students aren’t proficient in reading, figures that rise to about 60% for Black and Latino children.

“I’m really staking my reputation on reading,” Banks told Chalkbeat in a recent interview. “If you don’t get that right all these other things don’t really matter.”

Banks touted his other signature initiative, FutureReadyNYC, which helps 100 high schools offer more early college credit and paid work opportunities in education, technology, business, or health care. The effort will expand to 50 more schools next year, he said.

To Banks, zeroing in on those two issues is essential to make his mark. Given the system’s size and complexity, “if you don’t focus the entire operation on a couple of areas, it will be just rhetoric,” he told Chalkbeat.

Some observers agree the moment demands a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer, especially as schools are still digging out from under the pandemic and grappling with learning loss, mental health challenges, and alarming rates of chronic absenteeism.

When Banks took office, some educators wondered if he would pursue changes in the mold of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s divisive schools chief, Joel Klein. Klein sought to overhaul the district’s structure and moved to shutter large high schools and replace them with smaller ones like Eagle Academy. Banks tapped Dan Weisberg, Bloomberg’s school labor strategist who often sparred with the teachers union, to be his top deputy.

But observers said Banks has charted a less disruptive path, bringing the teachers union on board with his two biggest initiatives.

“Joel Klein said ‘I’m going to break the system so hard nobody is going to put it back together,’” said David Adams, the CEO of Urban Assembly, a network of about two dozen schools across the city. “I think being really strategic around where your energies are going to be put forth can be a more effective way of changing the system.”

Still, others said it’s difficult to discern Banks’ broader plan to improve schools across the system, a tension with Banks’ initial diagnosis that the system is “broken.”

This administration’s approach is “pretty small bore,” said Clara Hemphill, founder of the school review website InsideSchools. At this point in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, he had already added tens of thousands of pre-K seats, part of what is widely seen as a successful universal prekindergarten program.

“Having 70,000 pre-K seats was a huge, huge accomplishment. I don’t see a big issue like that with Adams,” Hemphill said. The current administration also seemed to be reversing course in some areas, she added, including abandoning de Blasio’s goal of expanding the program to include all 3-year-olds.

Hemphill acknowledged that improving literacy rates would be a major accomplishment, but she worries the most popular curriculum the city has mandated is not the strongest choice. Plus, the city disbanded an existing literacy coaching program in favor of training from outside vendors and scrapped a program that focused on improving literacy in middle schools, a move Hemphill found baffling.

For their part, school leaders have had mixed reactions to Banks’ tenure so far. Some expected the schools chief, a New York City principal himself for 11 years, to give them more freedom to innovate — something Banks signaled was a possibility.

De Blasio favored top-down supervision of principals, and many school leaders complained of burdensome compliance mandates. Banks has taken a step further, giving superintendents the authority to mandate which curriculums schools can use based on a list of approved options.

“The system is still running the way it was under the last administration which is: Schools are problems to be fixed rather than systems to be supported,” said one Brooklyn high school principal who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There’s just a whole lot more people out there trying to micromanage schools from afar.”

Banks said he believed strongly in principal autonomy when he was a school leader. “I also am a realist,” he said, adding that not every principal thrives with more freedom.

“If they were, we would have much better results than we have,” he recently told reporters.

Banks strikes a middle ground

Beyond his two main initiatives, critics and supporters alike say Banks has earned a reputation for hearing out opposing viewpoints and finding ways to compromise.

“If the evidence is there, he moves. He’s not ideological,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, a strong supporter of Banks’ reading curriculum overhaul.

When Banks took office, he faced a key decision about whether many middle and high schools could resume screening students for top grades and test scores after pandemic-related disruptions to the admissions process.

The debate over how to proceed was charged, with some parents arguing that strong students should have access to accelerated learning opportunities at top schools. Others worried a return to the pre-pandemic norm would exacerbate segregation and contended that public schools should be open to all children.

Though Banks has bluntly suggested some students deserve to be in top schools more than others, he struck a middle path: Selective admissions would continue with key caveats. High schools may no longer consider state test scores, though they can still use students’ grades. For middle schools, he gave local superintendents the authority to determine how to use selective admissions. The result: far fewer screened middle school programs.

Jasmine Gripper, a frequent critic of the administration, said the approach is emblematic of Banks’ leadership style.

“The finesse of this administration has been their ability to take on hot button issues and produce a solution that neutralizes the opposition,” said Gripper, previously the executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education and now a leader of the state’s Working Families Party. Banks “leaves everyone walking away feeling like they won something.”

Financial challenges could derail Banks’ plans

The biggest obstacle on Banks’ plate right now may be one that’s much harder to control.

A brewing storm of fiscal problems could derail some of Banks’ existing initiatives, threaten to consume his agenda with painful fights over budget reductions, and make it difficult to find money for new programs.

More than $7 billion in one-time federal money is running dry. Starting with the previous administration, some of it has been used on recurring costs, including social workers, expanded summer programming, and new seats for preschool students with disabilities who had been shut out of universal pre-K. The funding has also been used to keep school budgets steady despite significant enrollment declines, raising the possibility of painful cuts at individual schools.

As the federal funds evaporate, Adams has also ordered the city to cut 5% of its contribution to all city agencies, a move he said is needed in part to finance services for thousands of asylum-seeking families. The Education Department recently outlined plans to reduce spending by $547 million, and it may need to slash roughly $1.5 billion more if Adams follows through on future rounds of cuts.

Advocates have warned that it will be impossible to make cuts of that size without affecting key programs, and the first round of cuts has already prompted political pushback.

A new state law mandating the city reduce class sizes looms over these fiscal pressures: The Education Department will need to spend billions more in the coming years to comply, city and fiscal watchdogs project.

On top of that, Banks may have another fight on the horizon. As enrollment declines accelerated during the pandemic, the city now has nearly 200 schools with 200 children or fewer.

Banks has suggested that mergers or closures could be on the table, a process that often generates outcry from parents and elected officials with deep roots in school communities.

“That’s kind of a ticking time bomb,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “It’s just not going to be sustainable to maintain very small schools.”

Banks has offered few hints about how he plans to navigate the growing budget pressures, including what criteria he’s using to determine which programs survive. He said he’s “fighting like heck” to preserve funding for the literacy overhaul and career pathways initiative. Everything else is on the table.

“It’s gonna be a tough negotiating season,” Banks said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC withholding $11 million from schools serving homeless students, comptroller says

2023-11-21T23:19:11+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Just months after New York City changed its school funding formula to funnel more aid to homeless students, Comptroller Brad Lander warned roughly 21,000 students are at risk of being left out.

The city’s school funding formula also sends additional money to schools that serve a disproportionate share of students with disabilities and English language learners. But while schools will see their budgets adjusted based on how many students from those groups they are serving as of this December, data on the city’s homeless students will not be updated the same way.

In a letter last week, the city’s chief financial officer urged schools Chancellor David Banks to reverse a decision that would calculate funding allocations based on homeless student populations as of Dec. 31, 2022.

With a persistent influx of asylum-seeking families entering the city’s shelter system over the past year, using those figures would mean schools serving higher shares of homeless students could miss out on nearly $11 million in additional funding, Lander said.

Since last December, roughly 21,000 students in temporary housing have enrolled in New York City schools, with many enrolling in schools near shelters that will need additional resources, Lander said. He added the city already uses midyear enrollment data to adjust funding based on other student populations.

“So what is the educational policy reason for DOE uniquely denying funding to schools with new students in temporary housing?” Lander said. “Without other explanation, it appears that you are purposely creating resource scarcity in schools with new arrivals.”

The city’s Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A guide explaining the school funding formula notes that although funds for students in temporary housing aren’t part of the midyear adjustment of school budgets, the city’s Education Department “remains committed to supporting schools experiencing financial hardship due to the increase in new [students in temporary housing] admits.”

Concerns over school funding come amid the city’s broader financial woes, as the Education Department is set to cut nearly $550 million from its budget, and the expiration of federal pandemic aid looms over the next year. More than 650 schools also saw midyear budget cuts after enrollment numbers fell short of projections, though a majority of schools received extra funds after citywide enrollment ticked up for the first time in eight years.

The additional funds for students in temporary housing followed a task force recommendation to revise the city’s Fair Student Funding formula, which accounts for about two-thirds of school budgets. Under the formula, schools typically receive a baseline amount per student, with extra dollars added on top for students with additional needs.

Though the city’s population of homeless students has remained high for more than a decade, it surged to nearly 120,000 with an influx of asylum-seeking families last year. That was a 14% increase from the year before and a record high for the city, according to Advocates for Children, a group that supports the city’s most vulnerable students.

Roughly 1 in 9 students were living in shelters, “doubled up” with relatives or friends, or otherwise without permanent housing at some point in the school year, the data showed.

Using more recent enrollment numbers would help account for asylum-seeking students who arrive in the city and then transfer between schools, Lander said in the letter.

Advocates fear that school transfers could become even more common under a city rule implemented by Mayor Eric Adams last month. The rule requires families in some shelters to exit the system every 60 days, meaning they will need to find alternative housing or re-apply for shelter.

Adams later insisted the rule would not force children to change schools.

Students living in shelters were more than four times as likely as kids with permanent housing to transfer schools, according to data from the 2021-22 school year.

Michael Elsen-Rooney contributed.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams axes $547 million from NYC Education Department budget, more cuts on the way

2023-11-16T22:35:09+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

New York City’s Education Department will cut nearly $550 million from its budget this year as part of a sweeping round of citywide reductions ordered by Mayor Eric Adams.

Many of the cuts are expected to take effect immediately. They will touch a wide range of programs and positions that directly affect students, from the city’s massive free preschool program, to community schools that support families with out-of-school needs, to the popular pandemic-era Summer Rising program.

A big chunk of this year’s savings will come through a hiring slowdown and the elimination of 432 vacant non-classroom positions, which officials said on Thursday will lead to a combined $157 million in savings.

Budget officials didn’t specify which roles would be eliminated but emphasized cuts to central offices and other roles that support schools. A hiring freeze has been in place since earlier this fall, but has not applied to teaching positions. Education Department officials didn’t immediately say whether the agency would continue to spare teaching positions from the freeze.

A mandate to rein in spending on “supplemental pay for administrative staff” is expected to save another $86 million this year, but officials didn’t immediately provide details on what that means.

In September, Adams directed all city agencies to find cuts equal to at least 5% of the city’s contribution to their annual budgets by November, in response to what he described as unsustainable levels of spending on the ongoing influx of asylum seekers. Additional cuts of 5% are expected in January and again in spring 2024.

In all, that means the Education Department could face up to $2.1 billion in cuts. The department’s overall budget is roughly $37.5 billion this school year.

Starting next fiscal year, the department will cut $120 million from the Universal Pre-K program, which enrolled about 100,000 3- and 4-year-old this year and is the signature legacy of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. The program has been beset by payment delays to child care operators and enrollment declines during the pandemic.

Officials said they’re reducing the size of the program because there are about 37,000 vacant seats, but did not specify how many of those slots they plan to eliminate.

“While we don’t know many details yet, there is no way a cut this large would not hurt the services available to children and families,” said Gregory Brender, the chief of policy and innovation at the Day Care Council of New York, a membership organization of child care providers.

A range of longstanding programs with a direct presence in schools are also facing small cuts.

An initiative to expand the teaching of computer science is losing $3.5 million this year, while the budget for community schools will be cut by $10 million this year. Community schools were another major educational priority of de Blasio’s administration, and have continued to grow under Adams.

Separately, nearly $20 million in funding for Summer Rising, the pandemic-era free summer school program that served roughly 110,000 students last year, is being slashed from the budget of the city’s Youth and Community Development Department, which jointly operates the program with the Education Department. The cuts will mean reduced hours and no Friday programs for some middle-schoolers, officials said.

The program has proved immensely popular with families and had about 45,000 more applicants than slots last year.

“For months, we have warned New Yorkers about the challenging fiscal situation our city faces,” Adams said in a Thursday statement. “To balance the budget as the law requires, every city agency dug into their own budget to find savings, with minimal disruption to services. And while we pulled it off this time, make no mistake: Migrant costs are going up, tax revenue growth is slowing, and COVID stimulus funding is drying up.”

Budget analysts have pointed out that the cuts ordered by Adams are far greater than the expected costs of serving the asylum seekers. The city also collected nearly $8 billion more in revenue last fiscal year than anticipated, according to a recent analysis from Comptroller Brad Lander.

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, called the cuts “unnecessary” and “driven by City Hall’s false political narrative that New York City is about to fall off a fiscal cliff.”

“Revenues are higher than expected, investment from Albany is up, and reserves are at a near-record high,” he added.

Other groups warned that the city’s hiring and budget freeze is already affecting services for vulnerable children, and that further cuts could threaten their legal rights.

Advocates for Children, a nonprofit group, said the city has been unable to hire 15 additional staffers to help families living in shelters navigate the education system, an urgent concern given the influx of migrant families.

The organization also said short staffing appeared to be causing delays in providing preschool special education evaluations and services in the Bronx.

“We are particularly concerned that these budget plans will result in even more egregious violations of the rights of students with disabilities, English Language Learners, and students in temporary housing or foster care,” Advocates for Children executive director Kim Sweet said in a statement.

More cuts ahead for NYC schools

The city-directed budget cuts are part of a perfect storm of fiscal trouble facing city schools.

About $7.7 billion in one-time pandemic aid from the federal government has padded the Education Department’s budget in recent years and funded critical initiatives, including expanded preschool and summer enrichment programs. That money will dry up next September, and the looming expiration of that aid has already prompted some painful cuts.

For the first time in four years, the Education Department clawed back money this week from schools where enrollment numbers fell short of projections.

Because enrollment went up overall across the city, the majority of schools didn’t have to return money, and instead got extra funding because of higher-than projected enrollment. But there were still more than 650 schools that saw a total of $109 million in midyear cuts, according to a United Federation of Teachers analysis.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

With influx of migrants, NYC school enrollment ticks up for first time in 8 years

2023-11-15T20:36:46+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

The number of students attending New York City’s public schools increased for the first time in eight years, a sign that enrollment may be stabilizing in the wake of deep declines during the pandemic.

About 915,000 children from 3-K to 12th grade enrolled this year, up 0.9% from last year, or roughly 8,000 additional students, according to preliminary Education Department data released Wednesday.

Still, city schools enrolled about 92,000 fewer children compared with the year before the pandemic hit, a decline of roughly 9%.

An influx of asylum-seeking families appeared to be a major factor in reversing the yearslong trend of declining enrollment. About 13,000 migrant students have enrolled in the city’s schools since June, city officials said.

Mayor Eric Adams has previously taken a harsh posture on the wave of arriving asylum seekers, saying, “This issue will destroy New York City.” He traveled to the border last month to persuade migrants not to come. Meanwhile, to finance services for migrant families, the mayor has ordered funding reductions elsewhere — including up to $2.1 billion from the Education Department’s budget.

In a joint press release with schools Chancellor David Banks, Adams celebrated the rise in enrollment and some of the city’s efforts to welcome new arrivals in the city’s public schools.

“Chancellor Banks and our administration are focused on delivering the best education possible for our young New Yorkers by cutting through bureaucracy, expanding outreach, and making enrollment easier,” Adams said in a statement. “New Yorkers are voting with their feet, and we are excited to see funding increase for so many of our public schools.”

City officials cautioned that the enrollment figures are preliminary and will likely fluctuate as students continue to enter or leave the system midyear. (The numbers do not include charter schools.)

Enrollment is a key issue because the lion’s share of school budgets are determined based on how many students are on their registers. Over the past few years, the Education Department avoided some enrollment-related cuts to individual schools by using hundreds of millions worth of one-time federal relief funding as campuses recover from the pandemic.

That money is dwindling, though, which means schools face growing budget pressures.

For the first time since the pandemic hit, the Education Department is forcing schools to return money in the middle of the year if they end up enrolling fewer students than the city projected.

Because of higher than expected enrollment, about 57% of schools will see midyear funding bumps, averaging about $209,000 per school, officials said. The remaining 43% of schools will see midyear cuts averaging $167,000.

Declining enrollment can pose other significant problems for schools. As the number of students on a given campus dwindles, it typically becomes increasingly difficult to fund a full range of programs and extracurricular activities. The number of schools with tiny enrollments has grown in recent years, prompting questions about whether city officials may propose a wave of mergers or closures.

In a recent interview with Chalkbeat, Banks said district leaders are planning to have “community conversations” this year about potential mergers.

“Some level of consolidation is something that I think we would be irresponsible if we were not looking at that,” Banks said, “particularly in light of the fiscal challenges that we’re having.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Advocates demanded $1.25 billion to make NYC schools more accessible. They got $800 million.

2023-11-01T22:14:41+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

New York City plans to spend $800 million over the next five years to boost school building accessibility for people with physical disabilities, officials revealed Wednesday. That figure is far short of what advocates had demanded.

Fewer than 1 in 3 of the city’s public schools are fully accessible to students and staff with mobility impairments, according to a recent report from the group Advocates for Children. The organization previously called on the city to dramatically ramp up spending to $1.25 billion to ensure that at least half of buildings would become fully accessible over the term of the new capital plan, which runs from 2025 through 2029.

With many budget concerns on the horizon — including the expiration of billions of dollars in federal relief money and additional cuts to city agencies ordered by Mayor Eric Adams — accessibility funding hewed closely to current levels.

The capital plan will increase funding for accessibility from $750 million under the current five-year plan, which runs from 2020 through 2024, to $800 million in the new one, according to documents released Wednesday. Advocates contend that is not enough to keep the current pace because of inflation and rising construction costs.

“Given the decades of inadequate attention that preceded this investment, nearly two-thirds of City schools will still not be fully accessible by the time the construction funded by the current Capital Plan is complete,” Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, said in a statement. “It is not acceptable to postpone compliance with [the federal Americans with Disabilities Act] for yet another generation.”

Lack of access to school buildings has long been a barrier for students with physical disabilities and has even drawn the attention of federal prosecutors. In past years, some children had few — or even zero — nearby school options. It can also limit students’ ability to take advantage of New York City’s extensive choice system, which allows children to apply for schools outside their neighborhood boundaries.

Queens mom Michelle Noris said she was disappointed when her son, who uses a wheelchair, could not attend the public elementary school across the street from their home. Instead, he wound up at a private school, with tuition covered by the city, about an hour away.

“I really wish he had friends down the block like all the other kids,” said Noris, who works as an engineer. Though her son is now in college — and has written about his experience navigating the city’s high school admissions process in a wheelchair — she remains an advocate for more accessible schools.

Although “there is an improvement” in terms of building upgrades, she said the school across the street from their home is still not fully accessible. At the current pace, it would take decades to make every school accessible. “They need to allocate more money to do more good work,” Noris said.

Officials have made some progress in recent years in part due to pressure from advocacy groups who have pushed for more funding — and attention — to the issue. By the end of the current capital plan, 1 in 3 schools are expected to be fully accessible, up from 1 in 5 five years ago. (The figures do not include certain alternative schools, prekindergarten programs, or charter schools. Nor do they include satellite campuses, as schools may have more than one location.)

The city has also boosted the number of schools that are considered “partially accessible” and worked to provide more granular information about which facilities on those campuses are accessible to students with mobility impairments.

Representatives of the city’s Education Department and School Construction Authority did not say what percentage of schools they plan to make fully accessible under the new capital plan.

“Building on prior plans, we will continue to enhance accessibility in our school buildings through a variety of measures, such as bathroom renovations, lifts, and ramps,” Kevin Ortiz, a spokesperson for the School Construction Authority, wrote in a statement. “We remain committed to improving access throughout the system.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools with enrollment shortfalls face cuts; more budget losses loom

2023-10-25T23:00:06+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get the latest news on NYC’s public schools.

New York City schools with lower than projected enrollments will see their budgets slashed midyear for the first time in four years.

School and Education Department staffers said the move comes as little surprise given the city’s bleak fiscal situation and dwindling federal COVID relief funds. City officials had used federal funding the past three school years to avert the midyear cuts and hold schools “harmless” if their student rosters fell short of the Education Department’s estimates.

“As NYCPS navigates the current fiscal landscape, we’ve made the necessary decision to revert to our pre-COVID-19 budgeting process,” said Education Department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer.

Schools get money in the summer based on the city’s projections of how many students are expected to fill their seats. After the final tallies are taken on Oct. 31, the Education Department adjusts school budgets, clawing back money from schools that enroll fewer students than anticipated. Schools with higher than projected enrollment will still get additional money, similar to past years, though administrators have said it can be difficult to spend the sudden influx of cash effectively in the middle of the school year.

Calee Prindle, an assistant principal at the Facing History School in Manhattan, said her school stands to lose about $160,000 if no more students enroll before Oct. 31.

“Losing that money, it sucks, but for us it’s not going to be wildly detrimental,” she said. “For me, it’s always about the communication, and I’m glad we know now.”

Still, the return to midyear cuts deals a significant blow to schools that may already be reeling from years of shrinking budgets due to enrollment losses and heightened needs in the wake of the pandemic.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew argued that the increase in state funding in recent years should be enough to continue the policy of propping budgets up even if schools miss their enrollment projections.

“It is unacceptable for NYC to cut funding to its public schools especially when the state has made such a strong financial commitment to our students,” he said in a statement.

Education Department faces major budget strain

Even with an increase in state aid, it’s a particularly precarious financial moment for the Education Department and the city as a whole.

More than $7 billion in federal relief funds that the Education Department has received since the beginning of the pandemic expires next September. The city has used that money to fund summer programming and social workers, along with propping up school budgets amid enrollment losses.

On top of that, Mayor Eric Adams earlier this fall ordered all city agencies to cut 5% of their budgets in November, an additional 5% in January, and another 5% in April in response to rising costs as the city faces an influx of asylum-seekers.

The three rounds of cuts would slash a total of $2.1 billion from the Education Department’s budget, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. It’s an enormous sum that schools Chancellor David Banks has said will likely “affect every aspect of what we do.”

The Education Department has not made final decisions about what to cut in the first round, and the decision to reinstate the midyear adjustment was not related to the budget cut mandate, Styer said.

Officials didn’t say how much the Education Department will save in the cost-cutting move. Last year, the Education Department spent $200 million to avert the midyear cut.

Fiscal belt-tightening plays out in other ways

As part of the Adams administration’s budget cut mandate, the city’s Office of Management and Budget imposed a hiring freeze, according to Education Department staffers and budget documents.

The hiring freeze doesn’t apply to school-based staff, but affects many other positions, including central personnel tasked with supporting schools and specific student populations, such as those who live in temporary housing and children with disabilities, according to staffers and advocates.

“Hiring for each position is going under a lot more scrutiny, and we realize that some may end up getting delayed for some period of time — and we don’t know for how long,” said one central staffer familiar with the budget, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A plan to hire more than a dozen temporary staffers to support kids in shelters with educational needs was delayed because of the freeze, and vacant positions on the teams that ensure students with disabilities get necessary services have gone unfilled, according to Advocates for Children, a group that supports vulnerable students.

“We have seen significant delays in students in shelter receiving the school placements and transportation they need,” said Randi Levine, the policy director at Advocates for Children. She noted that some of the Education Department’s federal relief money is earmarked to support students in temporary housing and can’t be spent on other things.

“We don’t want the DOE to squander the resources it has available given the huge need we’re seeing on the ground,” she added.

The worst is likely yet to come. Another central staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said teams in central offices have been asked to start preparing for significant cuts – far deeper than in past years.

And while the cuts to the Education Department’s central offices are likely to be the steepest, that division only accounts for between 1-2 % of the Education Department’s overall budget, meaning cuts outside of central offices will almost certainly be necessary.

Two areas likely to get spared: Banks’s signature NYC Reads initiative, which seeks to revamp elementary school literacy instruction by forcing districts to adopt one of three pre-selected reading curricula, and his FutureReadyNYC program, which funds schools to expand career-connected learning, according to the chancellor.

“The reading work that we’re doing and the pathways work that we’re doing is going to be prioritized,” Banks recently told reporters. “That’s where we’re going to be making sure that the investments are still there.”

Alex Zimmerman contributed.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC vowed more school contracts for businesses owned by women, people of color. It hasn’t been easy.

2023-10-12T23:35:35+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Last spring, New York City’s Education Department unveiled its most aggressive step yet to increase spending on businesses owned by women or people of color.

The new directive required all vendors with new contracts to subcontract out a portion of their business to Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises — a significant commitment for an agency that spends roughly $10 billion a year on contracts.

But the implementation of that promise has proved far more complicated. Late last week, the Education Department began quietly rolling back the requirements for some pending contracts, Chalkbeat has learned.

And the implementation challenges in the new push to increase spending on such businesses — a major priority of Mayor Eric Adams — are even causing problems for companies involved with another top Adams priority — his NYC Reads literacy initiative.

Education Department officials confirmed that certain contracts are now being given the green light to move forward without meeting the new requirements — at least for now. But a spokesperson said the agency still intends to enforce the rules for future contracts.

The subcontracting requirement was introduced in late March, one of a series of changes approved last November as a way to address the department’s abysmal record of doing business with Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, or MWBEs.

Effective immediately, officials said in a press release, the department would require vendors to subcontract out at least 30% of the value of any new contracts to businesses owned by minorities or women.

Schools Chancellor David Banks heralded the move. “We are providing these businesses and their owners with the opportunity to build generational wealth and create a more fair and equal city,” he said in a statement at the time.

Figuring out how to put that mandate into practice threw the contracting system into disarray, interviews and documents show. It touched off months of uncertainty and disruption for vendors and Education Department staff, as top agency officials deliberated behind the scenes over whether and how to insert the new language in recently approved contracts, according to communications reviewed by Chalkbeat.

The process for finalizing new textbook, curriculum, and professional development contracts — including a deal with Great Minds, the company that publishes Wit & Wisdom, one of the three mandated curriculums for Adams’s signature literacy initiative — was essentially at a standstill, according to multiple vendors and Education Department staffers.

Also held up in the logjam were two multiyear professional development contracts for math and literacy instructional support with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of the most widely used curriculum in the NYC Reads initiative.

“Until leadership can make a decision on this we do not expect any contracts to be circulated for signatures,” according to a notice earlier this month from an Education Department official to a vendor obtained by Chalkbeat.

Then, in recent days, the department appeared to backpedal, sending some vendors notice of “shifts in our implementation strategy” and alerting them that they would no longer be required to adhere to the subcontracting goals.

Education Department officials said certain contracts approved by the Panel for Educational Policy after June were given a pass on the new rules during this “transition” period, but did not say how many got a reprieve.

Spokesperson Jenna Lyle added that “all future solicitations and contracts will include these [subcontracting] goals moving forward.”

But the rocky implementation with the recent round of contracts has left some vendors wondering whether the agency has laid the necessary groundwork to implement such a sweeping change and how it will manage the process going forward.

“To me, it seems like they just didn’t do their research to begin with,” said one vendor who said their contract was frozen for months as a result of the standstill. The vendor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize relationships with the Education Department, said they recently received a notice that they would no longer have to adhere to the new subcontracting requirements.

Adams zeroes in on MWBE contracting

The Education Department subcontracting goals are one piece of a larger effort to increase city spending on MWBEs, both in the department and across all city agencies.

Adams appointed a citywide Chief Business Diversity Officer, and Banks named Karine Appollon, a former executive at the nonprofit Reading Partners and educational publishing giant Scholastic, to the newly created role of chief diversity officer to oversee the department’s MWBE efforts.

In November, the Panel for Educational Policy approved a suite of changes to the agency’s procurement rules to ease the process for MWBEs to win large contracts with the Education Department. A parallel change that would incentivize individual schools to hire MWBEs for smaller deals is up for a vote before the panel next week.

The efforts are showing some signs of progress: The Education Department increased its spending on MWBEs from $224 million in fiscal year 2021, to $535 million dollars in fiscal year 2022, Banks said recently. That amounts to 5.6% of contract spending on MWBEs, still last among all city agencies, according to a February report from Comptroller Brad Lander.

That figure is a long way off from the city’s overall goal of directing 30% of all vendor spending to MWBEs. That’s where the subcontracting directive came in.

The directive would guarantee that, even if the primary vendor on the contract wasn’t an MWBE itself, 30% of the value of the contract would end up in the hands of MWBEs through subcontracting.

Companies can subcontract out for all sorts of services, including distribution of print products, technology and software infrastructure, and customer service.

But the directive presented significant challenges for both small and large vendors, according to one person familiar with the Education Department’s contracts processes, who spoke anonymously so as not to jeopardize relationships.

Some smaller companies spend the majority of their contracts on their own staff, while many large companies operate mostly in other parts of the country or world, making it difficult to switch over to MWBEs certified by New York City, who are more likely to be located in and around New York.

“You look at some of the bigger publishers out there, they don’t have distribution or transportation housed in New York City, they wouldn’t be profitable,” the person said. “Most of these companies are now struggling to find an entity to support this.”

Vendors can win an exemption from the subcontracting requirements if there are not enough certified MWBE companies to perform the necessary services, or if they have “legitimate business reasons” for not complying, according to a contract obtained by Chalkbeat. But it wasn’t immediately clear how the Education Department would decide on those exemptions.

New contracts grind to a halt

While officials were debating internally about if and how to implement the thorny requirements, the process for finalizing new contracts effectively ground to a halt.

Typically, contracts are approved by the city’s Panel for Educational Policy and then handed over to the DOE’s legal team, where they are finalized and delivered to the city comptroller for registration. But for several months, contracts for textbooks, professional development and other services that cleared the Panel for Educational Policy made it no further, according to communications reviewed by Chalkbeat.

When vendors don’t have finalized contracts, they have no guarantee of payment. Some larger companies may opt to continue offering their product without payment, but for smaller operators, that can be too much of a financial risk.

For one professional development vendor whose contract was held up, the delay has meant less money flowing in and fewer schools getting instructional support they’ve relied on for years.

“Some of these schools have had these services for many years, and it’s grinding to a halt now,” said a representative from the vendor, who spoke anonymously so as not to jeopardize relationships with the Education Department. “Principals are getting very frustrated…[and] it’s a little bit of a worry for our employees.”

Another contract caught up in the standstill was the one for Great Minds, the company that produces Wit & Wisdom.

As a result, the company’s print materials were temporarily unavailable through ShopDOE, the website where schools buy materials from companies that have contracts with the Education Department, a company spokesperson said. If materials aren’t listed on ShopDOE, schools have to go through a more complicated and labor-intensive process to obtain them.

Wit & Wisdom print materials were added back to ShopDOE in early October, but the contract still isn’t finalized, according to CheckbookNYC.

“Once again the Wit & Wisdom curriculum can be ordered through ShopDOE after a brief delay that occurred when the Great Minds textbook contract was being renewed,” said Great Minds spokesperson Nancy Zuckerbrod.

Among the other contracts approved by the Panel for Educational Policy over the summer but not yet finalized or delivered to the city comptroller is a three-year, $10.6 million textbook deal with McGraw Hill, which publishes widely used textbooks.

Two contracts with publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to provide literacy and math coaching and professional development that cleared the PEP over the summer also are not yet finalized, according to Checkbook NYC.

Lyle, the Education Department spokesperson, didn’t say exactly how long it would take to get the pending contracts finalized, but said “we are working with vendors currently going through our procurement process on how they can best support this work as we finalize outstanding contracts.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

5 things we’re watching this school year in NYC

2023-09-07T10:00:00+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

More than 900,000 New York City public school students are slated to resume classes on Thursday with the customary mix of excitement, jitters, and joy.

In recent years, one acute crisis after another has overshadowed the start of classes, from chaotic efforts to restart in-person classes during the height of the pandemic to a bruising battle over budget cuts and an influx of asylum seekers that began last summer.

This year is proving to be no exception in the nation’s largest district: Families and educators are bracing for a school bus driver strike that could affect some 80,000 students, including many of the city’s most vulnerable. Union officials promised that the first week of service would not be interrupted, but the threat of a strike still looms.

Climate-related issues also affected this year’s start, just as they impacted the end of last school year. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for Thursday, forcing schools to limit outdoor activities between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m, school officials said.

But it’s not just acute challenges facing the city as the school year resumes.

Thorny long-term enrollment and budget issues that have been simmering for years could also come to a head this year with a fiscal cliff looming.

It will also be a pivotal school year for schools Chancellor David Banks, as his signature initiative to overhaul literacy instruction starts rolling out.

Here are five big issues we’ll be watching closely as this critical school year begins:

Asylum seekers continue arriving

The influx of asylum seekers to New York City that began last summer has shown no signs of abating. The Education Department has enrolled an estimated 21,000 newly arrived students since last summer, including 2,500 since this July.

There’s plenty of room in city schools: K-12 enrollment has fallen by more than 120,000 over the past five years.

And educators and families across the city have mobilized over the last year to welcome the newcomers with everything from basic needs to language support.

But lingering challenges continue to undercut the city’s efforts to support the newcomers, starting with gaps in the process for quickly enrolling them in school.

And once they arrive, many won’t attend schools with bilingual teachers. A report last year from the Independent Budget Office found that under half of the schools that enrolled asylum seekers last year had a certified bilingual teacher on staff, reflecting a long-running shortage.

Banks has said new efforts are in the works to step up recruitment of bilingual teachers.

A fiscal cliff looms

New York City schools have been profoundly reshaped by an infusion of $7 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds meant to help school districts climb out from under the shadow of the pandemic. Among the big ticket items entirely or largely funded by that money are:

Summer Rising, the city’s free summer school program combining recreation and academics for roughly 100,000 kids each of the last three summers. The program has proven so popular that 45,000 families were turned away this year.
500 new social workers spread across the city to help address mounting mental health challenges.
A program to shore up school budgets after enrollment losses. Prior to the pandemic, when schools lost students, their budgets were slashed accordingly. But the city has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid to blunt the impact of those budget cuts.

All of those programs and more will be on the chopping block next school year, since the federal relief money must be spent by October 2024. That will likely spur some fierce and thorny battles over prioritizing existing money, or finding new sources of funding.

Banks’ signature initiative takes off

Banks has largely defined his tenure around a single goal: improving the teaching of literacy.

At the center of that goal is a sweeping initiative to overhaul the curriculum that schools use to teach reading in an effort to standardize practices across schools and abandon approaches that have been increasingly discredited. Fifteen of the city’s 32 community school districts will start this year using one of the three new pre-approved curriculum options, with the rest following next year.

But mandating new curriculums is just the first step. Changing something as deeply ingrained as how schools teach reading will require buy-in from staff and ongoing supervision and training. Officials have promised a robust training plan, but recently scrapped the department’s large in-house literacy coaching program and have so far largely outsourced professional development to curriculum publishers and other outside groups.

It’s not just elementary literacy in Banks’ crosshairs: the Education Department is also mandating a ninth-grade algebra curriculum at some high schools, as well as an early childhood curriculum, and First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said Wednesday that the agency plans to look “very, very closely” at the curriculums used in all core classes across all grades in the coming years.

Teachers: We want to hear from you about what kind of training you are receiving — and need — to effectively use the new curriculum.

Enrollment and attendance challenges linger

The influx of asylum seekers over the past year helped slow the enrollment bleeding, but the long-term trends are unmistakable: New York City’s public schools are losing students.

The reasons are complex, including a drop in young students entering school during the pandemic, and a surge in families leaving New York City for more affordable destinations.

But the impact for the school system is profound. As of last year, the Education Department had 201 schools with fewer than 200 students. That’s more than twice the number of tiny schools 15 years earlier.

Since school budgets are largely tied to enrollment, ultra-small schools often struggle to offer enough courses and extracurricular variety to function. In the long run, there will likely be increasing pressure on the city to consider closures or mergers.

It’s not just enrollment patterns reducing the number of children in city schools on any given day: Chronic absenteeism has also spiked, jumping from an average of around 25% before the pandemic to 36% last school year (down slightly from 41% the year before), officials said. Chronic absenteeism is closely linked to adverse academic outcomes, and the city’s efforts to improve attendance could be a core part of efforts to recover from pandemic losses.

NYC students, staff face ongoing academic, emotional challenges

The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and disrupted years of schooling continue to reverberate, touching everything from standardized test scores, to elevated levels of absenteeism, to teachers’ and students’ mental health, to spikes in youth violence.

The city has launched a grab bag of both big ticket and smaller scale programs to address those sweeping challenges, some of which will be at risk when federal stimulus money expires next year.

But others are still getting off the ground, including a telehealth initiative to expand therapy access to teenagers. Banks said Wednesday that the program will roll out by the end of 2023 and will be free and open to all city teenagers ages 13 to 17.

In many ways, all of the city’s big educational initiatives, from the literacy curriculum overhaul to efforts to preempt and prevent youth violence can be seen through the lens of addressing the lingering scars of the pandemic — and recovery remains a core challenge for the school system.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s budget deal restores some education programs

2023-06-30T19:16:58+00:00

This story has been updated to reflect new information.

A tentative New York City budget agreement announced Thursday restores funding to a handful of initiatives that Mayor Eric Adams initially nixed, including one focused on student mental health and another that provides child care subsidies to undocumented families.

The final agreement, which is being voted on Friday, holds the education department’s budget roughly steady at $31.5 billion. That’s a significant shift from the mayor’s April budget proposal, which called for a $30.6 billion budget for the city’s schools, nearly a $1 billion cut.

Officials said the final budget reflects several sources of funding that were not accounted for in the mayor’s April proposal, including $416 million in additional money from the state and $246 million in federal stimulus money that was initially set to be spent in a subsequent year. The budget deal also added $275 million for holding initial school budgets steady even if their enrollment drops and to pay for a slew of other “new needs.”

City officials did not immediately provide a full explanation of what the funding shifts will cover and official budget documents were not yet available.

Still, officials touted a number of programs that were spared from the chopping block. After an unusually chilly “handshake” agreement Thursday, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams expressed frustration that negotiations centered on saving various initiatives.

“The council’s focus this year was to restore cuts to essential services,” she said, calling the mayor’s approach counterproductive and the result bittersweet.

The mayor downplayed the tension, saying negotiations are often contentious and the resulting budget is a “win for working-class New Yorkers.” The city’s overall spending has grown in recent years, with the latest agreement reaching about $107 billion.

Negotiators agreed to maintain funding to a few education-related programs, including one that connects students to mental health support and another that subsidizes child care for undocumented families. City officials credited higher-than-expected revenue, but cautioned that they believe tax growth may slow in the coming years.

The City Council must pass the budget by Saturday, the first day of the new fiscal year.

Here’s what to know:

Still unclear how individual school budgets will be affected

Although the education department’s overall budget is dipping, city officials pledged to keep individual school budgets steady — at least at first. Typically, funding depends on campus enrollment, which has been declining systemwide. But in recent years city officials have plugged school budget holes with federal funding.

Still, some schools’ budgets may shrink or grow, as the city takes back or adds money to campuses in the middle of the school year if their actual enrollment differs from projections. City officials have not made midyear cuts since the onset of the pandemic but have declined to say what they will do in the upcoming school year.

In response to a question Thursday, Mayor Adams said there is “no desire” to surprise school communities with midyear cuts but added, “there’s no guarantees in life.”

That uncertainty may lead some school leaders to tighten their belts if they anticipate anemic enrollment. Overall, the city is projecting a relatively small enrollment drop of 0.6%, suggesting deep cuts are unlikely on most campuses.

Funding restored to child care for undocumented families

The budget will include $16 million for Promise NYC, which covers up to $700 a week in child care for hundreds of low-income undocumented immigrant families. Adams had proposed cutting Promise NYC despite touting it in December when it launched.

The program used $10 million in six months to fully cover child care for about 600 children. Hundreds of more families are on waitlists, according to organizations running the program. Some newly arrived mothers told Chalkbeat that Promise NYC has allowed them to work and pursue education.

The $16 million included in the budget deal falls $4 million short of what immigration advocates and elected officials had sought. But it’s expected to continue covering the 600 children currently enrolled, city officials said.

Mental health support program saved at last moment

The budget includes $5 million for partnerships between schools and mental health clinics, creating a streamlined process for referring students to counseling. The money was initially left out of the mayor’s budget proposal.

The program, known as the Mental Health Continuum, includes just 50 schools. But amid growing concern about a slide in student mental health, advocates had pressed to save it and pointed out that the mayor’s own mental health plan highlighted the initiative.

The Mental Health Continuum is also meant to reduce 911 calls from school staff by training them to address students experiencing emotional crises. Those calls disproportionately affect Black students, and can result in handcuffing or unwarranted trips to the emergency room for psychiatric evaluation.

City to pilot extended hours for pre-kindergarten

The budget will include $15 million to change 1,800 to 1,900 seats for 3-year-olds so that they offer extended hours.

Many working parents need child care beyond 3 p.m. A survey by the Citizens’ Committee for Children, found one-third of more than 1,000 respondents said they were looking for child care from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. However, there were 11,000 unfilled pre-K seats that had longer hours year-round, education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer told Chalkbeat in May.

The pilot program will also extend beyond the school year, according to Speaker Adams’ office.

Caregivers “need preschool programs that align with their work days,” Mayor Adams said.

No plans to expand pre-K for 3-year-olds

The final budget reflects the mayor’s decision to halt a two-year $568 million expansion of preschool seats for 3-year-olds, instead opting to move seats to places with more demand, city officials confirmed.

Education officials have pointed to vacant seats: nearly 23,500 3-K seats are so far unfilled for next school year, according to department figures. The mayor’s decision has drawn backlash from City Council members and advocates, who say the city is not effectively recruiting families or funding early childhood education programs.

Questions remain about the mayor’s savings plan

As broad reductions to city agencies, the mayor required the education department to find hundreds of millions in cuts. It found $305 million, one of the largest savings, by recalculating spending on fringe benefits, such as health insurance for teachers. City officials have said those cuts would not reduce benefits to educators but reflected lower-than-expected growth in those costs.

But advocates worry that the city had already been using those savings to pay for other things, such as transportation, special education services, and charter school costs.

“We are concerned about where the DOE will find funding to pay for these expenses in the coming year and the impact on other programs and services that students need,” Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, wrote in an email.

City officials did not say whether other programs will face cuts.

Looking ahead: Concerns loom as federal dollars dry up

Future budget cycles are likely to be even more contentious, as federal relief funding dries up and city officials have to make difficult decisions about whether and how to continue programs that depend on those dollars.

Perhaps the most contentious decision will be whether to slash school budgets on campuses that have seen enrollment plunge but have been kept steady by temporary relief money. Mayor Adams had previously argued that school budgets need to be incrementally reduced to be brought in line with their current enrollment, but after instituting one round of cuts he faced intense criticism and has since backed away from making further reductions — for now.

The federal money supports a slew of other efforts including hiring more social workers and psychologists; expanding summer school programs; adding preschool seats for students with disabilities, a chronic shortage area; and increasing the number of schools that host wraparound services such as food pantries and health clinics. It’s not certain how these programs will be funded after this year.

Correction (Friday, June 30): A previous version of this story said the education department’s budget would likely decline by roughly $1 billion, a cut that was included in the mayor’s budget proposal in April. A City Hall spokesperson initially indicated that there were no major changes in the final budget deal. But after this story was published, officials said the final budget includes several funding streams that were not initially accounted for in the mayor’s earlier proposal, meaning the overall education budget will hold steady rather than face a cut. The headline has also been changed to reflect that.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering NYC public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mayor Adams touts deep breathing as advocates press to restore school counseling program

2023-06-27T20:11:55+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

As students face severe mental health challenges in the wake of the pandemic, New York City officials touted a new effort on Tuesday to help students regulate themselves: two to five minutes of breathing exercises every day beginning next school year.

But the last-day-of-school announcement left some advocates scratching their heads, arguing the mayor has neglected some other elements of his own broader mental health plan and has offered few details about others.

City officials previously floated the breathing exercises in January and Mayor Eric Adams framed them as just one piece of “low-hanging fruit” in a larger mental health push. “It is going to give them a tool that they can use for the rest of their lives,” the mayor said on Tuesday at P.S. 5 in Brooklyn, before participating in a student-led breathing exercise.

Student mental health concerns have grown since the coronavirus pandemic upended nearly all aspects of students’ lives. Many children lost access to the social circles and sense of community that schools offer. Thousands experienced the deaths of loved ones. A growing number of students have struggled to make it to school at all, leading to a spike in chronic absenteeism. And some educators have seen a rise in behavioral issues, including getting high during the school day.

But as the city heads into the summer it has yet to reveal much about a major effort to connect high school students to teletherapy, despite announcing it six months ago. And the mayor’s budget does not include funding for a $5 million program that establishes partnerships between schools and mental health clinics and offers a streamlined process for referring students to counseling.

Adams touted the program, known as the Mental Health Continuum, in his own mental health blueprint. But it is now the subject of a battle with the City Council, whose leaders have pledged to fight to restore the money in the city budget due this month.

“Five million will evaporate at the end of this week if the city doesn’t restore it in the final budget,” said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children. “They have already hired clinicians,” she added. “To rip them away from students and schools would be really devastating.”

Though the Mental Health Continuum has started small with about 50 schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx, advocates say the approach is promising. Participating schools receive training to help staff calm students who are in crisis and connect them to mobile crisis teams and mental health clinics, a partnership between the health and education departments as well as the city’s public hospital system.

One goal is to reduce schools’ reliance on dialing 911 when students are struggling to regulate their emotions, a practice that can be traumatic and counterproductive.

Under a legal settlement, schools are only supposed to use 911 as a last resort when students are in imminent danger, though a recent investigation by ProPublica and THE CITY found schools continue to call safety agents and police thousands of times a year to deal with students in distress, often tangling students up with law enforcement and needless emergency room visits. Those incidents disproportionately involve Black students, who are also more likely to be handcuffed.

Nelson Mar, an attorney at Bronx Legal Services who supports the Mental Health Continuum, said it has previously been subject to budget uncertainty and hopes the money is ultimately restored.

“The Mental Health Continuum has been funded largely by City Council putting it back in the budget in the last two years,” he said, adding he was puzzled by the omission from the mayor’s budget.

A City Hall spokesperson said the mental health program has been funded one year at a time but didn’t say if the city plans to restore it.

Mar and others said deep-breathing exercises could be a useful part of the city’s approach to student well-being. And some educators previously told Chalkbeat they can help students regulate their mood, decrease anxiety, and help them feel ready to learn — though experts said there is little evidence about how the routines affect student achievement.

But more broadly, Mar said, “we need a more systematic approach toward improving emotional health, behavioral health, and mental health within the school setting. It is going to take more than just deep-breathing exercises.”

Some advocates are also still waiting for more details about the mayor’s plan to connect high schools students to teletherapy services, something Adams described in January as “the biggest student mental health program in the country.”

Schools Chancellor David Banks said on Tuesday that high school students will have access to an app that allows them to “be in touch with mental health counselors in real time from their phones.” But city officials have not said how the platform will work, what type of mental health services will be available, who will be eligible, and how it will be monitored.

Dr. Elisa English, the chief program officer at Counseling in Schools, said she is eager for more information about what those services will look like, including how frequently students will have access to counselors.

“How that will roll out — it remains to be seen,” she said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

College felt impossible to this student in foster care. Then NYC offered to pay.

2023-06-15T16:14:05+00:00

At the age of 16, Marowa, a Bangladeshi immigrant, entered New York City’s foster care system, after her parents had physically abused her for much of her life.

Two years and five foster homes later, Marowa fled to California to build a new life but returned to New York City by the age of 19, in search of stable housing and a familiar community. (Marowa said she does not have a legal last name.)

After she reluctantly re-entered foster care, a social worker asked Marowa if she knew that Administration for Children’s Services, or ACS, could help her pay for college and other expenses.

“I was just thinking about surviving,” Marowa said. “I wasn’t really thinking about college.”

Last week — five years after that conversation — Marowa graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Brooklyn College, with the help of the financial assistance that her social worker had described.

Marowa is one of 300 students who used the College Choice program this year to fund up to $15,000 of tuition, room and board, and $60 in daily stipends, according to ACS officials, who said that no eligible student who applied on time was turned away.

The program, announced in October, combined with other state and federal grants, covers all tuition and living expenses for these students. It was similar to other programs that preceded it when Marowa first entered college with some updates that aim to ease the burden on participants: College Choice doubles the daily student stipend and allows them to live on the same campus as where they go to school.

For the 2023-24 school year, the Adams administration has proposed keeping this $10 million initiative.

A more stable future for students in foster care

The program attempts to set up a stable future for students like Marowa, who might otherwise be unable to pay for college or incur student loan debt, even with federal and state grants. In New York City, the cost of higher education is not the only barrier: Last school year, 45% of students in foster care graduated from high school on time, compared with 84% of students not in foster care, according to state data. In 2019, before the pandemic and the loosening of certain graduation requirements, just one-quarter of youth in foster care graduated on time.

The city’s Fair Futures program, which advocates pushed the city to create in recent years, attempts to improve those graduation rates by linking students in foster care ages 11 to 26 with academic, career, and life coaching.

Even children who make it to college can find it financially impossible to stay enrolled, said Jess Dannhauser, commissioner for ACS. Dannhauser, who previously oversaw foster care agency Graham Windam, said he’d hear about students who dropped out of college because they couldn’t afford pricey textbooks or even doing laundry regularly.

“The things that came up both were expensive, and it was hard to be nimble to meet all those needs,” Dannhauser said of students’ experiences. “And it sends a message that they don’t belong there.”

In order to be eligible for College Choice, young people must currently be in foster care, earn a minimum GPA of 2.0, and apply for financial aid grants, such as the federal Pell Grant and New York State’s Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP.

Larger stipends and more places to live

Before Marowa used College Choice this year, there was “The Dorm Project,” which used a total of about $7 million to provide housing and tuition help to about 200 students in foster care last year who attended CUNY schools. ACS also provided $31 daily stipends to college students in foster care.

Marowa pictured on her graduation day at Brooklyn College.

College Choice ironed out a few wrinkles with the previous program, officials said. Unlike previous years, the program helps cover costs for students who attend any college, not just CUNY. Students also receive a $60 daily stipend — and will now receive that money for six months after graduation.

The old program provided year-round housing at certain CUNY dorms where the city had purchased space but not necessarily where students were attending school. In what felt like a particularly important change for children, College Choice allows them to live on the same campus where they’re enrolled.

“We heard from young people that they really wanted to live and go to school in the same place, that they wanted that choice, that they wanted to have the opportunity to go out of state,” said ACS Commissioner Jess Dannhauser in an interview. “And the College Choice program allows for that.”

The program is a positive start at helping students access college, but broadening the eligibility requirements would help many more students in need, said Chantal Hinds, a researcher focused on students in foster care at the Next100, a policy think tank based in New York City. Hinds noted that the program doesn’t benefit students who aren’t in foster care anymore but might still be struggling financially and mentally from their experience in the system.

She noted that Marowa could have been one of those teens had she not re-entered the foster care system after her time in California.

“If you’re in the foster system for a month or 12 years, you’re still impacted,” said Hinds, who was once an attorney for ACS. “There was still a significant portion of your life that was changed because of this experience.”

Marowa began receiving financial support through the old college aid programs and then switched over to College Choice this past school year, which meant her daily stipend doubled in size.

In college, Marowa changed majors twice before landing on English literature, which she fell in love with after being forced as a newcomer immigrant years ago to learn the language.

Marowa was one of the students who pushed ACS for better college assistance, and she continues to advocate on behalf of foster youth, both she and an ACS spokesperson said. She’s considering a teaching job offer, and has qualified for subsidized housing.

Once she becomes more financially stable, she’s hoping to fulfill a longtime dream: to become a foster mom.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC teachers union and Adams administration reach tentative deal on 5-year contract

2023-06-13T20:12:43+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

New York City reached a deal with the teachers union for a five-year contract that includes annual raises, expands opportunities for virtual learning, and allows some remote work for certain employees, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday.

The tentative deal for the United Federation of Teachers’ 115,000 full-time and 5,000 part-time education department employees includes 3% wage increases for the first three years, followed by a 3.25% increase in the fourth year, and 3.5% in the fifth year. The full contract would cost the city $6.4 billion, city officials said.

Starting salary for new teachers will jump from $61,070 to $72,349 by the end of the contract. In five years, the most experienced teachers will earn $151,271. The deal also proposes to cut in half the amount of time it takes teachers to reach a $100,000 salary — from 15 to eight years.

It also includes annual retention bonuses that will grow to $1,000 in 2026, for as long as an employee is an education department employee, and will be built into the system going forward. It’s the first time the union has negotiated such a payment, said Michael Mulgrew, president of the teachers union, during a press conference announcing the deal.

“We’re saying to all of our titles and every member, whether you’re in the first year or your 25th year, New York City is saying that we appreciate you, we recognize the challenges that you take on every day and you will receive $1,000 every [year] for that,” Mulgrew said. [Mulgrew initially misspoke, and his statement has been clarified.]

The retention bonus is “a good strategy” for keeping teachers, said Melissa Arnold Lyon, assistant professor of politics and policy at the University of Albany, who has been following the UFT’s contract negotiations. Teacher turnover rates in New York City and elsewhere hit an unusual high after last school year, potentially exacerbated by the stresses of the pandemic.

“There are a lot of costs of trying to find and hire new teachers,” Lyon said. “If $1,000 helps you to keep a teacher, at least on the micro level, that’s worth it.”

The agreement is retroactive to Sept. 14, 2022, and runs through Nov. 28, 2027, city officials said. The wage increases follow the pattern of raises set by the February agreement with District Council 37, which includes cafeteria workers, parent coordinators, and crossing guards.

Many teachers expected that their union would follow suit and had expressed concerns given that the previous deals were not keeping pace with inflation, which has moderated somewhat in recent months but reached 6.5% last year. Teachers had complained that their responsibilities have only increased since the pandemic, as they continue to catch up students academically and socially from years of interrupted learning.

A virtual learning program to expand

The contract would expand a pilot remote learning project that allowed small schools to offer virtual courses — such as AP Chemistry — that they otherwise couldn’t because of staffing issues. This year, the program used federal funding to grow, reaching about 1,500 students across 58 schools, with 23 separate online courses outside traditional school hours.

Under the tentative deal, high schools, as well as schools that serve grades 6-12, could offer virtual courses after school and on the weekends starting in the next academic year, union officials said, though nothing would bar schools from creating tutoring programs, too. Those programs would be available to students who volunteer to participate, and would be staffed by volunteer teachers. A quarter of high schools would be allowed to participate next year, growing to all high schools by the 2027-28 school year. High schools must apply to participate, education officials said.

Courses might be offered at individual schools or through the central education department, and high schools must apply to participate, education officials said. Part-time remote teachers can apply to be part of their school-based remote program and work before or after the school day; there will also be full-time, centrally hired teachers for the other program.

Programs could vary, Gendar said. For example, a school could offer evening courses, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., for students who are missing classes because they’re working day jobs, she said.

Schools could offer non-traditional schedules for students and teachers who want them. If a teacher volunteers to work a virtual program in addition to their regular work day, they will be paid overtime, Gendar said.

During a press conference, schools Chancellor David Banks said the virtual learning agreement gives students more flexibility, noting that some benefited from remote learning during the pandemic.

“Students who were at risk of dropping out were able to continue their coursework on a schedule that works best for them,” Banks said of remote learning during the start of the pandemic. “This expands those types of opportunities across the entire system.”

The contract would also allow some employees, who don’t work directly in schools, to work remotely for up to two days a week. It was not immediately clear which employees that would include.

Another sticking point was over how teachers would get to spend an extra 155 minutes each week after school. The deal would allow them, as they did this year, to do professional development and parent outreach, and it added a new option for teachers to do other classroom work of their choice in that time.

Teachers have mixed feelings

The contract is not yet final. First, the union’s negotiating committee, composed of 500 members, along with its executive board and delegate assembly will decide whether to send the tentative deal to all union members for a vote. Union officials did not immediately provide dates for those votes.

Some teachers took to social media to criticize the deal, but pushing back against it could be an uphill battle. The union cannot easily pull off a work stoppage because a teachers strike would violate New York’s Taylor Law, which imposes significant financial penalties for public sector unions that strike.

Robert Effinger, a union chapter leader at the Bronx High School of Business, said the pay increases surpassed his expectations.

Although some educators hoped that the salary increases would exceed inflation, the union was hemmed in by the pattern set by unions that negotiated contracts earlier this year. But Effinger said he was glad to see the union negotiate a quicker path to higher pay, an issue he hopes will help retain more educators.

“One of the reasons people burn out in education is they feel like they’re doing a lot of labor that is not appropriately compensated,” he said. “Having an accelerated early track is better for keeping people in.”

Still, he said he’s eager to hear more details about other elements of the contract including increased teacher autonomy, a major part of the union’s campaign, which focused on burdensome paperwork requirements educators face.

The union plans to hold a virtual town hall for members on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Alex Zimmerman contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NYC failed to provide full services to 9,800 preschool children with disabilities last year: report

2023-06-06T09:30:00+00:00

More than one-third of New York City’s preschool children with disabilities did not receive all of the extra support they’re entitled to in the last school year, according to a report released Tuesday morning.

The report, by advocacy organization Advocates for Children New York, analyzes the most recently available city data for the 2021-22 school year. The figure represents an increase from the 2020-21 school year, when 30% of children, or about 7,800, didn’t receive all of their required services.

The data means that a child may have received some of their required speech therapy, for example, but no required physical therapy — services that are spelled out in an individualized education program, or IEP.

Among the 9,800 children — or close to 37% — who didn’t receive all of their required services:

About 6,500 children who required speech therapy — or about a quarter of children who needed monolingual speech therapy and a third of children who required bilingual services.
Nearly 28%, or 5,300 children, who required occupational therapy.
About 2,000 children, or nearly 26%, who needed physical therapy.

The report showcases a yearslong problem with the city’s public preschool system, which serves 3- and 4-year-olds: Programs struggle to provide all children with the services they need, as they are legally required to do. Young children’s access to these services might be more crucial now, since some of these students may have missed out on necessary services as infants and toddlers early in the pandemic, like tens of thousands of kids nationally.

The greatest disparity in who received services was based on language: Sixty-nine percent of children who required only English instruction received their services, versus 53.5% of those who needed to be taught in another language.

The racial and socioeconomic disparities were smaller. While 69% of white students fully received services, the same was true for 67% of Hispanic children, 65.5% of Black children, and 62% of Asian children. Sixty-seven percent of permanently housed students received services, versus 61% of homeless children.

The city’s data might actually “significantly” underreport the problem, the report said. The education department considers a child “fully served” if they received at least one session of all of their required services, the report said.

“A child whose occupational therapist quits in November and is never replaced, or a preschooler who waits six months for mandated speech therapy to begin because the DOE is unable to find a provider, is not fully served from the perspective of their parents and teachers, but they are left out of the counts above,” the report said.

In December, Mayor Eric Adams vowed to open hundreds of additional seats for preschool children with disabilities to ensure that all children get the seats that they’re entitled to. Advocates have praised that commitment, but it already is being tested. While the city has opened 700 new seats this school year for students with more challenging disabilities, about 300 preschoolers are still waiting for a spot, the report noted.

Having access to seats is a perennial issue. Last year, just over 1,000 preschool children who required a small special education class did not have access to those seats by the end of last school year, according to the report.

“We agree with the concerns of our parents and advocates that for far too long students with disabilities were excluded from programming and services,” Nicole Brownstein, a spokesperson for the city’s education department, said in a statement. “This administration is committed to righting this wrong.”

But the city’s commitment to open more seats doesn’t address the ongoing shortage of staff who can provide extra required services for these children, one significant reason why children are missing out on services, said Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates For Children. The city contracts with outside organizations to provide many of these services, so Advocates For Children is calling on Adams to spend another $50 million to increase pay for those service providers and hire their own staffers.

Brownstein noted that the education department has expanded its own teams who provide services to preschool children, including hiring an additional 24 speech therapists, 23 occupational itinerant therapists, and 12 physical therapists.

The $50 million request from Advocates For Children would also go toward speeding up evaluations for children, another weak area the report cited. Nearly 16% of children, or 1,974, who were eligible for preschool special education services waited more than 60 days — the legal deadline — for a meeting to determine what extra services they should receive, according to the organization. That’s a similar rate to last school year.

Over the last three years, the education department has opened 21 Preschool Regional Assessment (PRAC) teams, which provide evaluations in addition to state-approved agencies that the city contracts with. This school year, staffers on PRAC teams had the option of working overtime, allowing more students to get evaluated — something they plan to do again next school year, officials said.

Still, education department officials said there are not enough agencies to meet the evaluation needs of preschool students, as more children have been referred for services since the pandemic. They plan to work with city, state, and federal government officials to ensure there’s enough funding to link students with necessary services.

While data for this school year is not yet available, the organization reported that it’s received many calls from families who have struggled to access services for their young children. One of those calls was from Terese, a mother in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn who asked to use her first name only for privacy reasons.

Her 4-year-old son required the help of a special education itinerant teacher, or an SEIT, who helps children like hers with disabilities inside of a general education preschool class. But in February, that teacher left her son’s preschool with no replacement.

Terese spent a month emailing the main special education contact in her district about a replacement teacher with no response, even taking days off work to deal with the issue, she said. Meanwhile, her son was talking less at home.

“The teacher started reporting to me that he was not communicating in the classroom,” Terese said.

Terese’s problem was not unique. According to the report, roughly 1,300 preschoolers, or nearly one in five children did not have an SEIT all last school year, even though their IEP required one.

Eventually Terese contacted Advocates For Children, which advised her to lodge a complaint through 311. After that, a special education official with her district responded, blaming the lack of a teacher on a staffing shortage. By mid-May, her son once again had an SEIT, she said.

“I felt all alone,” Terese said. “The DOE just left me to fend for myself with my child with special needs.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s Summer Rising program rejected 45,000 applicants, launching scramble for child care

2023-05-24T21:50:38+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Roughly 45,000 children have been shut out of New York City’s free, popular summer program, education department officials said this week.

The program, which runs between six to seven weeks for most students, provides academics during the morning and enrichment activities in the afternoon for children in grades K-8 across the five boroughs from July to August.

Like last year, a total of 110,000 seats were available this year, with a portion held open for students mandated to attend summer school. During a City Council hearing this week, the education department’s Chief Operating Officer Emma Vadehra said there are 94,000 seats available for 139,000 applicants. Officials initially reported that 30,000 families did not receive spots.

It’s possible that some of the rejected applicants will have to attend the program anyway for academic reasons and will get a seat that has been set aside. Still, many of those families, who were notified earlier this month that they didn’t get seats, are likely scrambling to find summer programs for their children before the school year ends on June 27.

“The basic challenge is that demand outstripped supply pretty dramatically,” Vadehra told City Council members. “And so there’s different ways that could have looked, but we just didn’t have enough seats in the program for the number of kids and families that really wanted this program despite the fact that it is the largest summer program we’ve had – and the largest in the country.”

Two of those unsuccessful applicants were Alejandra Perez’s 5- and 10-year-old sons, who should have been prioritized for seats because they attend an after-school program run by the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, through a community-based organization that helps oversee Summer Rising.

Perez, a lifelong East Harlemite, paid $2,250 last summer for six weeks of child care, which she can barely afford again this year.

But in mid-May, about three weeks after applying, she was informed via email that her sons, who attend a charter school in East Harlem, didn’t get in. While she can probably rely on a relative to care for her older son, she is scrambling to find free or affordable care for her 5-year-old.

“I am still trying to find a program,” she said. “By the act of God, maybe I’ll get an email like, ‘Hey, we found you a spot!’”

Some children with priority did not get spots

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio established the program two years ago with federal relief dollars as the city clawed its way out of the pandemic, attempting to provide children with a bridge back to school after remote learning. It differs from summer programs in the past: It’s open to any child, including those in charters and private school, not just those who are mandated to attend summer school.

The program, though bumpy with its initial roll out, has grown in popularity. This year, city officials made a couple of key changes to the application process. While still open to the same number of children, applicants were allowed to rank choices for Summer Rising sites instead of the first come, first served process last year. Additionally, students who attend after-school programs subsidized through the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, or DYCD, were supposed to be prioritized for seats, like Perez’s children. That’s in addition to students living in temporary housing, children in foster care, and children with disabilities who must have services year round.

Perez had ranked three Summer Rising sites close to her home. Perez said the application did not ask if her kids were in an after-school program. According to an education department spokesperson, Perez’s children didn’t receive a spot because there was likely a lot of demand at the sites she chose.

When she asked someone from the after-school program why her sons didn’t get into Summer Rising, they didn’t have an answer — except that none of the kids in the program who applied got in, Perez said. (A representative for their SCAN-Harbor Beacon after-school program did not return a request for comment.)

During the City Council hearing this week, officials said that just over half of the seats that have been filled went to students in the priority groups. Of those, 29,000 spots went to students who were in DYCD-run after-school programs, 16,000 went to students in temporary housing, 3,000 seats to children with 12-month individualized education programs, or IEPs, and another 1,000 to students in foster care. (Last year, Summer Rising had 12,000 students in temporary housing, 2,700 students with 12-month IEPs and 1,000 students in foster care.)

New seats won’t be added, but filled seats might open up

Vadehra said they’re not planning to add seats — emphasizing that this program is being supported by federal dollars that are set to run out next year — and there is no wait list for seats. But they are expecting an unspecified number of spots to open up, either because fewer students will be mandated to attend summer school or because families may decline a seat they’ve been offered. The education department is working with DYCD to figure out how to make families aware of empty seats in June and how they can apply for those, she said.

In the meantime, parents are scrambling to find options that seem few and far between — and too pricey.

Perez’s rejection email from the education department included a link to other DYCD programs that might be available. She said she has called every local community-based organization near her home for some type of programming with no luck.

“At this point I am just emailing everyone,” she said.

Tia Jackson, who lives in Central Harlem, knew she would potentially need to scramble for summer options if her son didn’t get into Summer Rising, so she signed him up for a YMCA program near her home. Her planning came in handy: Her son did not get a Summer Rising seat.

While he doesn’t fall into any of the priority groups, her son, who is autistic, also has an individualized education program. The YMCA program has staff who can assist him if he needs extra support, Jackson said. She will be reimbursed up to $2,250 for summer care expenses through the state’s Office of People With Developmental Disabilities, but that only ensures four weeks of summer programming for her son. He’s planning to visit his aunt in Florida for one week, and she will pay out of pocket for child care for an additional week.

She feels thankful for having a “Plan A and Plan B.”

“I feel like the way they rolled out the program to start was very late, and it wasn’t the best for working parents, typically because when you think about summer camps most applications for summer camp start in February and March,” she said. “We didn’t get the Summer Rising notification until April.”

The department spokesperson did not explain the timing of the Summer Rising application, except to say there are several factors that impact the timeline.

Both of Loretta Bencivengo’s children got into Summer Rising last year, likely because she submitted her application as soon as it opened during the previous first come, first served model. This year they didn’t get spots, said Bencivengo, who lives in Windsor Terrace.

The most affordable alternate option she’s found so far is with the local YMCA for a $5,000, eight-week program for both of her children, which she equated to two months of rent. Many places don’t have space this late in the spring, she said.

“All those slots are filled up in January and February,” she said of private programs. “If that’s the case, why not put this application out in November and December so that you can open an appropriate amount of slots?”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC won’t slash school budgets at first, but mid-year cuts are still possible

2023-05-22T22:33:01+00:00

New York City schools won’t have to brace for budget cuts next school year — at least at first.

All schools will receive the same amount of money or more at the start of the 2023-24 academic year as they did this year despite some of the “fiscal challenges” facing the city, Chancellor David Banks announced on Monday during a City Council hearing about the education department’s proposed budget for next fiscal year.

But school budgets may not need the extra cushion this year. Unlike the significant drops over the past few years, the education department is projecting enrollment to largely hold steady next year, dipping by less than 1%

The move represents a shift from what happened last summer, when budget cuts tied to declining enrollment, sparked severe backlash, including a lawsuit, and forced schools to shrink staff and programming.

It also comes as Mayor Eric Adams has proposed cutting the education department’s budget by 3% next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That $30.5 billion budget is expected to include less spending on fringe benefits and cut a previously announced expansion of preschool for 3-year-olds.

The decision to start the new school year with steady budgets, however, doesn’t mean schools are completely immune from cuts. Banks said the city hasn’t yet decided whether schools will see cuts during what’s known as the “mid-year adjustment”— a practice put on pause this year using $200 million in federal COVID relief dollars.

Schools get money in the summer based on the city’s enrollment projections, and when the final tallies are taken on Oct. 31, schools could lose money mid-year if they’ve enrolled fewer students than projected — or get extra money if they have more children.

“If a school has 500 students, but by the middle of the year, they’ve dropped down to 200 students, we’re not going to make the commitment today to say, ‘No matter what, there’ll be no adjustment even at that point,’” Banks said during the hearing.

That might leave some school leaders with tough decisions. While principals might get the same amount of money as last year, they may be hesitant to hire more teachers or create more programming in anticipation of losing money during the school year.

One the one hand, some city principals said they understand the city’s desire to bring funding more in line with enrollment to avoid big disparities in per-student spending between schools.

“There are schools that are serving many fewer students than they were five years ago, and the city can’t afford to just fund those schools endlessly,” said a Brooklyn principal who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

But on the other hand, the principal wishes that the education department would make it easier for schools to plan by promising budgets will not be cut more than a certain percentage in a given year rather than having to make educated guesses.

And even if a school does not have to return money later in the year, it can be difficult to use before the spending deadline, especially to hire staff. If a school has an unexpected surplus in January, “all of a sudden there’s a spending spree and it’s not effective and efficient,” the principal said. “It doesn’t help to get money in November or January if you needed to hire a teacher in September.”

Schools are expected to receive their budgets by the end of this month, said Emma Vadehra, chief operating officer for the education department. When principals receive those budgets, Vadehra said, they might notice cuts to individual funding streams, such as Fair Student Funding, which is the city’s main school funding formula. (Schools with higher needs and higher enrollment get more money under the formula.)

Such drops will be backfilled with “other funding streams” to hold budgets steady, Vadehra said. However, officials did not clarify how schools will be able to use those funds. While Fair Student Funding can be used to hire teachers, money from other pots can sometimes be restricted for other uses.

The education department plans to use funding from multiple sources to keep budgets level at the start of the school year, Vadehra said. That includes a $160 million in federal stimulus funds that had been announced previously, as well as money from the state, which has boosted dollars for districts through its own school funding formula, known as Foundation Aid.

Several council members raised concerns about education department programs that are relying on expiring federal stimulus dollars, including preschool programming and expanded summer programming. Vadehra acknowledged that the education department does not yet have a plan on how to fund these initiatives once the money runs out in 2024.

“This is a major challenge,” Banks said to council members. “I mean, there’s a lot of great programs — even as we came on board — that have been built off of access to these stimulus dollars. The stimulus dollars are going away. We’re going to have to work very closely together to try to figure this out.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC drafts plan to shrink class sizes, but changes won’t start next school year

2023-05-19T22:43:25+00:00

Many education advocates cheered when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law last September a five-year plan to reduce class sizes in New York City’s public schools.

For the first year, however, the city’s education department plans to make no changes, according to a draft plan shared with reporters on Friday.

Under that plan — which is supposed to spell out how the city will meet the law’s new requirements — class sizes will remain the same in September. That’s because the education department says that enough of its core classes — an average 39% — for K-12 exceed the requirements in the law for the first year of the plan. (The plan only affects city-run schools, not charters.)

But, for future school years, education department officials are bracing for some big expenses to comply with the law. They estimate it will cost $1.3 billion a year for new teachers when the plan is fully implemented as well as about $30-$35 billion in capital expenditures to construct new spaces or reconfigure old ones.

The education department said it would gather feedback from the public and educators to determine the best way to shrink class sizes by 2028, when state law requires that the entire school system meet the new requirements.

The city teachers union — one of the entities that must approve the plan — blasted the education department’s effort, emphasizing that they will work with the state to ensure the city “fulfills its obligations” of the law.

“Meeting the new class size standards is going to require a real plan — and so far, the DOE hasn’t managed to create one,” said teachers union president Michael Mulgrew in a statement. “This document is missing a strategy for implementation and a targeted proposal for where and when new seats should be built.”

Education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer responded in a statement that the draft was created after consulting “extensively” with the unions, and they will continue to be able to share feedback.

“The tradeoffs involved in implementation are too important to be made behind closed doors and our entire community must be involved in informing these decisions,” Styer said.

The education department will begin collecting public comment on the plan, which is posted online, in June. Within two weeks of the end of that process, officials must submit the plan to the state education department for approval.

Here are seven things to know:

What are the new class-size caps?

Kindergarten through third grade should have no more than 20 children.

From grades four through eighth, classes should have no more than 23 students, while students in ninth through 12th grades can have up to 25 students.

That’s down from a previous cap of 25 students for kindergarten, and 32 students in the rest of elementary school grades, according to the teachers union contract agreement. Middle and high schools were supposed to be capped previously at 33 and 34 students, respectively, with a 30-student limit in Title 1 middle schools (where at least 60% of students are from low-income families).

What will change next year in terms of class-size reductions?

Nothing. State law requires 20% of the city’s classrooms be in compliance with the new state law each year, reaching 100% by 2028. According to the education department, an average 39% of classes meet the new requirements, meaning they expect to meet the state’s requirements for next school year. This includes elementary school homerooms, where children receive their core instruction, and core subject classes for grades 6-12 — meaning math, science, social studies, and English courses, including gifted and talented, integrated co-teaching, which includes a mix of students with and without disabilities, and accelerated courses.

Ninety-one percent of performing arts and gym courses are in compliance.

In year two, 40% of classes must comply, then 60% and 80% until the final year when all classes are expected to meet the targets (unless they get exemptions).

How will the education department shrink class sizes by 2028?

We don’t know the details yet, but the education department offered some clues in its plan.

From May to October, the education department plans to meet regularly with a working group that it convened this spring to gather feedback on how to meet the law’s new requirements.

Officials wrote that they will identify additional classrooms for space; work with the city’s School Construction Authority on the next capital plan, which lays out building plans for the school system; and would focus on high-poverty schools not meeting requirements, as required by the law.

Starting in November, officials will begin changing policies “and reprioritization of programming” in order to meet the class-size mandates. Officials did not immediately explain what sort of policies or programs would change. But before the law passed, Chancellor David Banks warned that the law could mean a cut in school services or programming because of the cost of creating more classes.

Who will be exempt from the class-size law?

Any exemptions must be approved by the chancellor, as well as the heads of the teachers union and the union representing principals and other administrators. Disagreements will head to arbitration, the law mandates.

Schools might be exempt because of space limitations, but the education department will have to show that they are working to resolve the issue through their capital budget plan. Schools that are overenrolled or ones in which they would face severe economic hardship to comply might get exemptions. (The plan offered no other information on this.) There might be exemptions for schools where they have insufficient numbers of teachers in subjects that are hard to fill, like bilingual math; the teachers union can negotiate higher class sizes for electives and specialty classes if the majority of a school’s staff approves the increase.

Does the law prioritize any particular schools in regards to meeting the new class-size mandates?

The law requires the education department to start with schools with high shares of students living in poverty. In its plan, the education department said that schools with the highest numbers of low-income students are more likely to have smaller class sizes.

Fifty-nine percent of classes meet the new requirements at schools with the most students from low-income families, according to education department data shared in the plan. In contrast, schools with the fewest students living in poverty have just 23% of classes meeting the new requirements.

Where else are schools more — or less — likely to meet the class-size mandates?

Schools with larger classes also hew closely to racial demographics. Roughly 54% of classes already meet the class-size targets at schools with the highest percentage of Black students compared to schools with the highest percentage of Asian and white students, where only about a quarter of classes meet the targets.

Three Brooklyn districts — Ocean Hill/Brownsville’s District 23, Crown Heights’ District 16, and District 18 in Canarsie/East Flatbush had the greatest share of classes at or below the caps, according to the education department data. These three districts have among the highest shares of Black students in the city.

Two Queens districts — Bayside’s District 26 and Flushing’s District 25 — along with Staten Island’s District 31 have the lowest share of classes that meet the targets. District 25 and 26 have the city’s highest share of Asian students, while District 31 has the highest share of white students.

Of the five boroughs, the Bronx might have the easiest time meeting the class-size caps, with 50% of its schools already hitting the targets. Staten Island could have the most challenges, with only 22% of its schools meeting the class size requirements.

Schools that have grades 6-12 or 9-12 are more likely to have smaller class sizes, the figures show, with about 44% of these schools already meeting the new class-size mandates. Only 30% of standalone middle schools meet the targets, followed by K-8 and K-5 schools.

What happens next?

The education department must collect public comments on the plan and then submit it to the state education department for final approval. The teachers and principals unions must also sign off on the plan, which must go into effect in September.

Next month, city officials are holding online public hearings for each borough via Zoom on the following dates, starting at 6 p.m.:

Staten Island: Friday, June 2

Queens: Tuesday, June 6

Brooklyn: Thursday, June 8

Manhattan: Tuesday, June 13

The Bronx: Thursday, June 15

The city will have two weeks to analyze the public comments before submitting its final proposal to the state.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

600 children would lose child care with end of free NYC program for undocumented families

2023-05-18T21:27:57+00:00

Angela and her family left their home in Colombia after her husband, a police officer, received multiple death threats amid rising violence in the South American country.

Along with thousands of asylum seekers, her family arrived in New York City in September. They made ends meet through her husband’s sporadic construction gigs, but Angela, unable to find affordable private child care, stayed home to watch her toddler son.

Then, through tips from other newly arrived Colombian mothers, Angela discovered a new city pilot program called Promise NYC, which in January began covering up to $700 a week in child care for low-income, undocumented immigrant families. In late March, Angela’s son, just shy of 2 years old, became one of about 600 children who received vouchers to enroll in subsidized day care or after-school programs that are otherwise unavailable to those without legal immigration status.

Angela has since started a part-time job cleaning, is taking courses that would allow her to work in construction, and is figuring out how to obtain legal immigration status. But that could all end on July 1, if the City Council approves Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed budget, which slashes the pilot program for next fiscal year.

“My child wouldn’t be able to share or he wouldn’t be able to learn and grow with other children in the day care that he is part of, and I would have to resort to finding alternatives that I’m not yet prepared for,” Angela said through a translator.

The move has confused program providers, advocates, and some City Council members, who described Promise NYC as successful and netting more demand than they expected. The mayor himself touted the $10 million initiative in his vision for early childhood education last year, but in recent months, advocates became worried that Adams would cut the program. Spokespeople for City Hall and the Administration for Children’s Services, or ACS, declined to explain the mayor’s decision.

”To take that away would mean, you know, possibly the family loses employment or a kid has nowhere to go during the day,” said Kimberly Warner, deputy director of legal, organizing, and advocacy services for the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, or NMIC, a nonprofit organization tapped by the city to help enroll children in Manhattan and the Bronx. “It would be very destabilizing.”

The mayor has proposed cuts across many city agencies, including about 3% of the education department’s budget, citing in part rising costs as more asylum seekers come to the city.

A group of about a dozen elected officials, including some City Council members and state lawmakers have called for the city to provide $20 million for the program next year, which would cover the same number of slots for a full year. Some are hoping for even more funding, as thousands of newcomer immigrants are expected in New York City.

In a statement, Queens Council member Tiffany Cabán, one of the lawmakers who pushed to create Promise NYC, said the program has been a “game changer.”

Without legal immigration status, undocumented immigrants have limited options for work, often turning to low-paying, under-the-table jobs. Nearly 29% of undocumented New Yorkers were living in poverty as of 2017, compared to 18% of naturalized citizens at the time, according to city estimates.

That means many likely struggle to pay for child care, but undocumented children typically don’t qualify for state or federally backed programs because they must be legal residents of the United States. HeadStart programs are an exception, but there are a limited number of seats, providers said.

Private care is pricey: In 2022, the median annual cost of toddler care in Manhattan was just over $17,800, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Three and 4-year-old children can attend many of the city’s free preschool programs, regardless of immigration status. But there are some programs within the city’s sprawling system, run through centers and by organizations outside of brick-and-mortar school buildings, that require children to be legal residents, including those that offer care past 3 p.m., advocates pointed out.

“That is the exact problem that Promise NYC was trying to resolve,” said Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children New York.

After advocacy from elected officials last year, City Hall agreed to launch the program. Adams even touted Promise NYC in his “Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City,” saying it would allow families to seek care “without compromising the confidentiality of their immigration status.”

The program was publicly announced in December 2022 and launched one month later, in mid-January. The four organizations charged with doing outreach and connecting families to child care are responsible for making sure families are eligible.

Warner, from NMIC, said she and her team were overwhelmed and “surprised” by the calls that immediately flooded in, mostly seeking care for kids ages 2 to 7 years old. They’ve enrolled 245 children across Manhattan and the Bronx and have roughly 150 people on a wait list. According to an ACS spokesperson, 600 children — the agency’s target — enrolled across all five boroughs by the end of April. Costs were fully covered for all but three children, the spokesperson said.

The Chinese-American Planning Council, which was tapped to oversee enrollment in Queens, has about 170 people on a waiting list, said Sumon Chin, the organization’s director of early childhood learning and wellness services.

Besides handling high demand, Chin’s organization also struggled to find child care options for infants and toddlers in certain pockets of Queens that are known as “child care deserts,” such as the Corona neighborhood. Along with keeping the program, Chin hopes the city will provide more funding so that each organization can hire more help, due to the demand and difficulty of the work.

Soneyllys, a mother from the Dominican Republic, enrolled her toddler son in day care through Promise NYC in February. Since then, she has noticed he’s talking and is generally more active at home. It also allowed her to work for the first time since coming to the United States two years ago, she said through a translator.

She worries that losing child care will make it difficult to get legal immigration status.

“I cannot afford day care, and I will not be able to give my child a better life because I don’t have the opportunity to find a full-time job that I can provide for my child,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Better pay and more hours: NYC Council leaders push for changes to 3-K, pre-K programs

2023-05-10T00:30:12+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Leaders of New York City Council charged Mayor Eric Adams with failing to address problems that have plagued the city’s public preschool programs, and they made several demands to improve the system.

Speaking in the playground of a Lower East Side 3-K and prekindergarten center Tuesday, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, several of her colleagues, and advocates listed several items they want. That includes higher pay for workers in programs run by community-based organizations, paying preschool providers on time, improving outreach to encourage more families to enroll, and allowing community organizations to directly enroll families.

The push comes as budget negotiations are underway between the council and the mayor, whose $106.7 billion proposed budget would cut funding for the education department by 3%, or $960 million. That slashes a plan under former Mayor Bill de Blasio to further expand preschool for 3-year-old children, with the Adams administration pointing to at least 16,000 unfilled seats.

Speaker Adams blasted the mayor’s approach, describing the city’s early childhood education system as “broken” and “in full crisis mode.”

“As my colleagues in the council and the advocates here today have pointed out repeatedly, the city needs to correct its course to address the gaps in our system so we provide stability for this very critical sector,” she told reporters outside the program run by Grand Street Settlement.

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, flanked by council members and advocates, discusses changes they’ll demand of Mayor Eric Adams in order to improve the city’s public preschool system.

Mayor Adams’ first year in office has been marked by changes and sometimes chaos in the city’s early childhood education system. In addition to the cancellation of plans to expand 3-K, many providers have reported that the city has not paid them on time, which has left some programs in financial crisis and caused others to close. Despite the city’s promise to fix the problem, multiple council members said Tuesday that they’re still hearing of issues at centers across the city.

When the education department announced a bureaucratic overhaul, including moving hundreds of early childhood workers to other offices, those workers were left in limbo without clarity about what their new jobs would entail; the department later pulled back on that plan.

At the same time, the mayor has vowed to ensure the city offers enough seats to preschool students with disabilities, an issue that his predecessor failed to solve.

In a statement, education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer credited the city’s outreach efforts, noting that applications for 3-K have increased by more than 20% compared to last year. The city, he said, has shifted 3,500 3-K and pre-K seats from “unfilled areas to areas of demand, which also includes shifting the types of seats offered to meet actual need.”

Styer added, “there is a misalignment of seats that we are tackling head on.”

Boosting worker pay at community-based organizations

For several advocacy organizations, boosting pay for teachers and other support staff is the most important issue to tackle. Better pay would mean retaining quality staff instead of losing them to programs or jobs that pay better, they argue.

Pay disparities are in part the result of the patchwork of programs that make up the city’s preschool system. Some programs are run by the education department, such as inside schools, while community-based organizations run others. Department staffers are unionized and are generally paid more than their counterparts working in community-based organizations, who tend to be women of color.

Four years ago, the city agreed to boost salaries for teachers at community organizations with a certified masters degree, to $69,000 a year by October 2021, matching the salary of a first-year teacher at the education department. The agreement didn’t include raises after that date, and it also meant a veteran teacher at a community-based organization made the same as a new education department teacher, said Gregory Brender, chief policy and innovation officer with Day Care Council.

Tara Gardner, executive director of the Day Care Council, shared an example of one disparity that still exists: An assistant teacher at a community-based organization earns 53% of their counterpart in public schools. Advocates like Gardner want pay for teachers at community-based organizations to match their years of service, as well as comparable pay for other support staff, such as paraprofessionals and custodians.

“They do the same work as staff at the DOE; the only difference is the building,” said Ayana Reefe, Head Start director for Grand Street Settlement, the community organization where Speaker Adams visited on Tuesday.

Council members will also push for $15 million to provide a longer school day and year for 1,000 3-year-olds. That funding — which would convert existing seats instead of adding more — would also include signing bonuses “to help attract and retain the necessary staff,” officials said.

Currently, many 3-K seats are only available between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., which advocates argue don’t work for parents who work outside of those hours. In a recent survey conducted by the Citizens’ Committee for Children, one-third of more than 1,000 respondents said they were looking for child care from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Styer noted that there are 11,000 unfilled seats with longer hours that go beyond the school year.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said a survey from the Citizens Committee for Children included 160 respondents due to incorrect information. In fact, there were more than 1,000 respondents.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools grasp for support as some migrant students miss out on mandated English instruction

2023-05-09T10:00:00+00:00

Miriam Sicherman looks at her Google Translate app or her pocket translator an average of 25 times a day while teaching fourth graders at the Children’s Workshop School in Manhattan’s East Village.

For a recent lesson on internet safety, she translated her presentation into Spanish and Russian ahead of time for her five newcomer immigrant students who speak those languages, but then used her phone to look up words like “password” or “email address” to respond to their questions. In an eight-hour school day, she repeats this process over and over again.

On top of the translation apps, Sicherman takes Duolingo Spanish lessons in her own time and accepts occasional help from a bilingual student and a Russian-speaking teacher at another school in her building.

Still, it sometimes feels impossible to explain in-depth concepts in a language other than her own.

An estimated 14,000 asylum-seeking immigrant students have enrolled in New York City public schools, city officials said last month. Teachers are finding that many of these children are learning English at the most basic level, and some hadn’t attended school regularly before arriving in the United States. The students are legally entitled to extra support, but some schools are struggling to provide it.

Failing to meet the needs of English language learners is not a new problem. Since 2016, the state has placed New York City on a corrective action plan because the district has failed to adequately support English learners, including not providing required services for those with disabilities. The plan, which has been extended multiple times over the past seven years, requires the city to gradually provide more of these services.

For Sicherman, it’s crucial that her English language learners get the support to which they are entitled. But there is just one part-time English-as-a-new-language, or ENL, teacher who provides this support to dozens of students at her school. That means Sicherman’s newcomers are getting a fraction of the extra help they should receive, she said.

“I can make them feel comfortable and safe — that I’m doing my best with, and I think I am achieving that — but they really are entitled to much more than that,” Sicherman said.

Sicherman’s concern is one that potentially many educators share, as thousands of new immigrant families have sought refuge in New York City this year, from Central and South American countries, as well as from Ukraine and Russia.

In anticipation of students’ arrival, the city launched “Project Open Arms” in the fall to send a total $12 million to schools that enrolled six or more newcomer students living in temporary housing. Officials also said schools that have enrolled more students than expected have received another $98 million this year.

Still, some teachers say their schools don’t have enough funding to hire more staff who are equipped to work with newcomer English learners. Some schools have the money, but have struggled to find teachers due to a long-standing shortage of bilingual teachers. That leaves teachers like Sicherman feeling overwhelmed and at times unequipped to properly help these students.

As the city expects another wave of newcomer immigrant families, teachers and advocates are worried it will become even more challenging to support English learners without more help from the city.

The New York Immigration Coalition has heard complaints throughout this school year that students aren’t receiving their required services, said Andrea Ortiz, senior manager of education policy.

“We shouldn’t be allowing students to be just housed in places where they’re not gonna be given the types of supports that they’re legally entitled to,” Ortiz said.

In a statement, education department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said officials are working closely with schools to “assess any gaps in resources and to provide solutions as expeditiously as possible.”

‘It’s kind of demoralizing’

Sicherman’s school has been waiting months for more help.

Over each of the past five years, her school enrolled between six and 13 English learners, according to demographic records. This year, roughly 60 English learners enrolled, Sicherman said.

School leaders volunteered in January to accept more asylum seekers, the spokesperson said. A crush of newcomer immigrant students began coming in February, but even after the principal requested more staffing help from the education department, the school still had just one part-time ENL teacher, Sicherman said.

Budget records show that the school received about $64,600 in funding from Project Open Arms, which can be used to pay teachers overtime, cover teacher prep periods, and pay substitutes, among other uses related to communication with parents. It’s not clear when the school received those funds. The principal did not respond to a request for comment to discuss the school’s challenges this year or explain how that money was used.

As beginner-level English learners, Sicherman’s five newcomer students should each be receiving 360 minutes a week of extra help building English skills, per state regulations for grades K-8. But they are only getting 135 minutes, since the part-time ENL teacher can only work with them for 45 minutes during each of her three days at the school.

Officials did not answer why the school hasn’t received more staffing help. Superintendent Carry Chan, who oversees Manhattan’s District 1, where the Children’s Workshop School is located, has appealed for the school to receive another full-time ENL teacher, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the school also has a classroom teacher licensed to work with English language learners, and suggested they could tweak programming and use that person so that students are getting more services.

Sicherman said she’s constantly trying to balance those students’ needs with those of the 16 native English speakers in her class. She translates many lessons and uses other tools, including donated Spanish flash cards. But it’s difficult to explain topics in-depth, such as the Irish potato famine, or have a conversation about it. She relies “completely” on Google Translate for her Russian student, with whom the language barrier is so thick that Sicherman worries the child won’t be able to tell her if she’s feeling unwell.

Even lighthearted moments are hard. Sicherman recently pulled up Google Translate to tell a few of her Spanish-speaking students that they were “being silly.” Her bilingual student stopped her: Using the app’s suggested word “tonto” would be like calling the children idiots, he said.

“It’s kind of demoralizing,” Sicherman said. “I wish I could be teaching these kids, and I’m really not teaching them.”

There don’t appear to be immediate consequences for schools or districts who are not providing legally required services to English learners. J.P. O’Hare, a spokesperson for the state education department, said the corrective action plan requires the district to submit multiple reports a year about how they’re improving support for these students. In response, state officials share “direction and guidance” on where city schools need to improve and meet regularly with district staff.

Some experienced ENL teachers are struggling this year

Even experienced ENL teachers say they’re overwhelmed by the arrival of thousands of new immigrant students.

Brooklyn ENL teacher Melanie is usually paired with middle schoolers. But this year, as more English learners enrolled at her Bay Ridge school and one of her ENL colleagues went on leave, she was also asked to work with children in grades 2-5.

Melanie, who asked only to use her first name because she was not authorized to speak with the press, found she was “really struggling” to help younger students, since she’s used to helping older children who know how to read and write at more advanced levels.

The school couldn’t find a replacement for the ENL teacher on leave, who returned a few weeks ago.

For most of this year, Melanie served roughly twice as many children in the “beginner” level as she usually does, many of whom haven’t attended school in a while and are learning various skills, such as how to use an iPad. She was providing the legally required amount of support to these children, but she doesn’t think they received enough individual help, she said.

“I know going into it, I am not meeting their needs,” she said.

One Brooklyn high school enrolled about 30 new immigrant students between February and April, causing classes for beginner-level English learners to fill up to the legal limit of 34, said Nathan, an ENL teacher at the school who asked only to use his first name.

The school, which is used to serving many English learners, is staying afloat for now. They’ve created new classes with existing staff, and they’re using some funding to pay one person overtime in order to be a “migrant students coordinator,” who is charged with creating resources for newcomer families.

But if they get another similar wave of students, he’s unsure if the school has enough funding to add another class for beginner-level English learners or even meet legal mandates.

“That would require a lot of creative budgeting,” Nathan said.

Asylum seekers are a ‘blessing’ for one Brooklyn school

Some schools, such as those with dual language programs, seem better set up to welcome newcomer immigrants.

Asylum-seeking families have “been a blessing” for one Spanish dual language program in Brooklyn, where the number of English language learners has doubled this year, said F.C., a teacher at the school who requested only her initials be used because she was not authorized to speak to the press. Typically, the school doesn’t attract many native Spanish speakers. This year, the surge in enrollment has given both English and Spanish speakers a chance to learn from one another.

As a former newcomer immigrant herself, F.C. has used her experience to connect with students. She comforted a student who would occasionally cry because he was struggling in class and missed home. She told him once, “I used to cry, too, because I didn’t understand what everyone was saying, and that motivated me to learn.’” He gave her a hug.

Most schools don’t have dual language programs. There are 245 such programs across all grades for general education students, covering 13 different languages.

While those programs are “set up well” for English learners, they don’t exist everywhere, said Councilmember Rita Joseph, chair of the council’s education committee, who used to be an ENL teacher. Looking ahead, she thinks the education department will have to “pivot” as more asylum-seeking families make New York City their new home.

“We’re gonna have so much that we can no longer have part-time [ENL] teachers,” she said. “That’s the only way you can stay in compliance.”

Sicherman’s school recently launched an after-school program for English learners, which doesn’t count toward their legally required support but is helpful, she said. Her principal also bought each teacher a pocket translator, which Sicherman has found more useful than Google Translate. Sometimes students use it to talk with each other while she uses her phone app.

Five days after Chalkbeat reached out to the education department about the issues at Sicherman’s school, she discovered that their part-time ENL teacher would soon be working with them full time.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

New York state budget boosts school funding and allows more charter schools

2023-05-03T19:44:20+00:00

New York’s state lawmakers approved a budget this week that will usher in record funding for schools and a controversial plan allowing 14 charter schools to open in New York City.

The budget, finalized more than a month past the April 1 deadline, will increase aid for schools by $3 billion compared to last year. That brings the total state support for schools to $34 billion, with more than a third of that going to the nation’s largest district, New York City public schools. (Even so, because of city and federal funding cuts, Mayor Eric Adams is proposing to slash the education department’s budget by nearly $1 billion.)

The late budget caused frustration among local lawmakers and education organizations. Even though there was no dispute over school funding this year, local leaders were still waiting to know final details, such as how much they could expect to receive, said Bob Lowry, deputy director for advocacy and communication at the state’s Council of School Superintendents.

“It’s been aggravating that it’s dragged on without any apparent urgency,” Lowry said.

Unlike past years, funding was not a hot-button issue since lawmakers had previously agreed to significantly boost dollars for schools. However, in a surprising twist, charter schools emerged as a sticking point in final budget negotiations.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to open more than 100 charter schools across the five boroughs was one of the final issues that lawmakers picked apart. They reached a deal last week to open just a chunk of the schools Hochul had proposed.

The day after the deal was struck, Hochul announced that she and Democratic leaders had conceptually agreed to a final budget.

Here’s a look at two big education highlights from the state budget:

‘Zombie charters’ allowed to open in the city

In 2019, New York City reached a state-imposed cap of how many charter schools could open across the five boroughs. That cap included 14 “zombie” charter schools, which have either closed or never opened.

As part of the budget, 14 of those zombies will be allowed to open in New York City, while another eight will be allowed to open elsewhere. The city schools can only open in districts where the total charter school enrollment is 55% or less than that of education department-run school enrollment, according to budget records.

Hochul’s original proposal was pared down in the face of significant pushback from teachers unions, lawmakers, and advocates, who argued that the state needed to prioritize more resources for traditional public schools, which have struggled with declining enrollment.

Many charter advocates applauded the compromise, allowing the sector to expand its footprint in the city. Some operators, who were pre-approved to open schools in 2019 after the city had reached the cap, are expected to receive priority if they reapply now for a zombie charter, according to the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, one of two entities that can authorize charter schools to open. (The other is the New York State Board of Regents.)

Opponents to the proposal, including some local New York City officials, shared frustration.

“It took a month to convince the governor not to lift the cap on charter schools, which would pull vital funds from the traditional public school system, and even a month later, the governor insisted on reviving zombie charters,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said in a statement.

The city typically must cover rental costs for charters, but as part of the deal, Hochul agreed to use state funding to cover that cost.

School funding rises to record-high levels

The state’s $34 billion school funding plan includes a final, planned increase to Foundation Aid, the state’s main school funding formula that sends more money to higher need districts.

For years, boosting Foundation Aid was a contentious matter in Albany. While funding for schools increased under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he declined to fund Foundation Aid at the level the formula calculated for each district’s needs. After years of advocacy from policymakers, advocates, and lawmakers, Cuomo agreed in his final months in office to fully fund the formula over a three-year period.

Hochul agreed to stick to that plan, which was originally expected to boost Foundation Aid by $4 billion over that three-year period. That figure has grown by $800 million because of inflation.

New York City — which sends much of its Foundation Aid dollars directly to schools — will receive an increase of 5.5% in those funds compared to this current school year.

In total, New York City will receive $12.9 billion in funding for schools from the state — equivalent to 42% of what the mayor has proposed for the education department’s operating budget next year.

The mayor’s budget office projected receiving close to that from the state — about $12.7 billion — next year for city schools. But with drops in city and federal funding, Adams has proposed a nearly $1 billion smaller education department budget for next year.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

14 ‘zombie’ charters would open in NYC under Albany budget deal

2023-04-27T18:59:58+00:00

After a four-year halt on new charter schools in New York City, state lawmakers have reached a deal to open 14 “zombie” charters.

The deal, struck Wednesday night between Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic leaders, would allow charter school operators to open 14 zombies — schools that closed or were never opened. Additionally, the state would cover rent for these schools, relieving New York City of the cost, said state Sen. John Liu, who is the chair of the state senate’s New York City education committee.

Since the city is required to pay rent for charter schools, this deal would leave little incentive for the city to co-locate these zombie charters with traditional public schools. Such co-locations often drum up opposition from the public and the schools involved.

The deal is not yet law; it is expected to be part of the state’s final budget approval, which is now 27 days late. The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The state education department and the SUNY Charter Schools Institute have the authority to award charters to prospective operators in New York. Spokespeople for both said they needed to review the final proposal.

SUNY approved charters for six schools in 2019 that couldn’t open because the city had reached a state-imposed cap on charter schools in the five boroughs, said spokesperson Michael Lesczinski. If the deal goes through, SUNY would open a new request for proposals for newly available charters. While those six already-approved schools would have to submit updated materials including “budgets and evidence of ongoing community outreach, support and demand,” they would be first in line for consideration, Lesczinski said.

“I’m glad that the governor and the legislature were able to find some common ground on this,” said Arthur Samuels, who co-founded MESA Charter High School in Bushwick. The organization won pre-approval in 2019 to open a second high school in Brooklyn, but were blocked by the charter cap.

While overall enrollment in the charter sector has increased, many individual schools, including some of the biggest networks, are logging fewer students — meaning that opening more charter schools could lead to smaller budgets or even closures among traditional district schools and existing charters alike.

But Samuels said he will move to open a second school if possible and is waiting for guidance about how the approval process will work.

“There is a demand for the type of education we’re offering, which is responsive and community-centric,” he said. “We see that as something that people want even as the number of school-age children in the city declines.”

Hochul’s push for more charter schools in New York City emerged as one of the last items holding up the overdue state budget — and her keen interest puzzled many following the issue, given the significant opposition she has faced from the start. Her pitch, which was part of her budget proposal in January, came four years after the city hit the charter cap. At the time, a handful of charter operators were approved to open schools if the cap was ever increased, including the six by SUNY.

At first Hochul’s original proposal, which could have allowed more than 100 charter schools to open in New York City, seemed dead on arrival. It drew immediate backlash from Democratic lawmakers, unions, and advocates, who argued that city resources should be spent on traditional public schools, which are seeing enrollment declines and are still facing pandemic-related challenges.

Hochul has argued that she wants more school choice for parents, particularly those who are on waitlists for charters. She has also received campaign contributions from supporters of charter schools, and indirect support from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York Times reported last month.

Hochul has also received donations from teachers and principals unions, which have strongly opposed the expansion of charter schools. In a statement, Michael Mulgrew, president of the city teachers union, accused Hochul of listening “to the demands of a handful of billionaires,” despite the charter sector’s enrollment challenges.

Last month, the state Senate and Assembly formally rejected the proposal in their response to Hochul’s budget plan, and even three weeks ago, the topic wasn’t a part of budget negotiations, according to multiple state lawmakers, who said the focus was on other hot issues, such as bail reform.

But this week, Hochul presented Democrats with a compromise: allow just the 22 existing zombie charters to open. Liu opposed that plan, too, largely because several of those charters were issued outside of New York City but would have been allowed to open within the five boroughs.

But on Thursday, Liu said he agreed to this latest deal because the 14 zombie charters in question all exist in New York City, and it would not involve lifting the charter cap.

“The firm agreement is no increase or no elimination of the New York City cap, which is clearly the right policy going forward because you have to strike the balance between the desire for some charter choice and the need for the city to keep public schools open,” Liu said.

In a statement, City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield said, “As all New Yorkers, we are still awaiting final budget details, but we always appreciate and welcome Albany’s support to meet the needs of New York City’s children and families.”

Charter school advocates applauded the deal, which is significantly pared down from what Hochul originally proposed.

“[Hochul] understands that having both a strong and growing charter sector makes all of our public schools stronger and better able to meet the complex needs of our students and families,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, in a statement. “For years, leaders, including many of color, have been on hold to open innovative new schools in NYC communities – this deal will finally allow 14 of them to open their doors.”

Crystal McQueen-Taylor, president of StudentsFirstNY, said in a statement that “the Governor’s tenacity and persistence made all the difference.”

But not everyone was pleased. Eva Moskowitz, the founder and CEO of Success Academy, the city’s largest charter network, called the deal a “travesty,” in a statement. Albany has “bargained away … access to high-quality schools,” for low-income students of color since the deal would open just 14 schools, she said.

Alex Zimmerman contributed.

NYC’s education budget could drop by $960M next year under mayor’s proposal

2023-04-27T00:19:25+00:00

The city’s education department budget would drop by nearly $960 million next school year under a more detailed budget proposal released by Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday, though city officials did not offer specifics about the impact on individual campuses.

Two-thirds of that cut, or $652 million, is the result of Adams’ decision to reduce the city’s contribution to the education department. Another $297 million is from a drop in federal funding, which is drying up as pandemic relief programs end.

Part of the city’s cut is tied to a mandate from the mayor earlier this month calling on city agencies to cut spending, including at the education department. That raised questions about whether schools would take a hit, but on Wednesday, Adams vowed that this specific cost-saving measure “will not take a dime from classrooms.”

Instead, that reduction — totaling $325 million — will largely come from recalculations on how much the city spends in fringe benefits, such as health insurance for teachers. (Officials emphasized this would not result in a loss of benefits or other services.)

“We had to make tough choices in this budget,” Adams said Wednesday. “We had to negotiate competing needs. We realize that not everyone will be happy but that is okay because that is how you get stuff done.”

The education department’s operating budget would total about $30.5 billion next year under the mayor’s plan, down by about 3%.

Some of the cuts were previously announced, including the elimination of a planned expansion of prekindergarten for 3-year-olds. Other impacts of the cuts may come into focus in the coming days as experts and journalists pore over reams of budget documents, which were released late Wednesday afternoon.

Adams has argued school budgets should reflect falling enrollment, but city officials declined to say what overall change they expect to individual school budgets next year. That question is likely to draw intense scrutiny after the City Council was heavily criticized last year for approving a budget that resulted in cuts to many campuses.

After the pandemic hit, Mayor Bill de Blasio used federal relief money to keep school budgets steady even as enrollment plunged. But as the spigot of federal money is drying up, Adams has started reducing budgets to line up with the number of students enrolled at each school, resulting in cuts on the majority of campuses. (Since the start of the pandemic, enrollment dropped about 11% in K-12.)

Next year, Adams plans to use $160 million of federal money to avoid deeper cuts to school budgets. Officials anticipate a much smaller enrollment decline than in recent years, which could insulate schools to some degree.

The budget is not final and must still be negotiated with the City Council. A final deal is due by July 1.

The proposed budget also includes funding for various other items, including services that advocates had been pushing for the mayor to include. Those are:

$3.3 million for keeping a chunk of the city’s new shelter-based coordinators, who are supposed to help families and children who are homeless navigate school enrollment and transportation. The funding for these coordinators was set to run out this June.
$9 million for a telehealth program for high school students who need mental health support.
$2 million for training up to 1,000 teachers in climate education.

The mayor’s budget received a mixed reception from advocates, union officials, and budget experts. Kim Sweet, executive director at the nonprofit Advocates for Children, praised the funding for shelter coordinators, but raised alarms about broader spending cuts — including to a program that provides extra mental health services to students at 50 high-need high schools, and another that provides free child care for undocumented families.

“We are concerned that the Mayor is proposing to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from our City’s schools at a time when there are so many unmet needs,” Sweet said in a statement, including high rates of chronic absenteeism and shortages in services for students with disabilities.

Still, Adams has argued that the city needs to tighten its belt due to costs associated with serving an influx of asylum seekers and potential economic headwinds.

Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the budget watchdog group Citizens Budget Commission, said her organization is worried the city isn’t properly planning now for big budget shortfalls that are expected in future years. That includes hundreds of millions of dollars of federal relief funding for the education department that will disappear in 2024 and could leave several programs and services unfunded.

“From our point of view there is still a major challenge fiscally for the city that’s not far off,” Champeny said. “We really should be taking action now.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

As NYC is expected to spend $38K per student, budget watchdog calls for prioritizing ‘critical services’

2023-04-11T04:01:00+00:00

Buoyed in recent years by billions in federal stimulus dollars, New York City is slated to spend about $38,000 per student next school year — the most in recent history — as enrollment is again expected to drop, according to a new report published Tuesday.

The report, from Citizens Budget Commission, or CBC, a budget watchdog group, comes as the education department faces 3% in cuts for next year. Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council are in the middle of budget planning for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

Many of the CBC’s findings focus on the period from fiscal year 2016 through 2022, since the current fiscal year, 2023, isn’t over yet. Some of the report’s highlights include:

In that time period, the education department’s spending per pupil has increased by 47%, in large part due to the $7 billion in federal COVID aid the district received as enrollment has dipped. Three school years from now, in fiscal year 2026, CBC projects the city could be spending as much as $44,000 per student.
Spending grew the most in three areas: early childhood education, at 65%, covering private school tuition, such as for students with disabilities, by 79%, and for charter schools, by 84%. This was fueled by enrollment growth in these specific areas.
Spending related to schools, such as for instruction, grew by about 34%. Spending on school services, such as transportation, food, and safety, grew at a similar rate.
Spending on school support, such as special education instructional costs, grew by about 15%. And spending on central costs, including central administration, fringe benefits, pension contributions, and debt service, saw the slowest growth – by 8%.

CBC called for officials to prioritize programs and services for next year that are most effective and shed others. It also notes that the city faces financial pressures over the next several years, which the Adams administration has also emphasized as they’ve imposed stricter savings targets on city agencies. Those challenges include labor costs that will stem from new union contracts, including with the United Federation of Teachers, and a potential recession.

“We can’t do everything for everyone, so we need to start focusing on the most impactful interventions,” said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission.

New York City spends the most per pupil among the nation’s largest school districts. That cost grew as federal dollars were poured into the school system and enrollment dropped significantly after the onset of the pandemic. Dips in enrollment are likely due to several factors, including demographic changes and the cost of living in New York, which are leading many families to find homes elsewhere.

Roughly one-third of the department’s spending growth between 2016 and 2022 was due to federal pandemic aid, which is set to run out by 2024, CBC’s report found.

Advocates and educators have decried the potential cuts to the education department — amounting up to $421 million — as students continue to struggle with a host of challenges, including mental health, chronic absenteeism, and recovering academically after remote learning. Cuts to school budgets this school year resulted in some schools losing teachers, having larger class sizes, and cutting some programming, such as art and music classes.

Research has found that more money usually leads to better schools. New York, however, is in a puzzling situation: Despite being the leading state in spending per pupil, students score in the middle of the pack on national math and reading tests.

It’s possible to make cuts through central or support costs, such as through transportation contracts, and “avoid cuts to school budgets,” the CBC report notes.

While CBC doesn’t make specific recommendations, Champeny said such cuts could mean negotiating cheaper transportation-related contracts. The department could also look for ways to reduce private school placements for children with disabilities, commonly known as “Carter Cases,” a cost that ballooned under former Mayor Bill de Blasio and continues to grow.

More immediately, however, the group called on the department to be “transparent” about the future of a slate of programs that are currently relying on federal pandemic relief, which other organizations and advocates have also pressed for. These programs include expanded summer school, new prekindergarten seats for students with disabilities, and screening for dyslexia and other literacy programs – an area that Adams is increasingly making one of his signature projects.

Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said, “This Administration has been open and honest about the long-term combined challenges of declining enrollment, programs funded by one-time federal stimulus dollars, and rising costs tied to unfunded mandates from the State.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

New cuts may reduce NYC education budget by hundreds of millions of dollars

2023-04-04T23:13:00+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up for our free New York newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

In the wake of an intense budget battle last year over education funding cuts, another round of spending reductions may once again impact schools.

New York City’s education department could face roughly $421 million in additional budget cuts next school year, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office — part of a sweeping set of spending reductions City Hall ordered on Tuesday.

Officials are proposing a 3% cut to the city’s share of the education department’s budget, according to a letter from city budget director Jacques Jiha obtained by Chalkbeat and first reported by the New York Daily News. Most other agencies are facing a 4% cut, but Jiha wrote the Department of Education and City University of New York are exceptions to “minimize disruptions to schools and classrooms.”

Although the entire department is slated to spend more than $30 billion next year, the 3% reduction is calculated based on the city’s contribution of about $14 billion. A City Hall spokesperson said the final number may be lower, as certain elements of the department’s budget may be exempt from cuts, but he did not provide a specific figure.

Agency heads, including schools Chancellor David Banks, have just 10 days to come up with a plan for spending reductions, which would take effect next school year.

City Hall did not rule out the possibility that individual school budgets could be reduced, saying agencies have not yet made plans about how to achieve the cuts. An education department spokesperson did not comment on Tuesday.

More details are expected later this month when the mayor typically unveils an updated version of his proposed budget, though Jiha indicated the reductions “cannot include layoffs and should avoid meaningfully impacting services where possible.” Budget experts said the city could move to eliminate positions that are already vacant and the city is already planning to do so.

The city has previously required the education department to trim its budget, including a 3% cut in city spending officials were expected to make this school year. The 3% spending reduction announced Tuesday will apply on top of those existing cuts.

The new round of budget tightening drew criticism from some education advocates, union officials, and local lawmakers, some of whom vowed to press for changes as the City Council negotiates a final budget due by July.

“Additional [cuts] will paralyze agencies, harm New Yorkers, and make it even more difficult for the city to successfully recover,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Finance Chair Justin Brannan said in a joint statement.

The city’s teachers union also blasted the proposal. “New York State has provided record levels of funding for New York City’s public schools,” Alison Gendar, a spokesperson for the United Federation of Teachers, wrote in an email. “There is no need for any cuts to our school communities. None.”

Officials indicated the reductions are necessary for a variety of reasons, including about $4.3 billion in spending this year and next linked to an influx of asylum seekers. They also pointed to a $1 billion hole linked to “cuts and cost shifts” in the forthcoming state budget, and labor agreements now under negotiation, including with the teachers union, that will require billions in additional spending in the coming years.

“We face these new needs and threats at a time when the city’s tax revenue growth is slowing, and many economists fear that stress in the banking sector increases the odds of an economic recession,” Jiha wrote.

Mayor Eric Adams faced fierce criticism last year over cuts to school budgets — pegged to enrollment declines — but initially held off on proposing even deeper cuts next school year.

His budget proposal, unveiled in January, reversed his earlier plans to cut school budgets by $80 million due to enrollment declines and evaporating federal COVID relief funding. The education department also agreed to pump about $90 million into school budgets to help support students in temporary housing and schools that serve a disproportionate share of students with disabilities, English learners, and those living in poverty. Officials did not say whether those initiatives could be affected by the latest spending reductions.

At the same time, the administration scaled back other programs in its preliminary budget, diverting $568 million in federal relief funding away from a planned expansion of preschool for 3-year-olds.

Some education advocates said they were puzzled by the city’s rationale for the cuts, arguing that an influx of migrants means that schools will need more resources to serve a particularly vulnerable population.

“It’s difficult for me to believe that we have to keep making these exacerbated cuts when we have a population that’s in significant need,” said Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, who serves on the city’s Panel for Educational Policy.

Other groups said the spending cuts are fiscally prudent.

“This action is timely, if not overdue,” Andrew S. Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said in a statement. “Any delay increases the chance that the City barrels head first into the impending fiscal wall and has to make massive cuts in the future.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC education panel approves mayor’s proposed $30.7B schools budget after lengthy debate

2023-03-23T04:05:20+00:00

Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed $30.7 billion budget for the education department got the green light Wednesday night from New York City’s Panel for Educational Policy.

The vote by the city’s 23-member board — largely comprised by mayoral appointees — is not the final step for the agency’s budget. Next, the mayor will release an updated version of his budget proposal, and he will then negotiate with City Council over a final plan for the new fiscal year, which starts July 1.

That means that the education department’s budget could change by the time the full city budget is adopted.

The proposed budget for the nation’s largest school system, first shared in January, is close to $340 million, or roughly 1%, less than its operating spending plan this fiscal year. The mayor called for eliminating 390 non-educator vacant positions and diverting $568 million in federal funding originally planned for expanding preschool for 3-year-olds. But Adams tried to soften some of the blows by canceling previously planned cuts to school budgets totaling $80 million.

Nearly two dozen people — mostly educators and parents — spoke out against the proposed plan on Wednesday night, with several people urging the panel to push for reversing all of the cuts to school budgets.

But perhaps the most heated issue of the evening was over what wasn’t reflected in the budget: $90 million more for the Fair Student Funding formula, which is used to distribute money to schools.

In January, Chancellor David Banks and Adams proposed adding $90 million to the formula to cover new ways to calculate how much schools should get for homeless students on their rosters and for schools serving a disproportionate share of students with disabilities, English learners and those living in poverty.

The changes, which grew out of stunning criticism of the formula from the education panel last year, would impact 300 schools. The new formula is expected to come before the panel for a vote in May.

The idea of voting on those changes after the budget did not make sense to some panel members or city Comptroller Brad Lander.

“We haven’t approved the funding formula yet, so if we are talking about using a formula that we have not yet approved for calculating a budget then we are literally putting the funding cart ahead of the budget horse,” said Tom Sheppard, a parent-elected panel member from the Bronx. “I think we need to postpone this vote.”

The mayor’s panel appointees disagreed with those concerns. Several said they trusted that any changes to Fair Student Funding would be included in the final budget.

The panel’s budget vote came early because of a heated lawsuit last summer over how the budget was passed last year. In at least 11 out of the past 13 years, chancellors have bypassed the panel’s vote using an emergency declaration, according to the lawsuit. After the city cut school budgets last year, drawing intense criticism from the public, two parents and two teachers filed a lawsuit seeking to force a new vote over the budget by claiming that Banks improperly used an emergency declaration last year.

While the lawsuit wasn’t successful in forcing a new budget vote, multiple courts agreed that city officials violated state law. Because of that, the education department’s general counsel Liz Vladeck said the city decided to hold the vote early this year “to err on the side of caution.” Vladeck added that in her interpretation of the court’s decision, the panel needed to pass a budget before the mayor proposed his updated budget, known as the executive budget, in April. That schedule complicated the timing of the panel’s vote.

Lander said it was “irresponsible” to have the panel vote on the budget before a vote over Fair Student Funding, in part because city officials had not yet explained how they would pay for the additional $90 million. He suggested moving the budget vote back to May – leaving enough time for more public comment before the council has to pass a budget by July 1.

Emma Vadehra, the education department’s chief operating officer, noted that even though the budget may change by July 1, the city is bound to implement any changes to Fair Student Funding that the panel approves.

Sheppard put forth two separate motions to delay the vote over the budget until the panel’s April and May meetings, but the panel voted against them.

Multiple panel members said they didn’t have enough details on what the budget looks like for individual schools and districts. Sheree Gibson, a panel appointee for the Queens borough president, said she’s asked for several details about the budget with no clear answers, such as “how this budget impacts Queens … how it impacts our districts,” to no avail.

“In the hood, we call this balling,” said Geneal Chacon, the Bronx borough president’s appointee to the panel. “It seems like we have a bunch of money, and we just throwing it away, and we don’t even know what we spending it on.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

As 3-K expansion pauses, NYC hires consultant to study where to move seats

2023-03-06T22:30:28+00:00

As Mayor Eric Adams has backpedaled a plan to expand free preschool for New York City’s 3-year-olds, officials have hired a consulting firm to figure out how many seats should exist in each of the city’s neighborhoods next year.

The city will pay consulting firm Accenture just over $760,000 to “map out needs and seats” because of thousands of vacancies in the program, Jacques Jiha, the city’s budget director, said during Monday’s City Council hearing on the mayor’s preliminary budget.

While Jiha said the city has about 19,000 empty seats this year, education department officials have pinned the number in recent months closer to 16,000. (Spokespeople for City Hall and the education department did not immediately clarify which number is correct.)

The study, which Jiha said has been underway for about a month, comes after Adams decided earlier this year not to expand the program for 3-year-olds as planned under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio wanted to model the program on his universal preschool for 4-year-olds, estimating the city would need about 60,000 seats.

The city currently has about 55,000 seats, thousands of which sit empty. Adams administration officials argue that the system needs a close study to determine whether seats are currently in neighborhoods that need them.

“Once that study is completed, OK, we will have more insight in terms of how to allocate those seats and in which area to allocate them,” Jiha said during the hearing. Under de Blasio, city officials estimated that providing free preschool for 3-year-olds would save families about $10,000 in child care costs.

Officials did not immediately share the duration of the Accenture contract or when the study’s findings will be complete. Jiha said they’re pushing Accenture “hard” to issue its recommendations before the start of next school year — and in time for the city to incorporate changes in the upcoming budget, which must be adopted by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

Many city lawmakers and early childhood advocates have criticized the mayor’s decision not to add more seats to the program — a plan that relied heavily on COVID stimulus funds, which are set to run out next year. Some have argued that the city is not doing more aggressive outreach in many neighborhoods with vacancies — many of which are in low-income communities — thus failing to reach families who could benefit the most from free preschool programs. Advocates have also blamed the lack of enrollment on a cumbersome application process, Politico reported.

“My district is one of the areas and we had a huge vacancy issue, and there was no real outreach done,” Councilwoman Althea Stevens, who represents part of the Bronx, said during Monday’s hearing.

Revamping the city’s 3-K system is just one thorny early childhood education issue facing the Adams administration. The city had failed to pay preschool providers on time, leading some to shutter, while a separate plan to move hundreds of early childhood workers into new positions has been paused after it initially caused confusion and chaos across the division.

At the same time, the city announced an ambitious effort to provide preschool seats for every student with a disability, an issue that former Mayor Bill de Blasio was unable to solve.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC council bills would make it easier to open public school pools year-round

2023-03-06T21:46:42+00:00

This story was originally published on March 6 by THE CITY.

The City Council is diving in to address the city’s lifeguard shortage with a bill that would provide funding to keep public school pools open year-round and fund more swim programs in its next budget, according to Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office.

The proposal — which also includes working with the Parks Department to find locations to build new pools and offer swimming lessons — is designed to create a stronger pipeline to staff up at the more than 100 indoor and outdoor pools and 14 miles of beaches in New York City, and help young people learn how to swim.

A lifeguard shortage last summer forced some rolling closures of pools and beaches and put lap swimming and popular learn to swim programs on hold.

The bill, along with a commitment to allocate more money for swimming programs, will officially be announced at Adams’ State of the City address planned for March 8 in the Bronx.

“Year-round access to public pools is critical to New Yorkers’ health and safety,” she told THE CITY in a statement.

“When one out of three Black and Asian students, and one out of four Hispanic students can’t swim, we’ve got to consider free swimming programming and the maintenance of public pools as a matter of justice.” The data is a Health Department survey in 2017.

It’s unclear how much money the Council wants to allocate specifically for the city’s pool programs, or how much all of these proposals could cost. It’s also unclear how much money would be needed to open new pools across the city, with a focus on building in environmental justice communities, according to the speaker’s office.

The plan to take on major capital projects comes as Mayor Eric Adams and other city and state financial watchdogs warn of worsening economic conditions in New York City.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli warned last month that there are “significant risks” ahead for the city’s finances. And the mayor released his $102.7 billion preliminary budget in January, with a focus on “fiscal discipline” – with cuts to city agencies and more belt tightening. The council and mayor have to agree to a final budget by June 30.

Most of the city’s large outdoor Parks Department-run pools were built as Works Progress Administration projects in the 1930s.

Meanwhile, 16 Council districts don’t have any Parks Department pools, according to the City Council’s analysis – although some of those districts have miles of beaches.

In 2018, the Parks Department launched its “Cool Pools” program, which renovated 16 outdoor pools that hadn’t been fixed up since the 1970s. But many agency-run pools are currently in some stages of renovation.

On Thursday, the department announced that the Olympic-sized outdoor Astoria Pool would be closed this summer for repair. And on Monday, the Flushing Aquatic Center pool reopened after three years – but will close again in 2025 for more repairs.

Among Parks pools that continue to be closed for repairs are those at the Hansborough Recreation Center in Harlem, St. Mary’s Recreation Center in The Bronx and Brownsville in Brooklyn, which are indoor pools.

The Edenwald pool in The Bronx, Lasker, Tony Dapolito and Tompkins Square in Manhattan — all outdoor pools — are also closed.

A spokesperson for the Parks Department said the agency looks “forward to reviewing the legislation when presented.”

“Parks is proud that in spite of the national lifeguard shortage, we were able to open all of our pools and beaches last summer to be available for the New Yorkers who rely on them,” the spokesperson, Meghan Lalor, told THE CITY. “We are actively and aggressively recruiting to build our staff levels back to where they were pre-pandemic, and open to exploring all avenues to do so.”

A Department of Education spokesperson did not comment about proposals to keep school pools open for longer, but noted that there are 33 operating pools inside New York City public school buildings, with another 15 pools currently under renovation.

These pools can already be used outside of school hours — including during the summer — if another program has an extended-use permit, according to a Department of Education official. The cost of these permits vary, and cover paying for supervision and operation at both the pool and building.

More qualify for lifeguard training

After a shortage of guards threw cold water on last summer’s season, the Parks Department made changes to process of becoming a lifeguard this year ahead of the summer season.

They tweaked the qualifying exam for “lifeguards school,” letting applicants pass by swimming the 50 yard test in 45 seconds or less — which is 10 more seconds than before. The agency also began offering the qualifying tests earlier, and skills training for people who got close to the qualifying score.

So far, 319 swimmers have passed the qualifying exam this year, which is up from 240 total last year. Two more qualifying swim rounds will take place this weekend, a Parks Department spokesperson said, and then swimmers will take a 16-week nighttime training class.

To be eligible, a prospective lifeguard must pass a few more tests, including successfully swimming 440 yards in at least six minutes and 40 seconds to be assigned to a beach, or at least seven minutes and 40 seconds to get assigned to a pool.

The Parks Department said it worked to make the whole process more transparent for applicants and swimmers. For the first time, those who took their tests were told the time on their swim. The department has also been more open about listing year-round lifeguard positions.

Longtime lifeguards who have criticized the process of joining the ranks say it’s a shift towards taking some control of who becomes a lifeguard from the administrators of one of the lifeguard unions, NYC Lifeguard Supervisors Local 508 of District Council 37.

A spokesperson for DC37 declined to comment.

To boost enrollment, CUNY waives application fee for NYC high school seniors

2023-03-03T17:37:54+00:00

In an effort to encourage more students to apply to college, CUNY has waived the application fee for all New York City public high school seniors until April 15.

Students typically apply to college in the fall of their senior years. CUNY distributes a number of fee waiver codes to New York City public high schools, which school officials give to students, said Giulia Prestia, a spokesperson for CUNY. Just over 46,000 students used those codes between last spring and fall.

But the blanket waiver announced this week would benefit students who still haven’t decided whether to apply to college.

“We are trying to motivate seniors who may still be undecided about applying to college to take this important step toward their future at no cost,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez in a statement. “We are also removing a financial roadblock that has deterred many students from applying.”

The move could also boost enrollment at CUNY’s 23 undergraduate schools and programs as college enrollment remains below pre-pandemic levels. Enrollment at CUNY dropped by roughly 10% in the fall of 2022 compared with 2021, helping to fuel a hiring freeze. Nationally, college enrollment has dipped during the public health crisis, but has started to stabilize, with just a 0.6% drop in fall undergraduate enrollment in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, which collects enrollment data.

Across New York, undergraduate college enrollment — which was already dropping pre-pandemic — was down by 2% compared with 2021, according to the Clearinghouse.

The fee waiver comes as the cost of attending these schools could go up. Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed tuition hikes at both CUNY and SUNY campuses, a move that is supported by both systems’ chancellors. At CUNY, in-state undergraduate students pay $3,465 per semester at four year colleges. At community colleges, New York City residents pay $2,400 per semester. At SUNY, in-state residents were expected this school year to pay $7,070 for tuition at four-year colleges and $5,130 at community colleges.

Students can apply for state tuition assistance for up to $5,665 a year.

Some believe fee waivers can make a difference by removing one barrier to the college application process. Juanmy Moscoso, who graduated from a Brooklyn high school in 2021, said he used a school-issued CUNY application fee waiver. It saved him money, but it also saved him time in figuring out how he would pay the fee.

“I think it would have discouraged me a little, just because having to pay to get an education is something that is discouraging,” said Moscoso, who is now a sophomore at Brooklyn College.

However, the initiative is coming too late in the school year, said Carrie McCormack, a college and career counselor at East Bronx Academy for the Future. Nearly all of her school’s 76 seniors have already applied to college, using up the roughly 50 fee waiver codes the school received.

A blanket fee waiver may have been more beneficial in the fall when most students apply to school, McCormack said. Students who decide to apply this late in the process probably won’t get a spot at CUNY’s more high-profile schools, such as Hunter or City College, she said.

A more effective program might be to waive fees for students who previously applied to CUNY, but decided not to enroll, she said. For example, only 16 of her students who applied to college last year actually enrolled, McCormack said.

In general, McCormack has found a waning interest in college among her students since the pandemic. For example, she knows a handful of students who she would have expected to pursue college, but are more interested in various trade schools, she said.

“Our higher level, so to speak, students — the ones you think, ‘Oh, you’re definitely going to college,’ are not so excited about it,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NY’s budget has $100M for academic and mental health programs. Schools still don’t have the money.

2023-02-24T23:07:54+00:00

With growing concerns over youth mental health and academic recovery, New York’s state lawmakers included $100 million in the state budget last year for schools to spend on mental health resources or after-school programs.

But, with the majority of the school year now over, school districts haven’t been able to apply for the money.

“It is very disappointing that the money that was allocated for desperately needed services by children and adolescents is not getting to them,” said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children. “There is a lot of trauma, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations that we continue to hear about from family after family.”

The idea was to let school districts apply for a chunk of the money, which would match whatever other dollars they planned to spend on such programs. Half of the money was to be used during this school year and the other half for the 2023-24 school year. Lawmakers envisioned the funds going toward hiring mental health professionals, expanding school-based mental health services, and creating summer, after-school and extended day and year programs.

State education officials, who are charged with planning the grant program, have blamed the delay on a lengthy process that involves getting approvals from the state’s budget division — which has not yet given its final sign off.

Justin Mason, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, said the process has been complex because it involves both mental health and education components. They now expect the money to be available for next school year, but declined to answer whether schools will get to use the money for any additional school years.

Asked whether Hochul finds the delay acceptable, Mason said it’s the result of a longstanding process that exists to “ensure state funding is allocated in a fair and transparent manner.”

Hochul proposes grant funds to bolster pandemic recovery

As calls grew nationally to address a youth mental health crisis fueled by widespread loss and grief from the pandemic, Hochul proposed last January to add $100 million to the state budget for this fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2022 to this upcoming March 31, and touted the money in a press release when it made it into the final budget.

At the time of Hochul’s proposal, students had returned to campuses full time for the first time since the pandemic. Many educators had reported students struggling with behavioral, social, and mental health issues. Social workers and counselors reported being inundated with student referrals.

In New York City, one in every 200 children has lost a caregiver to COVID. More than 40% of students nationally reported feeling persistent sadness in 2021, compared to about 25% ten years before that, according to a recently released survey.

Bob Lowry, deputy director for advocacy and communication at the state’s Council of School Superintendents, said his organization has seen a need for more dedicated mental health resources in New York’s schools since at least 2017, based on an annual survey of superintendents across New York.

They were thrilled when Hochul highlighted it as a priority. He said that they are “surprised” and “disappointed” that this $100 million has still failed to reach schools.

It’s possible many districts are still busy spending billions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief aid, potentially making this grant less of a need at the moment, advocates said.

Still, districts likely would have jumped at the money had it been available, Lowry said. Those matching funds could have helped districts launch or expand initiatives that they’d already been working on, such as New York City’s pilot effort to pour more mental health resources into 50 high-need schools in order to minimize the use of police intervention, Yuster said.

Getting grant money to school districts can take almost a year

Education officials said it usually takes nine to 10 months to issue a request for proposals, or RFP, which lays out the parameters of the funds and is what districts must respond to when applying for grant money.

For grant programs, education officials are typically tasked with creating the RFP, which other agencies, such as the state’s budget division, must then approve. That can lead to monthslong delays from when the money is available to when schools can use it, advocates said.

“I think mental health was something that was underinvested in prior to the pandemic [and] the pandemic exposed this is actually a high-need area,” said Jasmine Gripper, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education, an advocacy group that has pushed for more school funding. “We needed to double down, and the delay in that process just kinda signals how we don’t take our children’s mental health needs as a priority.”

A timeline provided by the education department shows how the process played out with this $100 million pot of funds: Education officials first sent a summary of a possible RFP last June to the budget office. They spent July reworking their proposal in response to feedback from the budget and governor’s offices, but by August budget officials asked the education department to create an RFP based on what they had originally proposed.

In November, two months after the school year had started in New York City, education officials sent over a completed draft of the RFP. They received more feedback right before winter break, which required “substantial” changes, according to education officials, who sent another revised version back to budget officials earlier this month.

As of Friday, the education department was awaiting final approval to release the RFP to school districts.

“The field is looking at us and saying, ‘We desperately need this,’” State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said during a legislative budget hearing earlier this month, where she was asked about the delay in distributing the funding.

“We have to streamline it,” Rosa said of the RFP approval process. “We have to get to a point that… we do it and make sure that if they have 27-30 questions, let’s sit at the table, let’s get the questions done, let’s get this money into the hands of our school districts and our schools and our agencies, where it’s needed,” Rosa said.

Hochul is still interested in these issues: Her budget proposal this year calls for making mental health services more accessible for students and directing a chunk of Foundation Aid, the state’s main formula for school funding, toward high-dosage tutoring.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s largest charter networks enrolled fewer students this year, complicating push to open new schools

2023-02-23T00:23:47+00:00

When Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a proposal to abolish the cap on the number of charter schools that can open in New York City, she said the policy is a matter of common sense, noting that children of color have experienced waitlists to enroll.

“I don’t think we should be telling them they don’t have a choice,” Hochul said in an interview on NY1 earlier this month.

The city’s charter sector has long been defined by its explosive growth and lengthy waitlists while enrollment has sagged among the city’s district schools. But preliminary state enrollment data suggests that demand for charter schools may be cooling — including among the city’s largest networks — complicating arguments for lifting the charter cap.

The city’s charter sector grew slightly this school year, by 0.42%, compared with a 2% decline among traditional public schools. But that masks important variations among charters: About 45% of them enrolled fewer students this year, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of state data. (The official statistics sometimes group multiple campuses under the same charter school.) About 60% of traditional public schools enrolled fewer students.

Meanwhile, the city’s most established networks enrolled fewer students this year than they did last year, including Success Academy (down 7.7%), Uncommon Schools (6.5%), KIPP (5%), and Achievement First (3.9%).

The governor’s proposal would abolish the local cap on the number of charter schools and release so-called “zombie” charters — essentially making New York City operators eligible for just over 100 new charter schools, which are privately managed and publicly funded.

But experts said there are trade offs of opening new schools in an environment where school leaders are struggling to fill all their seats. Since public dollars follow students, more schools vying for the same or shrinking pool of children would lead to smaller budgets or could even prompt closures, possibly affecting existing charters and district schools alike.

“The charter sector has grown substantially over time,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “But opening new schools at a time when you’re seeing these signs of contraction strikes me as something that requires a fair amount of thought.”

Pallas pointed to evidence that competition from nearby charter schools boosts student learning among district schools, an argument in favor of lifting the cap. But he also worries that the new charters, which educate over 14% of the city’s public school students, may not be viable long term or could threaten other schools by drawing funding away from them. “I don’t think it’s good for kids for there to be that kind of instability,” he said.

Still, charter leaders and advocates argue that there is still plenty of demand for new schools in certain neighborhoods and families should have as many choices as possible. Multiple charter network leaders unequivocally said they support raising the cap, though smaller operators have quietly expressed that any growth should carefully take neighborhood-level demand into account.

“Several of our schools in Brooklyn and our middle schools, in particular, continue to receive strong and positive demand from parents, indicating a significant need for high-quality schools in these areas and grade levels,” Achievement First spokesperson Jacqui Alessi wrote in an email. “We are not competing with other charter operators; rather, we work closely with them, and we believe that more excellent schools will benefit students and families across the city.”

Despite falling birth rates and substantial declines in the number of Black children living in New York City (nearly half of the city’s charter students are Black), some charter leaders said they anticipate that enrollment will stabilize.

Other charter advocates emphasized that raising the cap would simply allow more charter schools to open and would not necessarily lead to a rush of operators opening new schools without demand for them.

“At the end of the day, nobody wants to open a school where they won’t succeed,” James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, said in a statement. “Authorizers will be working hard to only approve schools that have a viable path forward, and prospective school leaders will be looking carefully at the enrollment data and other key indicators before they decide to open a school.”

Asked if they plan to open new charter schools if the cap is lifted, different operators offered varying responses. A KIPP spokesperson said the network is “focused on continuing to expand our existing charters” — a significant source of the sector’s current growth as existing schools build out more grade levels over time.

A Success Academy spokesperson, Ann Powell, said the network intends to keep opening new schools due to “enormous demand and long waiting lists in many neighborhoods.” Success, the city’s largest network, has also tweaked its admissions policies in ways that could attract more families, including admitting new fifth and sixth graders at five of its middle schools. Officials previously declined to admit new students beyond the fourth grade.

Still, it remains to be seen how serious Hochul is about eliminating New York City’s charter cap. Some Democratic state legislators and union officials have pushed hard against the proposal, and some education groups have staged rallies opposing new charter schools, including this week. The governor received campaign contributions from unions, which are critical of the largely non-unionized charter schools, in addition to pro-charter groups.

“We will see during budget negotiations how much energy she puts behind it,” said Jasmine Gripper, a charter school critic and executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, an advocacy group. “It feels really confusing about why the governor wants to allow such a massive expansion of charter schools where we don’t see this need.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s DC 37 union reaches tentative contract with bonus and annual raises

2023-02-17T22:12:35+00:00

District Council 37, the union representing roughly 90,000 municipal workers, reached a tentative five-year contract agreement Friday with Mayor Eric Adams’ administration guaranteeing annual raises and a signing bonus.

The preliminary deal, which still needs to be ratified by the union membership, would give DC 37 members — including school cafeteria workers, parent and community coordinators, school crossing guards, and child care workers — a $3,000 signing bonus and four years of 3% annual raises, with a 3.25% bump in the fifth year.

The tentative contract agreement will also set the template for the contracts of other unions currently in negotiations, including the United Federation of Teachers.

For some DC 37 workers, the pay bump represents at least a partial acknowledgment of their crucial work helping keep the city’s school system running during the pandemic, often at far lower wages than other school staffers, union officials said.

“I think this will be a morale booster,” said Donald Nesbit, vice president of DC 37 Local 372, which represents the union’s education department members.

The 3% annual raises are higher than the 1.25% yearly pay bumps Adams laid out in his preliminary budget last month, but may still not be enough to keep up with the pace of inflation, which measured 6.5% last year.

The tentative agreement also sets a minimum $18 hourly wage for DC 37 members. Along with its education department members, the union represents thousands of early childhood education workers, many of whom staff the city-funded prekindergarten and 3-K programs.

DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said the union represents roughly 1,000 different job titles, with members making as little as $25,000 a year and as much as $200,000.

Parent coordinators, who handle a wide range of responsibilities related to working with students’ families, can earn starting salaries of between $30,000 and $40,000 a year, according to education department job postings.

The municipal labor negotiations come as Adams warns of strong fiscal headwinds, and as billions of dollars in one-time federal COVID relief funds continue to dry up. The higher-than-budgeted annual raises will require the city to come up with new ways to cover the costs.

In addition to the pay increases, the deal sets up a committee to discuss remote and flexible work options for union members, a trust fund to support members with child care costs, and a pandemic response committee to help prepare workers for any future outbreaks.

The annual raises laid out in the DC 37 deal will likely be replicated in contracts with other municipal unions, including the UFT, as part of a system called “pattern bargaining.”

Arthur Goldstein, an English as a second language teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens and former member of the UFT’s executive committee, said he would “have a hard time supporting” a UFT deal with the same annual raises because of concerns about inflation and fears of future increases in healthcare premiums.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC bought 725K devices for remote learning. Now they’re trying to count them — and all school tech.

2023-02-16T21:30:24+00:00

When the COVID pandemic started about three years ago, New York City scrambled to get hundreds of thousands of students connected to the internet, buying iPads and Chromebook laptops, so students could learn from home.

The education department struggled for months to get enough devices for students and continued to purchase more. City officials ultimately bought 550,000 internet-enabled iPads, as well as 175,000 Chromebook laptops, costing roughly $360 million, according to the education department.

Now the education department has set out to find and track all of its technology, including the devices purchased during the pandemic. Although schools keep a record of devices, city watchdogs have criticized the education department for having no centralized system. The “Central Inventory Project” will log all technology at schools and central offices, including other kinds of tablets and laptops, desktop computers, printers and smartboards, according to a department spokesperson.

The department’s inventory project — which began last June and is expected to be completed this summer — is large. Twenty-six teams of five people each plan to visit all district and charter schools, as well as all central offices. So far, they’ve covered 660 schools and offices in 519 buildings.

A spokesperson declined to share takeaways from their inquiry so far, saying that they’re still collecting data from the inventory sweeps.

City officials are hoping to tally up how many devices are located in schools and central offices, as well as how many of those they’ve assigned to students for use at both school and home, according to a spokesperson.

Officials said they’re attempting to follow city, state, and federal guidelines for tracking devices. But they also appear to be addressing an issue raised years ago by former Comptroller Scott Stringer, who noted in multiple reports that there was no centralized system for tracking computer hardware.

A 2017 audit, for example, found that the department was missing more than 1,800 computers, laptops, and tablets. (At the time, the education department disputed the comptroller’s methodology and rejected most of Stringer’s recommendations, including his call for a systemwide inventory count.)

And a 2021 audit found that the education department had logged iPads for 5,000 students who were not also marked as having received those devices.

Some educators, who praised the scope of the project, said it is highlighting how difficult it can be to account for school devices, including computers purchased during the pandemic.

Eighth grade social studies teacher Nate Stripp, who is also the technology coordinator at Brooklyn’s M.S. 50, said their inventory process was straightforward and happened over a two-day period last month, when 10 technicians came in to count devices. In preparation for the visit, education department officials asked the school to remind students to bring in any school-issued devices they had at home. Officials also provided an estimate of how many devices they believe the school should have in hand.

There were some hiccups. In a majority of cases where iPads were missing during the inventory process, students had forgotten to bring them to school, Stripp said. There were several cases where students didn’t know where their devices were.

Stripp has come across students who were supposed to bring their remote-learning iPad to M.S. 50 from their old elementary school but claimed that they no longer have it in their possession — leading to a complicated scramble to figure out where the device is.

“I have enough technological competence to be able to run my own internal spreadsheets,” Stripp said. “But to really keep track of devices, we need a person who, at least part of their job, is paid to keep track of and maintain the technology inventory in the building.”

Officials hope to use this project to improve the process for when schools do a required annual device inventory, which is supposed to happen each spring, a spokesperson said.

Stripp said the centralized process last month was the first time he had seen such an effort in his five years at M.S. 50.

Some schools may do a better job than others of tracking their inventory, said a teacher at a Brooklyn high school, who went through the inventory process in December. For example, his school had a technology coordinator who kept a detailed spreadsheet of all their computers – but since she left, no one has taken over her responsibilities.

“It’s something that’s needed,” said the teacher, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. “There are definitely ways that things can go missing without accountability.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Anticipating challenges to NYC class size law, Banks will launch ‘working group’

2023-02-08T21:55:36+00:00

Chancellor David Banks plans to launch a “working group” of parents, school leaders, and others to share their opinions and concerns about a new state law that sets stricter limits on class size in New York City public schools.

Banks revealed the plan Wednesday while testifying during a state budget hearing focused on education. He outlined the potential financial costs facing the system in meeting the law’s requirements — an additional $1 billion — and suggested there are many New Yorkers whose concerns “were not heard on this as this law was developed” last year.

“But they’re going to hear from me, and they will absolutely be at the table alongside me as we figure out the best way to implement this,” Banks said.

The working group would have “parents, school leaders, and other interested parties,” Banks said.

Banks did not share more details about the group or what its goal would be. Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the city’s education department, said, “We’ll have more to say soon.”

Last spring, state legislators overwhelmingly passed the class size law, which requires New York City to cap classes at 20 students in kindergarten through third grade, 23 students for grades 4-8, and 25 students for high school. The cap must not exceed 40 students for physical education and classes for “performing groups.” City schools must gradually meet these requirements by September 2028.

Officials are required to form a plan by this September, alongside the city’s educator unions. But the city’s teachers union has already criticized city officials for dragging their feet on the planning process.

In a podcast in December, union president Michael Mulgrew said he’s met with the city twice on the matter but no actual planning has started, and the city has not yet set a formal meeting to do so. (Late last month, an education department spokesperson told Chalkbeat that the city has been regularly updating the union on its progress.)

During Wednesday’s hearing, Banks said the city doesn’t anticipate any issues for meeting class size requirements during the first two years of the five-year timeline. The average class size this school year is about 24 students, according to the education department.

But Banks expects challenges later on, as class size requirements become more stringent and could lead to hard decisions, such as having to forgo hiring an art teacher because a school needs to create a new class when it’s “two students over” the limit. Budget cuts at most schools this school year led many to cut teachers, programs and services, sometimes resulting in larger class sizes.

While many schools may not have an issue meeting the requirements, other overcrowded and popular buildings may mean the city has to either limit enrollment at those schools or must build more seats.

The education department anticipates the need to hire 7,000 new teachers to comply with the law, according to Banks.

“In doing that, there are going to be other decisions that are going to have to be made by school leaders,” Banks said.

Queens Democratic Sen. John Liu, who oversees the Senate’s New York City education committee, took issue with the chancellor’s comments, emphasizing that the city should be working closely with schools in helping them comply with the state law, and that the city should be able to cover costs with the increase in Foundation Aid.

In the union podcast, class size advocate Leonie Haimson said she was pushing for a task force with parents, advocates, experts, and both teachers and principals unions to “work together toward a reasonable, rational, equitable, effective” plan.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC proposes $90 million in new funding for homeless students and high-need schools

2023-01-24T01:04:56+00:00

New York City plans to boost funding for homeless students and funnel more resources to schools that serve a disproportionate share of students with disabilities, English learners, and those living in poverty, according to a proposal unveiled Monday.

Advocates have long criticized the city for not accounting for homeless students in its school funding formula given the depth of their needs and staggering numbers: Nearly one in 10 New York City public school students live in shelters, are doubled up with relatives, or otherwise lack stable housing.

Starting next school year, the city plans to add homeless students to a list of groups that come with more dollars, including students with disabilities and those who have low test scores. The move would send about $45 million that schools may use to hire additional staff, add attendance outreach programs, and help serve an influx of migrant students, most of whom do not live in permanent housing.

The city will send another $45 million to schools that educate high concentrations of needy students, defined as campuses serving an outsize share of students with disabilities, English language learners, as well as those living in poverty. That change would boost the budgets of roughly 300 schools, city officials said.

The proposals are a response to a school funding task force that recommended revising the city’s Fair Student Funding formula, which accounts for about two-thirds of school budgets. Under the formula, schools typically receive a baseline amount per student — this year, it’s about $4,197. Students with additional needs come with extra dollars on top of the baseline.

Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks also have faced enormous pressure to increase school funding, especially after reducing school budgets last year because of declining enrollment and dwindling federal relief money. (Earlier this month, city officials reversed plans to further reduce school budgets next school year.)

“These changes, made as a direct result of the thoughtful work of the Fair Student Funding Working Group, are representative of New York City public schools’ commitment to working directly with our communities and putting into place genuine change to support our schools and our kids,” Banks said in a statement.

Changes to the funding formula are not final and must be approved by the city’s Panel for Educational Policy.

Both city proposals line up with recommendations the task force issued in November; however, the administration is planning to spend significantly less money on them than the task force suggested. Their report recommended spending from $42 million to $85 million more on homeless students and from $60 million to $120 million more on schools with high concentrations of vulnerable students. The city plans to spend $45 million in each category.

The city also ignored three of the task force’s five main recommendations, including adding a weight in the funding formula for students living in poverty; increasing the $225,000 baseline schools receive on top of their per-student funding; and nixing a controversial funding boost for some of the city’s most selective high schools.

Asked why the city sidestepped some proposals, Jenna Lyle, an education department spokesperson, wrote in an email that the city prioritized recommendations that would funnel more money to high-need schools without needing to reduce resources on other campuses to pay for it.

Still, multiple members of the task force, outside education advocates, the city’s teachers union, and elected officials cheered the city’s plan.

The education department’s “adoption of key recommendations from the Working Group is a welcome step that will result in $90 million in new funding for our most vulnerable students,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams tweeted.

Jasmine Gripper, executive director of the advocacy group Alliance for Quality Education and a co-chair of the task force, said the city’s proposal was a step in the right direction even though she was initially skeptical about the process.

“It doesn’t feel like parents and students and advocates wasted their time,” Gripper said. “Do I think it’s going to solve everything? No. But it will drive resources to our neediest students.”

The city’s efforts to rethink its school funding formula have sputtered in the past; a previous task force never publicly released any recommendations.

The latest task force was created only after the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, which is largely appointed by the mayor, took the unusual step of voting against the Fair Student Funding funding formula for this school year. Though the formula was later approved, officials promised to launch a task force to solicit feedback.

There was some tension with city officials over how to pay for the proposals included in the report. Education department officials had insisted that spending increases, such as a boost for students who are in temporary housing, would have to be offset by school budget cuts elsewhere.

Education department officials confirmed that they would not reduce other elements of the school funding formula to pay for the changes, but did not elaborate on how the plan would be funded.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC is using one-time COVID money for a lot of education programs. What happens when it dries up?

2023-01-19T10:00:00+00:00

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, New York City’s education department received a massive windfall: more than $7 billion in federal relief funding to help reopen school buildings and address lost instruction.

But city officials have used a significant chunk of that one-time relief on initiatives that have recurring costs. What happens to those efforts when the spigot of federal dollars dries up in 2024? That’s the question posed by a report released Thursday by Advocates for Children, which highlights hundreds of millions worth of programs that are currently being supported by federal funds.

The report is a “call to action” to draw attention to initiatives that could face cuts if the city doesn’t find a way to replace federal dollars, said Randi Levine, the policy director at Advocates for Children. “We want to make sure policymakers are aware of the wide range of important education initiatives that are currently being funded by expiring federal COVID-19 relief funding.”

A range of programs are receiving one-time federal money, including expanded summer school ($236 million), hundreds of new prekindergarten seats for students with disabilities ($88 million), screening for students with dyslexia and other literacy programs ($7.4 million), and a raft of hiring including new social workers and nurses (roughly $135 million).

City officials declined to say whether they plan to slash any of those programs or, if not, where the funding will come from.

“We are working closely with City Hall and our agency partners to find ways to sustain and build on the work we have done to lift up our students and schools,” education department spokesperson Jenna Lyle wrote in an email.

The programs are not necessarily at immediate risk, since the federal funding runs until the 2024-25 school year, though advocates argue the city should make plans to address the looming fiscal cliff now. Once the federal funding runs out, the city will have to either cut or find other money to replace about $881 million in annual spending on recurring programs that are currently receiving federal dollars, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office.

“I don’t think the intent [of the federal funding] was to support ongoing costs — these funds were clearly one-time,” said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group. “The city, the City Council, and the advocacy community is going to have to address [that] and make hard choices.”

The report does not document every example of the education department’s use of one-time relief money on recurring programs. But it highlights several high-profile examples. Here are five of them:

Preschool for 3-year-olds: $100 million

Mayor Eric Adams made waves when his administration rolled back plans to make 3-K universal, a major goal of his predecessor who intended to use more than half a billion dollars of federal money for that purpose. Officials redirected much of that funding to “central costs.” But even without the planned expansion, city officials will still need to find about $100 million each year to keep the program going at its current size, according to the Advocates for Children report.

Expanding 3-K was “built on recovery dollars that are running out,” schools Chancellor David Banks said at an event hosted by Educators for Excellence Wednesday evening. “We’ve got major issues that we’re going to have to deal with financially in terms of paying for that as well as other programs.”

More social workers, nurses, and staff to help homeless students: about $135 million

The education department hired a slew of people for non-teaching positions, including enough nurses to ensure every school had access to one, 500 social workers, and psychologists to speed up evaluations and the creation of individualized education programs for students with disabilities. The city also used the funding for 75 coordinators to help homeless families navigate the education system, though the hiring process has been slow.

Preschool for students with disabilities: $88 million

Many students with disabilities who are legally entitled to preschool seats have instead been forced to stay home because the city doesn’t have enough seats to meet demand. The problem was long considered a stain on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise of universal pre-K and the current administration has vowed to create enough seats for every child with a disability who is entitled to one. But that promise is being delivered with one-time relief money, raising questions about how the city will follow through on that goal after this school year.

Community schools: $60 million

Under de Blasio, there was steady growth in the number of schools that embedded wraparound services into school buildings through partnerships with nonprofit providers — including dental clinics, mental health services, and food pantries. The city has dedicated about $70 million over the last two years to increase the number of those schools from 266 to over 400 and reverse cuts that had been planned to those schools, according to the report.

Keeping school budgets steady: $160 million

City officials have kept school budgets higher than they would have been based on enrollment declines, a policy meant to stave off dramatic budget cuts while schools are trying to catch students up from pandemic disruptions.

Although Adams began the process of cutting school budgets this school year, a move that drew intense criticism, he reversed plans to make another round of cuts next school year – using relief funding to plug the gap. That move means that schools may face even more dramatic cuts down the line, as officials contend that school budgets will eventually need to be brought back in line with enrollment, though city officials have not released detailed plans.

“That’s a looming problem and it will be a bigger problem than it was last year,” Champeny said. “When those funds run out, how are we going to fund the schools and at what level?”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC Mayor Adams reverses course on $80 million schools cut in preliminary budget

2023-01-12T23:35:12+00:00

After a bruising battle last year over school budget cuts, Mayor Eric Adams reversed course Thursday on a plan to slash an additional $80 million next year from the coffers of schools that lost students during the pandemic.

In his preliminary budget, Adams announced plans to delay the previously scheduled cut, giving a temporary reprieve to schools who lost students during the pandemic and are still struggling with the effects of last year’s cuts. Some families, educators and advocates, however, argue that Adams should have gone even further by restoring the cuts he made last year.

“We heard from families [that] some schools need more time to adjust in order to avoid disruptions to students,” Adams said. “So despite the fiscal challenges we face, we have added an additional $80 million to that funding pool for next fiscal year.”

In addition to the delayed cut, Adams announced a $47.5 million investment to help secure school buildings by ensuring that all the doors lock, and front doors are equipped with cameras and buzzer systems, a major priority of schools Chancellor David Banks.

The proposed $80 million cut that Adams reversed on Thursday ties back to a heated debate over funding and school enrollment that came to a head last summer.

Schools generally lose money when they lose students, but former Mayor Bill de Blasio paused that rule during the pandemic, using hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief money to plug the gaps.

Adams began scaling back that extra financial support when he took office, cutting the pot by more than half this year, and planning to chop it in half again next year, before zeroing out the aid in fiscal year 2025.

But on Thursday, even as he warned of strong fiscal headwinds and cut agency spending, Adams announced that he’s planning to suspend the planned $80 million cut to school budgets next year.

Still, Adams emphasized that he believes it’s important to return soon to “developing school budgets based on the number of students enrolled in the school and the needs of those students.” Budget officials noted that federal relief money will run out next year, meaning the city will face critical decisions about spending.

Some advocates expressed relief about the decision to hold school budgets level. Others blasted the mayor for making cuts elsewhere, including rolling back a planned expansion of preschool for 3-year-olds.

“Mayor Adams continues to propose austerity measures that harm children, families, schools and communities,” said Amshula Jayaram, campaign director of Alliance for Quality Education, an organization that advocates for more school funding. “At a time when our children need intense social, emotional and academic support, Mayor Adams continues to trim services for students.”

An Adams spokesperson didn’t immediately say whether the administration is still planning to entirely cut the pandemic relief for schools with enrollment drops in fiscal year 2025.

The mayor will release an updated version of his $102 billion proposal in April, known as the executive budget. The City Council must approve a final budget by July 1.

Education department still expected to cut costs

Despite the temporary reprieve on enrollment-based school cuts, the education department, like agencies across the city, is still expected to slash expenses in order to help the city balance its budget.

Adams cited a “perfect storm” of financial challenges brought on by a slowing economy and lower tax revenues, unexpected expenses related to the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers, and additional costs that come with renegotiating contracts with labor unions.

In Adams’s November financial plan, he proposed diverting $568 million in federal COVID relief money originally slated to expand the 3-K program to cover other education department costs.

Adams and education department officials have argued that they are right-sizing the program, and shifting seats in response to 19,000 empty seats. On Thursday, budget officials said the city would open more seats if they found a need after their review of the program.

But the cuts have drawn criticism from members of the City Council, who will work with Adams in the coming months to agree on a final budget.

“The budget vision put forward by the Administration to cut funding for CUNY, libraries, social services, early childhood education, and other essential services for New Yorkers is one this Council cannot support,” Council Finance Committee Chair Justin Brannan and Speaker Adrienne Adams said in a statement Thursday morning criticizing the November financial plan.

Budget officials said the education department will be expected to eliminate 390 vacant positions, none of which include teachers or administrators.

Adams pledges $47.5 million to equip schools with locking front doors

The preliminary budget also includes a proposed $47.5 million to equip schools with locking doors and cameras that allow school safety agents to monitor who they’re letting in the front door.

Banks has raised the issue of locking front doors frequently in conversations about school safety and in the wake of last year’s elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

The number of guns confiscated from students at city schools jumped last year as teens expressed fears of dangerous commutes, though none of the guns were used in schools.

There have also been several reports of intruders getting inside city school buildings in recent months, putting families and educators on edge.

Adams said the new technology will “allow all the other school doors to be locked, but put a camera with a buzzer system on the front door that allows the [school safety agent] to sit there and see the person before they let them inside the school … we’re looking to put it in all our schools.”

An Adams spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a question about the timeline for rolling out the technology to all schools.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Hochul’s 2023 education agenda: high-dosage tutoring, college access, student mental health

2023-01-10T18:14:53+00:00

Improving access to student mental health services, boosting school funding, and creating high-dosage tutoring programs figure prominently in New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s education agenda, according to her annual State of the State address on Tuesday.

Hochul’s speech — which governors use to signal their priorities for the coming year — outlined issues she’s shown interest in before, such as improving college access.

Her proposals, which come two months after significant drops on national reading and math exams, also show a deeper commitment to addressing how the pandemic impacted students both academically and mentally.

Still, her proposals don’t include some items that advocates were hoping to address this year in Albany, including hiring shortages, which Hochul prioritized last year.

Here are highlights from Hochul’s education policy proposals:

Hochul keeps pledge to fully fund Foundation Aid

As part of her budget proposal, Hochul confirmed that she will include a $2.7 billion increase in school funding for districts across New York under the Foundation Aid formula, which sends more money to high-needs districts.

Last year, state lawmakers had promised to spend billions of more dollars over three years to fully fund the long-debated formula, which accounts for most of the dollars that schools receive from the state.

This upcoming budget will represent the final phase-in of that money, and Hochul’s commitment to spend an additional $2.7 billion matches the funding request from the state’s Board of Regents, as well as a coalition of education-focused organizations called the Educational Conference Board.

High inflation rates ballooned the cost for this year from a $1.9 billion increase to $2.7 billion — raising concerns among some advocates about whether Hochul would stick to her word as the country is at risk for a recession.

“This historic level of financial support for New York public schools will reverberate for generations to come, broadening access to opportunity and enabling New York to build the education system of the future,” said Hochul’s book of policy proposals.

Several education organizations applauded Hochul’s plan. In a statement, Alliance for Quality Education, a school funding advocacy group, called it a “historic milestone for New York State’s public schools.”

Plans to make student mental health needs more accessible

As part of a broader effort to address mental health needs, Hochul has proposed to make school-based services more accessible to students and less expensive to open and run such programs in the first place.

Student mental health needs have been a large focus for educators and advocates since the onset of the pandemic. While many New York City schools offer some level of help to those with behavioral or mental health needs, educators and families report that the needs outpace what’s available, and many students are unable to access those resources.

More than one-third of New York City public schools have none of the six mental health programs that the education department touts on its website, according to an audit conducted last year by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Hochul wants to increase the rate at which school-based clinics and other wraparound services are reimbursed by Medicaid, hoping that this will encourage providers to open more such clinics. She would also create annual grants that would help cover the costs of creating school-based services. Her proposal did not include more specific details, including how much money would be available for the grants.

Hochul also wants to introduce legislation that would require private insurance to pay the Medicaid rate for school-based services that students receive, since those insurance companies typically pay below the Medicaid rate, according to a spokesperson for the governor.

Charles Dedrick, executive director of the state Council of School Superintendents, applauded the proposal and described it as a “comprehensive plan” to expand and provide coverage for these services.

Hochul wants to invest in high-dosage tutoring

In order to address the academic effects of the pandemic, Hochul plans to invest $250 million of Foundation Aid money for districts to create high-impact tutoring programs, where students are tutored multiple times a week.

Mirroring national trends, New York saw steep drops in fourth grade math and reading scores, as well as eighth grade math, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams, given for the first time last year since 2019.

Districts would use the money to establish the programs on their own or in partnership with an outside provider. These programs would specifically tutor students in grades 3-8 on reading and math.

Officials did not immediately respond to say how the money would be distributed or how much New York City would receive.

Researchers have found that students can do better in school when they’re tutored frequently in small groups. The endeavor is expensive, but an investment from the state could inject a boost to create such programs in New York City and elsewhere. Hochul’s policy book says that such programs “deliver increased instructional time and customized student learning, and establish meaningful relationships between tutors and students.”

One possible model in New York City is a CUNY-run tutoring program, where 800 of the school’s students studying to become teachers are working with struggling readers in first and second grade.

Creating a pipeline to higher education and the workforce

Hochul pitched a slew of proposals aimed to get more students into college and the workforce.

Under her plan, New York’s graduating high school seniors would receive admission to their local SUNY community college. Additionally, students who aren’t admitted to their SUNY school of choice would automatically be considered for admission at another SUNY campus.

She’s proposing to spend $20 million in grants for districts to create college-level courses in high school, through which students can earn college credit. The money would also go toward technology-focused programs – both in school districts and colleges – with the goal of preparing more students for such careers after graduation.

Priority for the grant money will be given to programs in high-needs school districts, as well as districts that plan to create programs focused on computer science and computer and software engineering pathways “with an eye toward the technology jobs of the present and future,” according to the proposal book.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Education issues to watch in Albany: School funding, mental health, future of mayoral control

2023-01-03T16:30:16+00:00

As districts continue to recover from the academic and social-emotional impacts of the pandemic, New York state lawmakers will be pressed to address several issues facing schools during the new legislative session.

Inflation has driven up the cost of finishing the long-awaited process of fully funding Foundation Aid, the state’s main school aid formula. As the country faces the risk of a recession, advocates worry about whether lawmakers will fulfill their promise to finish funding the formula.

Advocates also say they will push for solutions to issues that have become more pressing during the pandemic, including hiring challenges and student mental health, while others will continue a yearslong push for the state to raise the charter school cap.

Here are some of the education issues that may come up in the new legislative session, which is set to start Wednesday:

Inflation adds pressure to cost of funding schools

Last year, state lawmakers promised to spend billions of more dollars to fully fund Foundation Aid, which accounts for the bulk of financial support that school districts receive from the state. They agreed to fund the formula over three years, with the final phase-in scheduled for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

However, high inflation rates have pushed the projected cost for the final phase-in of the money from a $1.9 billion increase to about $2.7 billion.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who agreed to fulfill the formula last year as part of a legal settlement, has declined to say whether she will include this final, larger payment in next year’s budget. Both advocates and lawmakers say they’re concerned, but they haven’t yet heard any reneging on Hochul’s promise.

“There is a very high level of commitment on the part of my fellow legislators to see that this Foundation Aid promise is completely followed through on and fulfilled,” said Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat who oversees the Senate’s New York City education committee. “It should be the governor’s self-imposed mandate as well.”

Separately, state policymakers are also asking for $1 million to hire researchers who will review and create models to update the 15-year-old Foundation Aid formula. State officials and advocates contend the formula needs an update because it has outdated measures, such as for calculating student poverty, which is currently based in part on 2000 Census data.

“Let’s get recommendations from experts to make it more equitable,” said Jasmine Gripper, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education.

Will Hochul try to lift the cap on charter schools?

One question is whether the governor will actively seek to lift the cap on how many charter schools can open in New York. After silence on the issue on the campaign trail, Hochul said she supported lifting the cap when asked about it during a gubernatorial debate with Republican opponent Lee Zeldin.

Under the cap, 460 charter schools are allowed to operate in New York, including 290 in New York City, which was reached in 2019. Overall, enrollment has grown in New York City’s charter sector while enrollment has dropped in traditional public schools. But the picture is more complicated: Nearly 60% of individual charter schools have enrolled fewer students during the pandemic.

Hochul’s office declined to say whether she will push to lift the cap this year. Some charter advocates, who have pushed for it for years, are hoping she does.

In a statement after the election, James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter Center, said the organization was looking forward to “supporting her efforts to lift the cap.”

Hochul’s campaign received at least $70,000 in campaign donations across two pro-charter political action committees. However, she also received more than $186,000 across the city, state, and national teachers unions, which generally oppose the expansion of charter schools.

Liu said he doesn’t expect her to touch the issue, noting that she simply replied “yes,” to the debate question of whether she supports lifting the cap, which is different from actively pursuing the issue.

Even if she does, it’s not likely she’ll find considerable support in the legislature, as the issue has not gained traction in recent years.

Schools continue to struggle with hiring and student mental health

Some advocates are hoping for solutions to the hiring challenges that many schools are facing.

Bob Lowry, deputy director for advocacy and communication at the state’s Council of School Superintendents, said it has been one of the biggest issues that school leaders have reported to his organization during the pandemic. The issue came up during a recent state Assembly hearing and has plagued districts nationally, too.

“We hear from districts, ‘We’d like to hire more mental health professionals to help, but we can’t find people,’” Lowry said.

Lawmakers have floated a tax incentive for school employees as one way to attract people to school districts, NY1 reported. Lowry pointed to “useful steps” that have already taken place, such as the state education department ending the controversial edTPA certification exam that was previously required of teaching candidates in New York. Separately, Hochul successfully proposed lifting the cap on how much retired school staffers could earn without losing their pensions if they returned to schools, but Lowry noted that law is only in effect for this school year.

“It’s a huge issue — [we’re] not completely sure what to do about it, but continuing the exemption for retirees to work without losing pension benefits is kind of a simple straightforward step to take,” Lowry said.

School leaders also continue to report big challenges in dealing with student mental health, Lowry said, and they’re hoping for more targeted funding to address those concerns.

Federal relief money likely helped districts address some of these issues, but these funds will sunset next year. It’s possible that increases in Foundation Aid can also help. Last year’s budget included $100 million over two years that would be available to school districts as grants to address mental health issues in schools. State officials plan to award those funds through a competitive process they will launch this year, according to a spokesperson for the state education department.

“We don’t see the mental health issues diminishing any time soon,” Lowry said. “We think there will be a need for continuing, targeted funding for schools to help with mental health concerns.”

State looks to compare NYC’s mayoral control to other districts

Last legislative session, lawmakers extended New York City’s mayoral control system of schools — where the mayor effectively has control over policy decisions instead of a school board — by another two years.

This year, Liu said lawmakers will begin looking at how other school governance systems across the nation operate and compare that to “20 years of [mayoral] control experience in New York City and see how to best bring schools forward.”

Liu declined to share more details, including whether there would be public hearings or some sort of formal review. But his comments indicate that lawmakers are interested in potential changes to the city’s governance system when they must again decide in 2024 whether to extend mayoral control.

Their decision this year to extend mayoral control by two years — half of what Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul requested – came with tweaks meant to add more parent representation to the system.

“This year, we have a little bit more breathing space,” Liu said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Rising inflation adds $800M to cost of fully funding New York’s main school aid formula

2022-12-21T20:36:02+00:00

New York school funding advocates have been looking forward to next year, when Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature are supposed to finish fully funding the state’s 15-year-old school funding formula, resulting in billions of more dollars for school districts statewide.

But a new problem might put the money in jeopardy: Because of inflation, the increase is expected to be nearly $1 billion more than expected, state officials said.

Advocates said they don’t yet expect that lawmakers will renege their promise of fully funding Foundation Aid, which sends more money to school districts with students who have higher needs.

Regardless, they are already on the offensive ahead of the next legislative session, which begins Jan. 4. They said they’ll still be pressing state leaders on the issue, in light of what happened when the formula was first implemented in 2007, right before the Great Recession.

“We got two years of full funding before there was a financial crisis, and then they froze the funding and started to regress and cut some schools,” said Jasmine Gripper, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education. “And we’ve fought for schools ever since.”

Last year, state lawmakers agreed to fully fund the Foundation Aid formula over three years, with the final phase-in scheduled in time for the 2023-24 school year. Since the Foundation Aid formula accounts for inflation, state officials expect that the final increase this year will cost $2.7 billion — about $800 million more than what the state’s Board of Regents had previously projected.

With that increase, schools across the state would receive a total of $24 billion in Foundation Aid next year.

The increased cost is because this final phase-in of money “happens to occur in a year with the highest inflation rate since the formula began,” according to a spokesperson for the state education department.

Advocates hope that the rising cost won’t deter lawmakers or Hochul from carrying out their promise to fully fund the formula, which she agreed to do as part of a legal settlement last year.

“As long as the state’s finances hold up, it seems as though it’s actually manageable,” said Bob Lowry, deputy director of policy and advocacy with the state’s Council of School Superintendents. “But if we got evidence that a recession is taking hold or revenues from the financial sector are coming in much lower, that could create an obstacle to achieving full funding in the next budget.”

The state’s financial picture is mixed. Through September of this year, the state had collected $3.1 billion more in personal income taxes and other revenue than was expected earlier this year, but there are still budget gaps expected for the next three fiscal years, according to the state budget division’s midyear report. Budget officials wrote that the national economy and the “elevated risk of a recession” could mean a gloomier budget in New York down the road.

State Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat who oversees the Senate’s New York City education committee, said cost increases and inflation are going to impact various parts of the budget, and it’s hard to say if better-than-expected tax revenues are enough to help.

Still, Liu said there is a “very high level of commitment” from the legislature to fully fund Foundation Aid.

“There is not enough money for everything everyone wants, but education is our biggest promise, from the state constitution and from the budget agreements over the last couple of years and from the settlement of the lawsuit from the governor’s promise,” Liu said. “I fully expect this final increase in Foundation Aid should be part of the coming budget.”

The governor’s office declined to say whether they’re still committed to fully funding the final projected increase for Foundation Aid. In a statement, spokesperson Katy Zielinski said details about the governor’s budget proposal will be released early next year.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC promises affordable child care to undocumented families through voucher program

2022-12-15T19:03:30+00:00

Next month, New York City will begin providing subsidized child care to low-income, undocumented families, who typically can’t access such services because of their immigration status.

The $10 million initiative, called Promise NYC, is expected to serve 600 children over the next six months, city officials announced Wednesday. It also aims to help the influx of asylum-seeking families from South America who have come to New York City over the past several months.

Because children from undocumented families typically don’t qualify for state or federally subsidized child care, advocates had pushed state lawmakers to expand care for undocumented children earlier this year. But that effort failed.

In the spring, city lawmakers pushed the mayor to include $10 million in this year’s budget expanding childcare for undocumented children. In June, Mayor Eric Adams committed to funding the initative, which would pay for vouchers and “develop a mechanism for families to seek care without compromising the confidentiality of their immigration status,” according to his “Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City.”

The city tapped four community-based organizations with “deep ties to immigrant communities in their respective boroughs” to help launch the program: the Chinese American Planning Council in Queens, Center For Family Life in Brooklyn, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation in Manhattan and the Bronx, and La Colmena will help Staten Island families.

The four organizations, which are contracting with the city’s Administration for Child Services, will be responsible for signing up eligible families.

Beginning in January, low-income undocumented families will be eligible to participate in the city’s child care voucher program, which provides free or low-cost child care to families with children ages 6 weeks to 13 years old. (To qualify, they must earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level.) Child care providers — licensed center-based or registered home-based care — will get reimbursed by the community organizations overseeing the program, city officials said.

Many asylum-seeking families residing in shelters are having trouble finding work without access to child care, according to Gothamist.

In a statement, Adams said his plan will alleviate the challenges that come with being a new immigrant.

“Navigating obstacles in a new city and a new country are tough, and coupling those issues with a lack of child care can prevent parents and families from achieving the dream they so desperately set out to achieve,” Adams said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s pre-K program will soon have seats for all children with disabilities who want one, mayor says

2022-12-13T21:43:57+00:00

Mayor Eric Adams committed Tuesday to addressing a longstanding shortage of preschool seats for students with disabilities, with plans to open 800 more of those spots for 3- and 4-year-old children by this spring.

The mayor will boost pay for preschool special education teachers, who typically earn up to $20,000 less than their general education counterparts, officials said. The city will also increase the school day in these programs by an hour and 20 minutes, matching the hours for general education preschool programs.

Adams announced the changes at a press conference in which he sharply criticized the system under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, charging that the lack of access for hundreds of students with disabilities “was just wrong” and meant that New York City’s lauded universal preschool program was never truly universal.

“Children who need it more were receiving less,” Adams said. “That is just dysfunctional at its highest level.”

Schools Chancellor David Banks said the teacher pay disparities were a result of “what happens when you don’t think it’s a priority.”

Universal prekindergarten was regarded as de Blasio’s signature achievement. But advocates criticized his administration for failing to provide seats for hundreds of children with disabilities or adequately paying teachers in those programs. At the end of last school year, about 800 preschool-aged children with disabilities were still awaiting seats, an education department official said at a City Council meeting in September.

For students with disabilities who did get seats, disparities remained. An analysis of the 2019-20 school year found that Black and Asian American preschoolers were less likely to be identified for special education services when compared with their white peers. Black and Latino children who were identified for services were more likely to be placed in settings exclusively for students with disabilities rather than classrooms integrated with students of mixed abilities.

The new plan is expected to help providers open more classes with a mix of students with disabilities and those in general education, officials said. The process of adding 400 new seats is already underway, said Deputy Chancellor Kara Ahmed, who oversees early childhood education. Officials did not say exactly when these seats will open.

The department approved funding increases for 65 community-based organizations that provide special education programs for the city’s youngest learners. The additional money will allow those programs to open new seats, extend class hours for students with disabilities, and boost wages for teachers.

The salary bumps will mean increasing salaries from the current range of $50,000-$58,000 up to a range of $68,000-$70,000, Ahmed told reporters. And doing so will allow existing programs to keep teachers and attract new ones, Ahmed said.

The city has also committed to opening another 400 new seats by sometime this spring.

“We plan to hold the administration accountable for delivering on that promise,” said Randi Levine, policy director for Advocates for Children, a nonprofit organization that has for years pushed for more such seats, during Tuesday’s press conference. “The city has a legal obligation and a moral obligation to do so.”

The plan will cost $130 million during this fiscal year and the next one, and is being paid for using federal relief dollars, a department spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to say how the city plans to cover funding for those seats once the temporary dollars run out in 2024. That’s a larger question for many education department programs funded by relief dollars, including thousands of new 3K seats the city has opened over the past two school years.

Gregory Brender, policy director for the Day Care Council, said the plan includes positive steps, but noted that his organization wants the Adams administration to raise wages for all early childhood educators working for community-based programs. As of October 2020, these teachers are making the same amount as new public school teachers, even with 20 years of experience, Brender said.

In an interview, Levine noted that under the city’s plan, preschool special education teachers will now be paid as much as a new teacher who works for the education department.

“But every step helps,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

To rethink NY’s 15-year-old school funding formula, state officials ask for $1 million study

2022-12-13T00:11:20+00:00

For many educators, parents, and advocates who follow the money behind school budgets, last year was a milestone: For the first time, New York began to fully fund Foundation Aid, the formula created 15 years ago to send state money to its roughly 700 school districts.

With that battle settled, New York’s Board of Regents now has its eyes on the next challenge: updating the formula itself. As part of Monday’s annual state budget proposal, New York’s Board of Regents requested $1 million to hire researchers, who would get feedback from the schools, advocates, and funding experts on how officials should change Foundation Aid for the 2024-25 school year. Those researchers would then design potential models for an updated formula.

Foundation Aid is a progressive formula that’s structured to send more money to schools with high-need students. It went underfunded until the state agreed in 2021 to fully cover the costs that the formula called for over three years. Lawmakers are expected to finish phasing in the money for the 2023-24 school year, amounting to $4 billion in additional funding for schools, for a total of about $24 billion in Foundation Aid next fiscal year.

In recent years, education advocates and some lawmakers have highlighted how components of the formula are severely outdated, leaving districts shortchanged for their actual needs. For example, one measure used to calculate student poverty is based on the 2000 Census, meaning that if student poverty has gone up in districts since 2000, they’re likely not receiving all the funds they are entitled to.

Department officials want researchers to provide a “factual-based perspective” on how the formula needs to change, said Sean Giambattista, director of state aid at the state education department, at the monthly Regents meeting on Monday in Albany.

“We understand the Census poverty rate that’s used is currently out of date, but there’s more core considerations that we would need some researchers to come in and look at,” Giambattista told the board.

The Regents aren’t alone in their request. Last month, Columbia University’s Center for Educational Equity issued a report calling for the creation of a permanent commission to ensure the formula is updated and reflective of student needs today. That report noted that the state may need to explore entirely new ways to calculate student needs, such as poverty.

“The new system must take current realities and current student needs into account, and it must be designed to respond to changing needs and costs in the future,” the report said. “It must be insulated from undue political influence, and it must respond to the experience of education stakeholders, the people most affected by inequities and inadequacies.”

Representatives for Gov. Kathy Hochul said the governor is reviewing all requests ahead of her own budget proposal next year. They did not say whether she supported this initiative.

Regents want funding for CTE and virtual programs

The Regents discussed other budget wishlist items, including a similar request they made last year to change how school districts like New York City’s are funded for career and technical education, or CTE, programs.

Funding for CTE programs — which provide training for students in different career pathways — is based on rates created in the 1990s, state education advocates said.

As a result, many schools struggle to provide enough support for keeping such programs operating.

The Regents are proposing a new formula that would reimburse districts for CTE costs instead of giving them a budget where they receive a base amount per student, which also takes into account the number of participating students and a measure of the district’s wealth. Making that change would result in more funding, officials said. The state is pushing to expand CTE offerings, hoping to make such programs accessible to all students across the state by 2030. Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks have shown considerable support for such career-focused programs as well.

Separately, the state has also proposed the creation of statewide virtual high schools that would operate their own school districts.

“Our experience with virtual technology during the pandemic has allowed us to think differently about how to serve students who are not able to attend traditional school programs,” state officials wrote in their proposal.

The programs would be funded similarly to current school funding mechanisms, based on the needs of students enrolled in the programs on top of start-up funding. Students with disabilities in need of in-person services would also be served by their local existing school district, which would receive funding to do so.

New York City has begun experimenting locally with such virtual programs. One new high school has experimented with mixing online learning with in-person classroom work and fieldwork in the outdoors.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

As family homelessness climbs, calls grow louder for solving school attendance woes

2022-12-12T11:00:00+00:00

Nine-year-old Ameerah remembers when her commute to school was a five-minute walk. That was before her family left their Queens home for a shelter in another part of the borough.

During the year they lived in the shelter, Ameerah was at the bus stop with her mom and sister at 6:30 a.m., commuting at least 45 minutes on two buses and two trains. They often returned nearly 12 hours later, her mom said, and the girls were sometimes too tired to complete their homework in the evenings.

“My legs, sometimes they hurt. My backpack, it’s heavy,” Ameerah said during one of her bus rides last spring when she was in third grade. She fell behind in math, requiring her to go to summer school. (Chalkbeat is using pseudonyms to protect the family’s privacy.)

Last school year, nearly 30,000 New York City public school students lived in shelters. For these students, getting to school is often a problem, as many are placed far from their current schools. Nearby shelters may lack space, or if the family is in a domestic violence situation, they may be deliberately placed far from home. Shelter transfers can be hard to come by. So families must often choose between punishing commutes like Ameerah’s or transferring schools, which research shows can lead to chronic absenteeism and the need to repeat a grade.

Chronic absenteeism — often a key indicator of academic performance — is a growing problem for students citywide following the pandemic. But for homeless students, it’s a crisis: 64% of students living in shelters were chronically absent in the 2020-21 school year, meaning they were absent for at least 10% of school days, according to the most recent data obtained by Advocates For Children. That’s compared with about 30% of students citywide.

Advocates fear attendance problems could worsen as homelessness continues rising to historic levels in New York City amid rising inflation, the end of the eviction moratorium, and the threat of a recession. Additionally, an influx of asylum-seeking students from South America have entered the shelter system. Last month, more than 12,100 families with children were in shelters run by the Department of Homeless Services, compared with roughly 8,500 in November 2021.

Ameerah’s family had little help navigating the shelter system and their school-related transportation needs, they said. This left her mom, Huma, an immigrant from Pakistan who sometimes struggled with English, to wade through bureaucracy while trying to work enough hours to qualify for subsidized housing. Many advocates believe that families can benefit from having a dedicated, shelter-based coordinator to support them and have been pushing the city to hire such staffers for the past year.

By June, the city had committed to hiring 100 such coordinators — 75 of them funded for the next two years with about $17 million of the $33 million in federal relief money earmarked for homeless students, according to Advocates For Children. (The education department declined to share how much the initiative would cost.)

But in the nearly five months since then, the city has hired just 45 of these coordinators, with another 33 in the hiring process, according to an education department spokesperson, who declined multiple times to explain why there has been a delay.

Dozens of advocacy organizations had originally called for 150 of these staffers, given that the city has more than 160 family shelters serving children. But now they’re concerned that the city hasn’t yet hired all of these staffers and are wondering what happens when the relief dollars run out in two years.

They also note that the problems go deeper than such a role can address and intersect with a variety of systemic issues, large and small, from intergenerational poverty to transportation issues.

Historically, there has been a failure to cooperate and minimize disruptions to students’ schooling between the multiple agencies connected to homeless children, including the education department and homeless services, said Jennifer Pringle, director of Project Learning In Temporary Housing at Advocates for Children.

This moment, in particular, is critical for figuring out solutions, said Pringle, whose organization is one of more than three dozen calling for an inter-agency task force focused on how to tackle a slew of issues, including reducing chronic absenteeism among homeless students.

“This is an opportunity to figure out, OK, as families are coming in, how can we make sure that kids are connected with school, connected with their peers, with their teachers,” Pringle said, “so that while the family is going through this process and ultimately finds permanent housing, the kids’ education doesn’t get derailed.”

One of Huma’s daughters holds on to a pole on a city bus during her commute to school.

Transportation from shelters to schools remains difficult

A longstanding federal law attempts to create some stability for students who become homeless. Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, later expanded in 2001, school districts are required to provide transportation to and from a child’s “school of origin,” or the school they attended before becoming homeless.

But in vast New York City, students crossing between boroughs may have hours-long commutes between shelter and school. In response to news reports in 2017, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to ensure more families were placed in the same borough as their youngest child’s school.

His administration began to deliver on that promise. In 2018, about half of families were initially placed in shelters located in the same borough as their youngest child’s school. By last fiscal year, that grew by 11 percentage points, to three in every five families — including Huma’s.

But even a shelter placement in the same borough can mean a challenging commute to school.

When there are school attendance issues, many shelter providers’ default position is to encourage families to change schools, Pringle said, rather than to revisit shelter placements and try to move families closer to their schools.

“In a city where we have so many shelter locations, the needs of children are not being prioritized as a part of this process,” she said.

For its part, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services said their teams, along with the Department of Homeless Services, reach out to families in shelters “with longer commutes to schools, offering them shelter placements close to their youngest school-aged child’s school.” Last fiscal year, 75% of families were in shelters in the same borough as their youngest child’s school; however, advocates noted that it’s unclear how much of that reflects children transferring schools instead of shelters.

When Ameerah’s family moved into one of New York City’s family shelters in April 2021, they had escaped what Huma described as an emotionally abusive home she had endured for many years. Adjusting to the shelter was tough. Even after the girls managed to fall asleep while sharing a bed in the small roach-infested room, the shelter’s 9 p.m. bed-check often woke them up.

Huma’s case worker had asked where she wanted the children to attend school when they first entered the shelter. She thought that transferring schools felt disruptive, as the girls were returning to school for the first time since the onset of the pandemic while adjusting to a new, strange place.

“My kids, the big one especially, she is so sensitive now because of all this stuff,” Huma said, noting that they’d moved several times in the past. “She said, ‘I’m so tired from moving, every single time I change my school, but this time I don’t want to change my school. I like my school.’”

And for her younger daughter, arriving at school each day felt like a silver lining. She enjoyed seeing her friends and said that “time goes a little bit faster there.”

After exiting their final bus, Huma and her younger daughter walk to her school.

Transferring schools can have significant drawbacks for students without stable housing. One study from 2015 found that New York City students who transferred schools were more likely to be chronically absent, missing at least 10% of school days. Chronically absent homeless children were three times more likely to repeat the same grade, compared to their homeless peers who missed fewer than five days of school, that report found.

Students in shelters in kindergarten through sixth grade are eligible for bus transportation to their schools, no matter where they are. Older students, like Huma’s eldest daughter, Ayaneh, who was about to start seventh grade, receive a MetroCard, though some seventh and eighth graders can get busing on a case-by-case basis, such as if they have a disability. But Huma, who felt that Ayaneh wasn’t yet ready to take public transportation on her own, said this information wasn’t shared with her until weeks into the school year. (The city’s yellow bus system is also notoriously problematic, and a recent City Council report found that service delays have been higher this fall than the past five years.)

After Huma called the girls’ schools for more information on busing, school staff directed her to a general education department telephone line for transportation issues, she said. She didn’t call it.

“I said, ‘I just need the answer if you’re not providing a bus,’” she said of shelter staff. “They just kept promising it, but it never came.”

Huma didn’t trust that calling the education department would solve her issues. That might be why officials there said they did not have records of transportation issues or complaints related to her children.

Navigating the shelter system feels like a second job

There are 117 “family assistants” working across shelters, who are supposed to inform families about their school transportation rights, provide route information, and help with enrollment. But those employees don’t work year-round and often are not equipped to untangle more complicated problems, such as why a child may be chronically absent, advocates said.

The newly added shelter-based community coordinators would have broader responsibilities and are expected to proactively reach out to families living in shelters. They’re supposed to ensure students are getting to class, helping families navigate problems with transportation and enrollment using data compiled by the city. The education department is also using stimulus funds to better track homeless student attendance in hopes of working with shelters to address chronic absenteeism.

“There should be support services for families both at the shelter and at school that can help them with issues they might be facing, especially if there are attendance issues,” said Jacquelyn Simone, policy director for Coalition for the Homeless, an organization that advocates on behalf of homeless New Yorkers. “If someone is struggling to get to school, and it’s the proximity of the shelter to the school, then there should be, in an ideal world, a team that would identify the issue.”

At 6:30 a.m. on a day this past spring, people line up to board a bus in Queens.

Bus service eventually was set up for Ameerah by October of last year, a few weeks into the school year, Huma said. Ultimately, she decided against it because it no longer made sense. She would still need to accompany Ayaneh to school — and she would need to be with both girls to get back to the shelter since minors can’t go inside without a parent or guardian. This would prove a complicated juggling act as Huma tried to increase her work hours.

Like all shelter residents, Huma was eligible to apply for rental assistance after 90 days of her placement, but she needed to work at least 30 hours a week. After months of struggling to find employment, she took a job as a home health aide. Her job locations frequently changed, which made it more challenging to coordinate her daughters’ transportation to school, she said.

Meanwhile, Huma had been told that she needed a more stable work schedule in order to meet the qualifications for rental assistance.

Catherine Trapani, executive director of Homeless Services United, said she’s often found parents who struggle to meet their required number of work hours while also taking care of other responsibilities and following all shelter rules, such as ensuring children are accompanied at the shelter.

“It’s very difficult to get your employment in with that schedule, plus your obligations to cart your children to and from school, particularly if you don’t have a robust network of support,” Trapani said.

In a sign that job requirements had become too burdensome to qualify for the city’s rental subsidy requirements, city officials recently cut in half the required weekly work hours from 30 hours to 14.

The family chooses a new school, after all

After a lot of back-and-forth providing pay stubs and other employment documents, Huma was approved for subsidized rent in March of this year — seven months after her caseworker informed her that she would start the process. That was much longer than the median 26 days it took for families to receive vouchers after completing applications last year, according to the annual Mayor’s Management Report.

Huma moved her family into their own apartment in May. Nearly 5,200 homeless families found permanent housing last fiscal year, a 30% drop from the previous year, according to city data.

Their new commute still required two buses for the girls to get to school, but their travel time was cut by 20 minutes.

Huma waits for a subway train.

But the instability has not gone away. Shortly before school started, Huma had attached a $622 utility bill to the fridge, marked with a bolded “final notice.” Huma was bringing in about $450 a week, and typically had nothing left after paying rent and other bills. Food stamps help provide some respite, she said. But she left her job in October after tensions with a patient’s caregiver, and she was still looking for work in December.

They’ve acknowledged that the apartment is not perfect. Their oven broke in the fall, and her landlord hadn’t arranged for it to be fixed. Carpet curled up at the edges of the walls. Still, the family seemed happy.

“At least they have their bed and they can sleep good,” the mom said.

Ayaneh still attends her middle school from last year. Her mother said she is seeing a therapist to deal with the family issues that caused them to seek shelter in the first place.

In the end, Huma decided to change Ameerah’s school to one around the corner from their new apartment.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC won’t expand prekindergarten for 3-year-olds next year

2022-11-16T23:51:43+00:00

Mayor Eric Adams is not planning to expand New York City’s free prekindergarten program for 3-year-olds next year, as city agencies are facing calls to cut back on spending, education department officials confirmed Wednesday.

City officials are planning to divert $568 million in federal COVID relief money that had been earmarked for 3-K expansion over the next two fiscal years to use elsewhere for the education department, Emma Vadehra, the school system’s chief operations officer, said during a Wednesday City Council hearing. Instead, funding for 3-K will hold steady from this year, she said, allowing the education department to meet “a very large portion” of savings goals set out by Adams, which he’s also required of other city agencies.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio had planned to use stimulus money to create 60,000 seats for the city’s 3-year-olds and make 3-K universal by September 2023. But the Adams administration has stepped back from that promise.

As of this fall, the city had planned to open 55,000 3-K seats, for a total budget of $711 million. About two thirds of that is covered by stimulus dollars, according to a City Hall spokesperson. But at the same time, about 36,500 children have enrolled.

A spokesperson for City Hall did not detail how officials plan to repurpose the money intended for 3-K, except for saying that it will go toward “central costs” at the education department.

Under de Blasio, city officials planned to use the largest pot of the education department’s $7 billion in COVID stimulus dollars on expanding preschool for 3-year-olds. But the former mayor never laid out how the city would pay for the program once those temporary dollars ran out. Neither has Adams, setting up the city for a $376 million funding shortfall for 3-K by July 2025. That sum has raised concerns among budget watchdogs, including the city and state comptrollers.

Cutting back on an expansion of 3-K could help the city avoid a fiscal cliff for that program. However, repurposing those stimulus dollars for other initiatives could still require the city to either find more money for those additional services or make cuts.

Several local lawmakers and advocates expressed anger over the city’s decision to halt 3-K expansion and said that there was still demand for seats in various pockets of the city.

Asked multiple times during Wednesday’s hearing when the city would make 3-K universal, department officials did not provide a direct answer, instead pointing out that thousands of seats have not been filled.

“The issue is making sure we have those seats as close as possible to families who need them,” said James Morgano, manager of expansion at the city’s Division of Early Childhood Education. He said the city is conducting an assessment of where those seats should be.

Brooklyn Council member Lincoln Restler questioned why he hears from so many families in Greenpoint who have been unable to find a 3-K seat. Restler blamed lack of demand on insufficient outreach to families from the education department.

“If this administration is not prepared to put the funding in, then I strongly encourage my colleagues in the council to step up and make this the priority that it needs to be,” Restler said during the hearing. “Working families and our youth depend on high-quality early childhood education, and if you all aren’t prepared to make it happen, then we need to take it into our own hands.”

Gregory Brender, public policy director for the Day Care Council, said they see “incredible demand” from parents in neighborhoods where the city has expanded 3-K.

“It would be devastating to a lot of neighborhoods to know that they’re not gonna have the opportunity to see 3-K expanded, as has been in other parts of the city,” Brender said.

In a note to superintendents on Wednesday discussing plans for 3-K, department officials wrote that the Adams administration has “emphasized the importance of continuing to work with our city, state and federal partners to develop a proposal for early childhood education resources“ for when stimulus dollars run out.

The plan to pare back on expansion is another example of how early childhood education programming is changing under Adams, who campaigned on focusing more on “birth-to-5” programming. During Adams’ tenure so far, the city has come under fire for failing to pay preschool providers. Officials have also faced pushback for plans to reassign hundreds of early childhood workers who provided extra instructional and social-emotional support to classrooms serving the city’s youngest learners.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s what Gov. Kathy Hochul’s win could mean for New York schools

2022-11-09T06:01:18+00:00

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who led the state as students returned to schools full time after COVID-related closures, won New York’s governor’s race on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

In a race that grew tighter in recent weeks, Hochul was declared the winner after getting 53% of the vote against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, of Long Island, according to preliminary state Board of Elections results with 84% of election districts reporting. She is the first female elected governor in the state.

Hochul, who spent nearly a decade as the state’s lieutenant governor, took New York’s top office 14 months ago following former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stunning resignation amid a sexual harassment scandal. In her first year in office, she oversaw significant developments in education, including boosting funding for schools and signing a bill that aims to limit class sizes in New York City schools.

Hochul did not make education policy a centerpiece of her campaign. Still, she won endorsements and big campaign contributions from New York’s powerful teachers unions — one of which hadn’t endorsed a candidate in 16 years. Educator unions felt like they had an ally in office after she embraced policies they pushed, including the class size bill and initiatives to tackle teacher shortages.

At the same time, she also won some support from pro-charter school political groups, and in a debate last month, she said she supported lifting the state’s cap on how many charter schools can open.

Here’s how Hochul’s continued governorship could impact New York City’s schools:

School funding, teacher shortages and college

Under Cuomo, the state increased school funding, but it wasn’t enough for many school advocates. They criticized the former governor for failing to fully fund the state’s Foundation Aid formula, which is designed to send more money to school districts with higher shares of students with high needs, such as those living in poverty.

When Hochul assumed office, she settled a 2014 lawsuit by committing to fully fund the formula. (Despite that, funding remains a hot topic in New York City, where three-quarters of schools saw less money this fall as their enrollment was projected to drop.)

Under the plan Hochul agreed to — phasing in the boosted funding over three years — schools would receive 100% of the money they’re owed by next year. It is expected to amount to roughly $4 billion additional dollars to districts across the state.

Looking forward, some advocates and policymakers are already calling for updating the formula itself, which has remained the same since its inception in 2007. Hochul has not yet said whether she supports overhauling the formula. Updating it could result in calls for even more money for schools.

Hochul may also continue to focus on postsecondary education. She announced last year a goal to get two-thirds of New Yorkers to graduate with a college degree by 2030. To help meet this goal, she expanded college tuition assistance to part-time students in her first year in office.

To address the state’s looming teacher shortage, she expanded some alternative teacher certification programs. She also temporarily waived an income cap for retirees who want to return to the classroom. The situation could soon get dire as state teaching programs have seen enrollment drop by more than half since 2009, and about a third of current teachers are projected to retire in the next five years, according to data from the state teachers union.

Another round of mayoral control debates

Hochul will be in office when Mayor Eric Adams’ control over New York City schools will once again expire, requiring another extension from state lawmakers in 2024.

As mayoral control was set to expire this year, Hochul — an ally of Adams — had called for a four-year renewal, which would have covered the mayor’s entire first term. But state lawmakers gave him just half of that, while tweaking the governance system to appease advocates’ calls to include more parent voices in the system.

Hochul could again call for a renewal of the system to cover the rest of Adams’ term. If state lawmakers are interested in curbing Adams’ power — or overturning the governance model altogether — it’s possible that Hochul could advocate for keeping mayoral control in place.

Would Hochul push to lift the charter cap?

Hochul did not discuss charter schools during most of the campaign, but during a recent debate with Zeldin she revealed that she supported lifting the charter school cap. As of now, 460 charter schools are allowed to operate in New York, including 290 in New York City.

It’s possible that Hochul could push for lifting the cap, something that pro-charter advocates have wanted for years. That would allow more such schools to open in New York City. Hochul’s campaign received at least $70,000 in donations across two pro-charter political action committees.

However, she didn’t openly advocate for such a policy during her first year in office. And even if she did, the state legislature has so far not been supportive of lifting the cap.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Here are the big education donors in New York’s governor’s race

2022-11-08T00:20:10+00:00

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Lee Zeldin, her Republican opponent, have built large campaign war chests as they seek to win New York state’s highest office on Tuesday.

While education-focused groups haven’t stuck out as either candidate’s biggest donors, both candidates have received some substantial donations from those who exert influence on New York’s education world — helping to paint a clearer picture of who is hoping to have sway over schools policy.

Hochul has touted boosting funding for public schools while in office and has earned the endorsements of powerful teachers unions. She recently revealed that she supported lifting the cap on how many charter schools can open in New York.

Zeldin has voiced strong support for school choice, including charters and private choice options, and has embraced conservative talking points about banning “divisive curriculum” related to race and restricting “age-inappropriate” sex education.

Hochul’s campaign has garnered contributions from some of the biggest players, such as educator unions, while Zeldin has gained the support of some of the nation’s wealthiest businessmen.

Hochul’s campaign has collected nearly $54 million since she took office in August 2021, according to the most recent contributions report on the New York State Board of Elections website. Zeldin’s campaign has garnered nearly $24 million since he announced his candidacy for governor in April 2021.

Here are some highlights of who’s contributed to both campaigns as voters head to the polls Tuesday:

Hochul

Hochul has received contributions from every major educator union: $69,700 from the political committee associated with the state teachers union, New York State United Teachers, or the maximum allowed contribution across primary and general statewide elections; $47,100 from the city teachers union, representing the maximum allowed during a general election; $5,000 from the city’s principals union in September 2021, about a month after Hochul confirmed she would run; and the maximum $69,700 from the national American Federation of Teachers.

The city teachers union has also “engaged our own membership in this election through a combination of digital ads, mailers, emails, texts, robo and live calls in support of the Hochul-Delgado ticket,” said spokesperson Alison Gendar.

The union has praised Hochul for boosting funding for schools and signing a bill that aims to reduce class sizes in New York City public schools. Michael Mulgrew, president of the city teachers union, called Hochul “the best advocate for New York City students and educators in a generation,” when Hochul visited the union’s delegate assembly last month.

Before endorsing Hochul, the state teachers union hadn’t thrown its support behind a gubernatorial candidate since 2006, said spokesperson Matt Hamilton. The union often had an adversarial relationship with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, especially over school funding and how state tests factored into teacher evaluations.

In endorsing Hochul in January, the union’s president, Andy Pallotta, said in a statement that Hochul’s “commitment to listening to the needs of our members” is the sign of a “new day” in the state’s capitol.

Hochul’s contributions show she also has some support in the charter sector. New Yorkers for Putting Students First, the political action committee for pro-charter, education reform advocacy organization StudentsFirst NY, gave Hochul $40,000 in September 2021. The committee also donated to Hochul when she was lieutenant governor.

She also received $30,000 this year from the Great Public Schools Political Action Committee, which was created by Eva Moskowitz, who founded New York’s largest charter network, Success Academy. That committee had previously also supported Cuomo. A representative for Success Academy declined to comment on the donation. Eric Grannis, Moskowitz’ husband who was previously listed as the committee’s main contact, did not immediately respond for comment.

That donation came far before Hochul revealed in a recent debate with Zeldin that she, like Zeldin, supports lifting New York’s cap on how many charter schools can open.

Hochul also received $10,000 in October 2021 from the New York School Bus Contractors Association’s political action committee. The organization represents about 100 school transportation companies, according to its website.

Zeldin

While it doesn’t appear that any major education organizations have donated to Zeldin’s campaign, he’s received large sums from Dan Loeb and Ronald Lauder, two billionaires who have gained attention for their views on education policy.

Loeb, who is the CEO of a New York City-based asset management firm called Third Point LLC, donated the maximum $47,100 allowed in general elections to Zeldin’s campaign last month. In the education world, Loeb sits on the board of trustees for Success Academy and was previously the network’s chairperson. CNBC reported in the spring that Loeb, who had contributed $1 million to a political action committee that supported Mayor Eric Adams during the mayoral campaign last year, had been advocating for charter schools in private discussions with Adams.

On Third Point’s website, Loeb’s profile notes that he’s been “an advocate for reforming America’s schools to ensure all children have access to high quality education.” He donated roughly $250,000 over the summer to New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, a political action committee with ties to Students First New York.

Zeldin first announced his campaign’s education agenda in front of a Success Academy campus in Queens. He said he supports lifting the charter cap and more generally supports school choice, including establishing “tax credits for school choice” and creating education savings accounts, which families can use to withdraw their children from public schools and receive tax dollars to pay for private school or other educational options like therapy.

Representatives for Third Point declined to comment on why Loeb is supporting Zeldin.

Lauder, who donated nearly $61,000 to Zeldin’s campaign, gained attention in 2019 for bankrolling a lobbying effort to preserve the Specialized High Schools Admission Test, which is the single exam students take to gain entry to eight of New York City’s nine specialized high schools.

Lauder has exerted significant influence over the governor’s race this year, spending $11 million so far on getting Zeldin elected, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Cuts to specialized high schools, a boost to homeless students: NYC task force proposes budget changes

2022-11-04T22:32:20+00:00

A task force charged with rethinking the way New York City distributes school funding released recommendations on Friday that could help shift how hundreds of millions of dollars are distributed to more than 1,500 public schools.

Many of the proposals would have implications for a broad swath of schools if adopted, including boosting funding at campuses that enroll more homeless students and those living in poverty.

Other recommendations would impact a relatively small set of schools but are nonetheless likely to draw controversy, including a proposal to eliminate a special funding boost at 13 of the city’s most selective high schools.

None of the ideas are binding — it’s now up to schools Chancellor David Banks and Mayor Eric Adams to decide whether to tweak the city’s funding formula for next school year. The report’s public release may create political pressure to act, as a previous task force convened under the last administration fizzled out before formally releasing any recommendations.

But enacting the task force’s proposals would either require a big influx of new funding or significant cuts to some campuses, both of which would likely face political hurdles.

The task force’s report focuses on the city’s “Fair Student Funding” formula, which funnels about two-thirds of the money that flows to school budgets. Schools typically receive a baseline amount per student — this year, it’s about $4,197. Students with additional needs — including those with disabilities, English language learners, and students with low test scores — come with additional dollars on top of the baseline.

The city’s funding formula is among the most progressive in the country, but advocates have long pushed for tweaks. The latest task force was created after the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, which is largely appointed by the mayor, took the unusual step of voting against the funding formula for this school year. Though the formula was later approved, officials promised to launch a working group to solicit feedback.

The report’s proposals taken together would cost between $375 million and $983 million, depending on which specific combination of recommendations are included, according to education department figures.

Without additional funding, steering more money to certain campuses will require cuts to others. Large schools and those with fewer low-income students would face significant cuts under that framework, city projections show. That could be a political non-starter, since the vast majority of schools are already facing cuts thanks to shrinking enrollment.

Alternatively, the city could allocate new money to the city’s schools to pay for the changes to ensure they don’t reduce school budgets. But top officials have already signaled that they plan to make across-the-board cuts to city agencies, including the education department.

In a letter to working group members, Banks wrote that the education department would evaluate the proposals “within the current fiscal context” and use the recommendations to apply the formula “most equitably for next year.”

The city’s teachers union — which participated on the task force alongside parent leaders, policy experts, and advocates — raised concerns about how the proposals would be funded in the days leading up to the report’s release, according to a copy of a letter to other task force members obtained by Chalkbeat.

“Given the losses our schools and students have suffered in recent years, the last thing the system should be doing is setting up a ‘Hunger Games’ scenario that will pit school against school,” wrote Michael Mulgrew, the union’s president. “The plan must include a hold-harmless provision that will protect schools from seeing their budgets decline if these recommendations are enacted.”

Jasmine Gripper, executive director of the advocacy group Alliance for Quality Education and a co-chair of the task force, said questions about how to pay for proposals was a source of tension within the group.

“What we’re trying to do is drive more resources to schools with the greatest needs and we don’t want to rob Peter to pay Paul,” she said. At the same time, “There are people who think the system doesn’t need more money — it just needs to be distributed better.”

Gripper added that the task force only had three months to come up with proposals, limiting the group’s ability to do a complete review, though she said the current recommendations are a good start.

The report notes that there was not “whole group consensus” on the recommendations and two of the task force’s members released their own set of proposals separate from the larger group. The report also proposes that the task force continue meeting.

For now, though, here’s what the task force’s current recommendations would do:

Funnel more money to homeless students and those living in poverty

Nearly 10% of the city’s students live in temporary housing, including a recent influx of migrants from South American countries. While some federal funding is allocated for homeless students, the city’s formula does not attach extra money to those children. The working group wants the city to change that.

The education department should increase the base amount of per-student funding 12% to 24% per homeless student, the report recommends, which would cost between $43 million and $86 million. Without new funding for that change, the city projects the new weight for homeless students would shift funding from about 700 lower-poverty schools to higher-poverty ones.

The report argues additional funding is needed to address chronic absenteeism, higher dropout rates, and intense stressors related to housing instability. Principals can spend money allocated through the funding formula as they see fit, but the report suggests that school leaders use it to hire extra social workers or partner with community organizations — groups that often provide social services, attendance outreach, and more.

Children living in poverty — or roughly 70% of the student population — should also come with extra funding, the report says. The city already allocates some additional funding for low-income students, but it is limited to schools that serve students below the fourth grade. Expanding the poverty weight even modestly is expensive — between $138 million to $276 million, depending on how aggressively it is increased — because such a large percentage of students come from low-income families.

Nix the special bonus for elite high schools

The city’s funding formula is designed to send extra resources to schools that enroll high-need students. But a group of 13 elite high schools — serving relatively few Black and Latino students, English learners, or students with disabilities — receive a special bonus payment. This year, it’s about $1,049 per student.

The report recommends eliminating extra funding to those 13 schools, which include eight specialized high schools that admit students based on a single exam. Instead, the city should distribute that money, about $26 million, “to support advanced coursework for a broader reach of students,” according to the working group.

Funding for the city’s schools should primarily drive more resources to needy students and “a weight for specialized academic high schools does not necessarily align with this overarching vision for increased equity,” the recommendation states.

The report does not spell out precisely how to redistribute the money. The proposal is likely to prove controversial, as the move would reduce funding at some of the city’s best known and most politically connected schools, including Stuyvesant (which would lose $4.3 million), Brooklyn Tech ($8 million), and Bronx Science ($4 million).

New funding for high-need schools

With a few exceptions, the city’s funding formula allocates money based on student headcount rather than to specific schools. But the working group recommends that the city add a new funding stream specifically for schools that serve unusually high concentrations of homeless students, those with disabilities, English learners, students in foster care, and those from low-income households.

“Schools serving students with a greater myriad of needs require more resources to support these populations than weights at the individual student level provide,” according to the report.

The top third of schools with larger concentrations of high-need students would receive additional funding while the majority of schools would give up some. Depending on the exact model for implementing the proposal, even high-poverty schools could lose some money because they don’t serve high concentrations of other high-need student groups. The education department projects the change would cost $60 million to $120 million.

Boost base funding for all campuses — but concerns about small schools loom large

On top of per-student funding, each school receives $225,000, traditionally to pay for a principal and a secretary. The report recommends boosting that amount to cover additional positions, as some campuses may struggle to pay for a full range of mental health and academic staff — particularly those with fewer students.

The working group recommends two different possible funding boosts. One would add $105,000, or roughly the cost of a social worker. Another would raise the base allocation by $345,000, which would include the cost of a social worker, guidance counselor, and assistant principal.

These proposals are pricey: between $160 million and $526 million. Without additional funding, the proposal would represent a significant transfer of resources from larger schools to small ones and would only modestly increase funding for higher-poverty schools, according to the education department’s analysis. The city’s 10 largest schools would lose an average of $712 per student.

Increasing school funding regardless of student enrollment helps smaller schools, which have grown in number as enrollment has fallen dramatically. But it also raises questions about whether shrinking campuses should wind up with significantly more funding per student even as their ability to offer a full range of programs declines.

“Increased investment in schools with less than 200 students may only prolong an inevitable decline in funding to levels that cannot sustain increasingly small schools,” the report notes. “Given that these schools largely serve high need students, it is incumbent on NYC Public Schools to find longer term solutions to the growing numbers of small schools.”

This story has been updated with additional context about the task force’s deliberations.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Facing enrollment drop, one Bronx middle school tries its hand at marketing

2022-11-02T22:33:36+00:00

Will Frackelton held a microphone in front of dozens of his seventh and eighth graders, wriggling in their seats in the auditorium that they share with two other Bronx schools.

Students and staff from Soundview Academy for Culture and Scholarship, where Frackelton is the principal, had gathered for a town hall last month that covered school safety, high school applications, and other topics. Before dismissing them, Frackelton made an unusual request: Would they help market the school over the next two weeks?

“I know you know kids that are in middle schools that are not happy, that don’t treat them like kids,” the middle school’s leader told the students. “I got 25 spots in the sixth grade, 25 spots in the seventh grade, 25 spots in the eighth grade, and if I don’t fill them with kids in 18 days, they’re gonna ask me this summer to let a bunch of teachers go.”

Frackelton’s request reflects a precarious budget situation facing many schools in a system where school funding is largely tied to enrollment, and enrollment has been plunging.

At the end of September, higher-ups at the education department informed Frackelton that they overestimated their enrollment projections used to calculate his school’s budget this year. With 75 fewer students than projected, his school owed the department about $750,000. If his roster didn’t grow by Oct. 31, he would either have to let go of several new teachers, or put the debt off until next year.

But Frackelton saw a third choice: Enroll 75 children before the deadline.

By the middle of the month, Frackelton had created a flier and a video to share on social media to entice families to enroll their children at Soundview, with the help of a former colleague who specializes in video production. Now, he was asking parents, staff and students, if they liked the school, to share the material everywhere.

Frackelton made this plea: “Find a kid, save a teacher.”

Enrollment declines put schools in tight spot

Many schools across New York City are facing enrollment declines. With 9.5% fewer students since the pandemic, most schools have seen budget cuts. As a result, many have larger class sizes and cuts to enrichment activities or extra programs for students.

During the pandemic, schools were held harmless for losing more students than projected. Now, schools are once again facing what is known as the “mid-year adjustment” — owing money if your roster is less than projected, or getting more if your numbers are higher. Department officials did not answer questions about how many schools fell below projections and owed money.

At the start of this school year, Soundview Academy enrolled just under 300 students, hitting a decade low. Though enrollment has dropped across the city since 2015, Soundview’s student body had been growing — until the pandemic.

Education department enrollment projections are rarely an exact science. Over the past decade, Soundview typically enrolled more students than projected. This year, they signed up 350 students by summertime. By September, staff were surprised that 75 of those children failed to show up. Frackelton assumed most had fled to charters, but found out only 11% of them did so. Nearly 60% left New York City. About 20% enrolled in other schools within Soundview’s district. The rest went to other district schools.

“In a post-pandemic New York public school reality, there’s just less kids, right, and there was no strategic plan,” for how schools like his should respond, Frackelton said. “So I decided, I’m just going to go for broke and see if we can come up with our own marketing strategy.”

Soundview Academy gets creative

By the day of the student town hall on Oct. 14, Frackelton’s school had enrolled roughly 10 more kids since he got the warning letter from the education department. That left 65 to go.

Kevin Lopez, a former staffer under Frackelton who is now an assistant principal at Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design, filmed footage for a 15-second promotional video at no cost to the school. It features Frackelton’s voice and clips of a couple of students talking about the school, as well as clips of students in classrooms.

It ends with an overhead shot of the school building and the school’s official seal, with the words, “WE CHOOSE YOU, ENROLL NOW!”

All fifth graders must apply to get into middle school in New York City. Like most city middle schools now, Soundview doesn’t screen elementary school students who want to enroll. It is also a community school this year, meaning that, because they serve a large share of high-needs students, the school partners with a nonprofit organization to provide wraparound support for children.

On the day before the student town hall, Frackelton’s team shared the promotional video on Instagram. During a parent association meeting that same evening, he pleaded with parents to spread the word on social media.

“I need you to come in tomorrow and grab some fliers, go to the buses, go to the trains, go down to that school, Bronx Charter [School] For The Arts, and get our kids back,” Frackelton told the group. (Bronx Charter School For the Arts did not immediately respond for comment.)

One of those new teachers is ErrDaisha Floyd, who teaches seventh grade social studies and is in her first year of teaching. Students are struggling more than she anticipated with reading difficult texts and staying focused. It’s been easier to help children one-on-one during periods when she has a special education teacher assist her class.

If there are big cuts to staff next year, it’s going to make school even harder, she believes.

“It’s just not fair for the students or the teachers because there will be a lot of students whose needs are not being met,” Floyd said.

Choosing to let go of teachers now would destroy the school’s programming, Frackelton said, right as staff is trying to help get students on grade level in reading and math, including through special periods dedicated to improving phonics and reading skills. Just under 6% of Soundview students passed state math tests last school year, compared with about 27% before the pandemic, but reading proficiency levels stayed about the same, with about 30% of students passing, according to data from the city and state. However, far fewer children took the tests last school year compared with 2019, making it difficult to make comparisons.

While Frackelton doesn’t believe the cuts would directly affect core instruction in reading and math, it’s likely that class sizes would grow. And funding cuts would mean paring back their dual language program — the only such middle school program in their district — far less arts and dance programming and courses in the school’s new technology lab that has 3D printers. Those are activities that the school pushes children to get involved in so that they can “find motivation” beyond academics, he said.

Cuts could also hamper the school’s efforts to pair students with teacher mentors. Those mentors currently have 10-15 students each and check in with them three times a day, but cuts to funding would mean cuts to staff, making it harder for teachers to build those connections. Many of the school’s children, 83% of whom are living in poverty and several of whom are transferring in from another school for safety reasons, benefit from having someone to talk to, Frackelton said.

Soundview’s focus on things beyond academics is what first attracted Farah Despeignes, the president of the parent association, to the school a few years ago. Her son didn’t want to attend their zoned school, so he applied to Soundview. He began pursuing dance, gymnastics, and cooking— activities he used to think of as reserved for girls — and began questioning traditional gender roles and stereotypes.

“It actually helped him to grow quite a bit,” Despeignes said of her son, now in high school.

He started at Townsend Harris High School in Queens this year, and her younger son is now an eighth grader at Soundview after they were both home-schooled last year.

Despeignes worried her children would get sick and that there were not enough social-emotional resources for students and staff — not just at Soundview, but citywide.

She sensed many families felt the same last school year and wondered if that’s why people left.

“We didn’t see that support network and those wraparound services,” Despeignes said. “For those reasons, I think that’s what created the situation we are seeing now.”

She also spread the word about the school, but she knew it would be hard to attract families who had already settled into their choices for the year. She’s hoping to share her view that things have been going well for her eighth grader.

“So far, so good,” she said.

Efforts fall short

By Oct. 25 — six days until the deadline — the school had enrolled about 15 new students.

But five had left.

Still the debt to the education department dropped significantly. The school now owes $490,000, Frackelton said.

His new goal is to get more students enrolled by next fall.

One day past the deadline, on Nov. 1, the school held its middle school fair. Frackelton said many people attended, and they handed out fliers left and right.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC sends $12 million to schools serving newcomers. The city’s budget watchdog says they’re owed more.

2022-10-31T21:56:44+00:00

New York City is distributing nearly $12 million in extra funding to schools that have welcomed new students who are homeless, officials announced Monday — though the city’s budget watchdog claims that schools are owed substantially more.

Roughly 7,200 students who live in temporary housing have enrolled in the city’s schools since July 2. Many of them are migrants from South American countries who are seeking asylum.

City officials said Monday they will send an additional $2,000 for each homeless student who arrived since that date to schools that have enrolled at least six new students who live in temporary housing. (The education department does not collect student immigration status, so the city uses housing as a proxy to direct resources to campuses that are absorbing newcomers.)

Records show 369 schools will see bigger budgets thanks to the new money, which can be used for additional tutoring, curriculum materials, after-school programs, and clothing or other personal items students might need, department officials said.

“Schools are the centers of our communities, and through these funds, we will ensure that our schools are fully equipped to provide the academic, emotional, and social needs of our newest New Yorkers,” Chancellor David Banks said in a statement.

Advocates cheered the new funding, which comes as city officials have vowed to provide support for a wave of new immigrants who have an array of needs, from finding stable housing, accessing mental health services, and navigating schools that have long suffered from shortages of bilingual staff and programs.

Still, the one-time funding comes with some limitations, including that it “cannot be used to hire full-time staff” such as an additional bilingual teacher, according to budget documents, though finding additional staff may also prove challenging. Schools receiving additional funding will see an average of $31,713 this year.

City Comptroller Brad Lander argues the funding represents far less than what schools are owed. Schools serving new immigrants should receive at least $34 million total to account for higher enrollment according to the city’s funding formula, which determines the lion’s share of school budgets, Lander said.

That “Fair Student Funding” formula gives schools a baseline amount of money per student ($4,197 this year) and then adds additional dollars on top of that if a student has a disability, is still learning English, is behind grade level, or has other needs. Current English learners come with a maximum of $2,308 in additional funding per child.

The education department should expedite the process of giving schools the per-student funding they’re owed for students who enrolled outside the typical admissions process, Lander contends, money that he said typically doesn’t flow to school budgets until January. (Principals can use that funding as they see fit, including to hire new staff.)

“They know what schools they’re in,” Lander said in an interview. “What is the rationale to wait until January if it’s based on a number you know today?”

Most schools have seen their budgets shrink thanks to declining enrollment, forcing them to jettison staff and cut programs in some cases. Many advocates argue that the city should quickly add funding to account for new immigrants, especially since many of those families have deep needs.

Education department officials said they have started doing that, sending schools that have requested additional funding $25 million to account for new enrollment (that funding is essentially an advance payment for mid-year adjustments that occur if schools enroll a different number of students than projected).

The $12 million that is being sent to schools enrolling at least six students in temporary housing represents entirely new funding separate from the per-student funding formula, meaning those schools will still be eligible for the same budget increases if their enrollment grows more than projected during the year. That pot of money “will be updated as needs are identified throughout the school year,” budget documents show. City officials did not say where that money is coming from.

At P.S. 124 in Brooklyn, staff welcomed over 30 new migrant students as of earlier this month, according to Lander, and the school will receive a $60,000 bump through the education department’s $12 million infusion. Still, the comptroller contends the school is owed at least $223,000 in per-student funding.

The school receiving the most money from the new program is P.S. 143 Louis Armstrong in Queens, which has a dual-language program, and is set to receive $194,000 — suggesting the school has enrolled nearly 100 students in temporary housing since the summer. At the other end of the spectrum, about 50 schools have enrolled just six new arrivals, receiving $12,000 each.

Also on Monday, Lander sent the education department a request for more data on asylum-seeking students, including which schools are serving them and the city’s overall funding plan, especially if migrants continue to arrive throughout the year. Typically, school budgets are not systematically adjusted after Oct. 31, Lander said.

“The numbers of newly arriving students with significant levels of need have increased, making it even more imperative that DOE meets this unique challenge with a plan to provide schools with this funding now, and on an ongoing basis should the flow of asylum seekers continue,” Lander wrote.

An education department spokesperson said the department is working to provide the information Lander requested without compromising the privacy of individual students.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NAEP scores show record drop in math for New York City’s fourth graders, but not in reading

2022-10-24T04:01:00+00:00

Frequent disruptions during the past few school years have left parents and educators questioning how much New York City children have fallen behind academically during the pandemic.

New results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP — given to a random sampling of fourth and eighth graders — provide a complicated answer.

Math scores for the city’s fourth graders fell by a record 9 points compared with 2019, the last time the exam was administered, while the 4-point drop for eighth graders was not considered a significant change by researchers. Perhaps surprisingly, fourth and eighth grade reading scores stayed about the same.

Fourth grade math scores on the exam known as the “nation’s report card” mirrored trends across the United States, showing historic drops in the subject. But results from the five boroughs did not line up with the national dip in reading scores.

Still, New York City’s scores on math and reading remained below national and New York state averages.

Though the state’s trends were similar to national ones, New York still has “work to do to get students to where they need to be, not just academically but social emotionally as well,” said Emily DeSantis, a spokesperson for the state education department.

The pandemic exacerbated many of the inequities that already pervaded the school system. It left students, families, and teachers dealing with multiple crises, including the deaths of loved ones, illness and long stretches of isolation. And even as campuses reopened last year, learning continued to be interrupted for many children. More than 40% of students were chronically absent last year, missing at least 18 days of school.

The NAEP results provide the first authoritative insight on where students may need extra help and where districts should consider dedicating their resources, such as federal relief dollars that are set to run out in 2024.

“We have to be committed for the long haul to get students the support they need, to make sure schools have the resources and training they need to be able to provide that support, and not to just expect that in 2024, we’re done with this,” said Sarah Part, policy analyst for Advocates For Children New York, which supports the city’s highest need students.

“There will be rippled effects for the next decade, probably,” she said.

Just 18% of the city’s fourth graders were proficient in math, compared with 24% in 2019. Levels that low in New York City have not been seen for nearly 20 years, according to the results.

Compared to other urban districts, the city’s results were mixed. For example, eighth grade math and fourth grade reading scores were slightly higher than other urban districts, while eighth grade reading was on par with others.

NAEP scores, unlike state tests, haven’t changed over time, making it possible to compare scores over the years and compare students across different states. But one complicating factor for many districts is declining enrollment: if a different pool of students takes the tests, it could affect scores.

Racial disparities in NAEP scores

There were large disparities among white and Asian American students compared with their Black and Hispanic peers. In fourth grade math, for instance, just 11% of Black and Hispanic students scored proficiently, compared with 39% of white students and 48% of Asian American students. In eighth grade math, just 6% of Black students were proficient, compared with 12% of Hispanic students, 46% of white students and 58% of those who are Asian American.

New York City schools Chancellor David Banks highlighted these disparities and said the results show “far too many of our students are not achieving proficiency” in math and reading.

“I firmly believe that every student can achieve excellence and every school has the capacity to make that happen — we just need to support them getting there,” Banks said in a statement.

Students of color, especially those who are immigrants and come from low-income families, were more likely to lose loved ones, have parents who lost work, or be charged with extra responsibilities, such as caring for younger siblings, said Part, of Advocates for Children.

One federal report found that half of low-income families reported someone in their household losing work or getting a pay cut in 2020. In New York City, Black and Hispanic workers were more likely to be required to work in person, increasing their risk for becoming infected with COVID, according to the report.

“Even if the kid is very young and doesn’t totally understand the details of what’s going on, they sense that their parents are super stressed out and things are not good,” Part said. “All of that affects their ability to learn and focus and get the most out of instruction.”

To help students recover academically from the pandemic, city officials had dedicated more than $750 million toward academic recovery programs and extra services for students with disabilities to be used through 2024, including sending hundreds of millions of dollars directly to schools to create tutoring and enrichment programs. Schools struggled to spend that money last year.

Part’s organization has called on the city’s education department to use COVID dollars for more targeted academic interventions, such as more evidence-based reading interventions. City officials have plans to screen every child for reading challenges and have required schools to spend a portion of their relief dollars on literacy efforts.

What is NAEP?

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, pronounced nape) is a test administered by an arm of the U.S. Department of Education. It’s given periodically to a representative subset of American students in math and reading in grades four and eight. Scores are broken down by state and for a select handful of cities, too. The latest results are based on tests given between January and March 2022. The previous test was given in 2019, before the pandemic. Unlike state exams or tests students might take for a regular class, these tests are low stakes for individual students, teachers, and schools. In other words, results aren’t used to, say, evaluate teachers or grade students. Scores from a separate NAEP exam that has been given to 9-year-olds for many decades were previously released in September.

How should I interpret the results?

Results are based on a sample of students, so there is a margin of error — or uncertainty — in the scores. This is particularly important for reading the state and city scores, which have higher margins of error than the country as a whole. This margin of error also determines whether a score change is statistically “significant.” A score change is considered statistically significant when the increase or decrease exceeds the margin of error — that is, when researchers are confident that the change is different than zero.

- Matt Barnum

Hurdles in catching kids up

Though the city’s eighth graders didn’t see statistically significant changes in reading or math scores on NAEP, along with fourth grade reading scores, state tests point to more concerning declines.

Unlike NAEP, eighth grade math scores fell significantly, by 11 percentage points.

In line with the NAEP scores, however, reading scores grew slightly for eighth graders on their state tests.

(Education officials said it’s difficult to compare state test scores to 2019, since about 20% fewer city students took state exams last year due to enrollment declines, as well as children opting out of the tests.)

New York City has also administered its own school-based assessments for core subjects, but has refused to publicly release those results.

This year, schools are facing new challenges. Due to declining enrollment, city officials cut budgets at three-quarters of city schools. Many were forced to let go of teachers, increase class sizes, and cut back on enrichment. Despite pressure from City Council and advocates, Mayor Eric Adams declined to use billions of remaining COVID dollars to cover these cuts.

Many educators argue that those cuts have made it tough for schools to help students recover, both academically and socially. The department also has sent less money directly to schools this year for academic recovery and pared back its program for students with disabilities.

At one Bronx middle school whose students were part of the NAEP testing pool, the job of teaching has become especially tough, said art teacher Jake Jacobs.

Last school year, following multiple resignations, the school was short two science teachers. Educators licensed in other subjects, such as math, had to fill in, meaning they didn’t always have enough time to plan lessons for their other courses, said Jacobs.

“I just think it is really unfair to those kids,” said Jacobs, who was among the teachers filling in.

About 90% of their students come from low-income families. One in five has a disability, while another quarter are learning English as a new language. Educators charged with helping these children have felt stretched thin. Many students were below grade level even before the pandemic, and many didn’t show up during remote learning, Jacobs said.

Educators have been assessing students and meeting to determine how to best use those results. For Jacobs, the efforts feel like an uphill battle: They’re spending days preparing children for various assessments, but he wants more time helping children one-on-one and getting them more interested in school.

“On the ground, when you’re an actual teacher in the classroom, it’s really intrusive to take so many tests,” Jacobs said.

For Elisa Capers’ fifth-grade daughter, who enjoys reading but struggles with math, it was tough “getting back into the groove” after spending part of second grade and all of third grade in remote learning. Returning last year, she felt overwhelmed by worksheets and more challenging lessons.

“It was right back into it,” said Capers, an East Harlem mom who works as an educational consultant. “The kids developmentally and socially just weren’t there yet. I think that turned a lot of the kids off.”

Like most city students, her daughter did not score proficient on state reading or math exams.

Capers thinks her daughter is in a better place now, after a full year of in-person learning. There are some signs of progress. Her school-based assessments show that she’s reading on grade level, and she’s regularly thumbing through comics and graphic novels on her tablet. She’s one grade level behind in math, and Capers has signed her up for math tutoring with Kumon.

Still, Capers has emphasized to her daughter that her scores on state tests or other standardized exams doesn’t mean she’s failed.

“I tried to make light of it and told her this doesn’t define you, I know what you’re able to do,” Capers said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

New York City grapples with influx of new asylum-seeking students

2022-10-18T22:30:11+00:00

As New York City grapples with how to better support the influx of students from asylum-seeking families hailing from South American countries, schools are looking for more bilingual educators and social workers.

They’re also trying to get clothes and food to families in need.

But getting there isn’t simple. At least 5,500 new students living in shelters have enrolled, whom officials believe are largely newcomer immigrants, though their immigration status is not tracked by the education department. Given the additional students, schools should receive, at minimum, an additional $34 million in funding, Comptroller Brad Lander said Tuesday.

Before this school year began, officials had expected about 1,000 children would enroll, though they expected that figure to grow. Now, as nearly six times that number of newcomer students have arrived, officials are scrambling to tackle a raft of challenges at the school level, including a shortage of Spanish-speaking staff.

“There are no easy answers here. We are all very clear about that,” Chancellor David Banks told reporters Tuesday during a press conference at P.S. 16 in the Bronx, which recently welcomed several asylum seekers to its school. “We’re figuring it out as we go and doing the best that we can.”

The influx of students, many of whom have high needs, comes as schools had already been dealing with funding cuts due to declines in projected enrollment. Officials promised emergency funding for schools that are seeing a surge of new students, but some schools report not yet receiving extra support, Lander said. Brooklyn’s P.S. 124, which enrolled 35 new migrant students, added a temporary guidance counselor but received no new funding or staff, such as another bilingual educator, Lander’s statement said.

P.S. 16, where the chancellor visited Tuesday, now has a psychologist intern and a new English as a new language teacher, Lander said.

Banks said that the school recently saw 39 new students living in temporary housing, though the city does not track whether those students are part of the surge of asylum seekers.

Schools will likely face more challenges as they try to address the various needs of newcomer immigrant students, especially if the number of asylum-seeking students continues to grow.

Need for more bilingual instruction

Some schools with many new students are struggling to provide instruction in Spanish. At P.S. 33 in Chelsea, parents reported that their children are having difficulty understanding lessons, the New York Post reported.

Lander believes more resources are needed, and he is calling for the education department to immediately release an additional $34 million to schools that opened their doors to migrant students. But that might be a conservative estimate. The figure excludes preschool programs, as well as costs associated with any students who may be newly identified with disabilities, according to his office.

Education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said the city has distributed $25 million so far to schools seeing an increase of new students, on top of $50 million distributed to schools that appealed the budgets they received over the summer. Lander’s office noted that the education department has not responded to requests for their funding plan for migrant students, and it’s unclear how that $25 million will be spent.

Generally, schools that have enrolled more students than the department has projected receive more funding in the winter as part of the city’s “midyear adjustment” process, but the late timing of that extra money makes it tough for school leaders to hire staff when the needs are more immediate.

“These children – who have little English proficiency, varying degrees of grade level readiness, possible special education needs, and extreme trauma to overcome – need extensive academic and social emotional support,” Lander said in a statement.

Students who are learning English are entitled to traditional English as a new language instruction, meaning their classes are in English, but they receive extra support and translation help during and outside of class. Their families can also choose from bilingual programs or dual language instruction, but most city schools lack such programming, according to data from last school year.

Carolyne Quintana, the education department’s deputy chancellor for teaching and learning, said the city is creating transitional bilingual programs at schools as needed, in response to the influx of newcomer students. These programs gradually increase the amount of time that students receive instruction in English, she said.

“The goal of the programming is to support students in their home language while they transition into acquisition of English instruction,” Quintana said at Tuesday’s press conference.

Department officials did not provide more details on how the department is creating these new programs or where they’re being created. A spokesperson said they’re adding teachers at schools as needed, based on the language needs at the school. Facing a shortage of bilingual educators, the city recently announced hiring teachers from the Dominican Republic.

Advocates have pointed out that schools in New York City have long struggled to support students learning English as a new language. Over the past decade, the city has failed to comply with a state-issued corrective action plan focused on students learning English as a new language. For example, the city has failed to provide legally required services to all bilingual students with disabilities, largely because there aren’t enough trained bilingual educators.

In a letter issued to the city last year, the state said it was “dismayed” by the continued lack of bilingual programs for students learning English.

Hiring bilingual social workers

Education officials and advocates have emphasized that asylum-seeking students are likely grappling with many different stressors: leaving home and loved ones behind, learning to speak a new language, and acclimating to a new country. In his remarks Tuesday, Banks recounted recently meeting a student who had nearly drowned crossing into the United States.

“If you take time, and we really think about the level of trauma that a lot of these young people have had to go through, just to get here … it’s an opportunity to stand for everything that we’ve always said that we’re about,” Banks said.

Of the roughly 3,100 guidance counselors who work for New York City public schools, about 10% are bilingual, according to a city report from February. Of 1,900 social workers, nearly 13% are bilingual — meaning there would be one social worker for every 580 students learning English as a new language. The report didn’t specify which languages these staffers speak. About 14% of city students are learning English as a new language.

Advocates often report that students they work with don’t have access to a counselor or social worker who speaks their native language.

Banks said the education department is currently recruiting more social workers who speak Spanish. Officials did not elaborate on how many they’re looking to hire.

Coordinating donations and other supplies

Many of the new students are in need of basic supplies, such as food and clothing as their families get settled.

City officials are planning to create “borough response teams,” which will “organize food and clothing drives, resource fairs, and listening sessions/focus groups across the city,” according to a flier shared with parent councils across the city, asking people to sign up to join.

The teams will “help organize donation drives to support our newest New Yorkers, leveraging the incredible generosity of our communities,” Banks said Tuesday, but neither he nor the flier elaborated further on what these teams will do.

Some parent councils have already kicked into gear gathering donations for families in need.

The parent council overseeing Manhattan’s District 2 blasted out an email Tuesday asking people to donate or purchase items from Amazon wishlists that have been requested by various schools in the district. Schools are requesting warm clothing and shoes, undergarments, toiletries, and snacks that they’ll distribute to families in need.

Lupe Hernandez, a member of that parent council, is also a member of the newly minted Manhattan borough response team and has been helping coordinate donations. The parent council has always collected items for schools that enroll many students living in nearby shelters, but those same schools are now seeing a surge of newcomer immigrant students, she said.

Her new “borough response” team is still figuring out how they’ll support families, but volunteers are brainstorming ideas, including mirroring a plan in the Bronx to have a fair-like event with booths that provide various support, such as health services, and fun activities for new families, she said.

“I think the goal is to try to provide as many wraparound services in one location, as well as provide uplifting fun for families and kids,” Hernandez said.

Alex Zimmerman contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Cuts to specialized high schools, money for homeless students: NYC task force weighs budget changes

2022-10-12T23:46:11+00:00

A school funding task force has released preliminary proposals that could reshape spending at virtually every New York City public school, from those that serve large numbers of low-income students to the city’s most selective high schools.

Multiple proposals would disproportionately benefit the city’s growing number of small schools or campuses with an outsized share of students living in poverty. Others — such as charging schools the same amount of money per teacher regardless of their actual salary — could funnel resources away from schools in some of the city’s neediest neighborhoods, education department projections show.

Some ideas address long-standing controversies, such as eliminating an extra pool of money that flows to some of the city’s most competitive high schools, including Stuyvesant and Bronx Science. But other proposals are likely to spark new debates, including a proposal to eliminate a funding boost for career and technical programs and alternative schools that serve students who are behind in credits and at risk of dropping out.

Each of the proposals would alter the city’s “Fair Student Funding” formula, which represents roughly two-thirds of school budgets. The formula sends schools a baseline amount of money for each student — this year, it’s about $4,197. But certain student groups come with additional dollars, including those with disabilities, English language learners, and students with low test scores.

For years, experts and advocates have debated whether the formula — which is generally meant to send more money to schools with higher-need students — is as fair as its name suggests. In an unusual rebuke, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy voted not to approve the funding formula last April, but later reversed course after city officials promised to set up a task force to propose changes that could be incorporated in time to impact school budgets next year.

It remains to be seen how much force the recommendations will have, as a similar task force issued suggestions that were ultimately shelved. The latest task force’s final recommendations are due by the end of the month, and the decision about whether to enact them will rest with schools Chancellor David Banks and Mayor Eric Adams. Some members aren’t sure if their ideas will be paid for with new money or if they must come at the expense of other funding priorities.

“We’ve had six or seven sessions so far and they’ve been really good and productive,” said Dia Bryant, a co-chair of the funding task force and executive director of Education Trust New York, an advocacy group. “We hope that [Banks] takes those recommendations into serious consideration.”

Here are six things to know about the recommendations the task force is considering:

New funding for high-need students — and schools

Nearly one in 10 New York City students is homeless — representing over 100,000 students — and advocates have long called for the city to dedicate more funding to those students.

One of the working group’s proposals would do just that: adding between $43 million and $86 million in funding, which would boost per-student spending for students living in temporary housing, education department figures show. Principals have wide discretion in using the money that flows through the Fair Student Funding formula and a funding boost could support additional staff, expanded attendance outreach, and more.

A separate proposal would increase funding at roughly 500 high-need schools rather than solely giving a boost for individual students in a specific high-need category. Schools with large shares of homeless students, those living in poverty or foster care, or schools that enroll high proportions of students with disabilities or English learners would receive additional money.

“It’s good they’re taking a look at these things,” said Michael Rebell, executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Columbia University. He added the lack of additional funding for homeless students is “something that should have been corrected a long time ago.”

Eliminating a special bonus for elite high schools

The city’s funding formula is generally designed to give schools that enroll high-need students more money. But the formula also offers additional resources for certain selective high schools — including the city’s eight specialized schools, which admit students based on a single exam. The working group is considering a proposal to end that funding bump.

This year, several selective schools are set to receive about $1,049 more per student than they would otherwise, which costs about $20.5 million, city documents show. (A handful of non-specialized schools also receive the bonus; city officials have not explained why or what criteria are used to give schools the extra money.)

The education department argues those schools need extra funding because their academic programs are more expensive to run, going above and beyond traditional schools. Critics have long contended additional funding for the small group of selective schools is inequitable, especially as many of them enroll relatively few Black and Latino students, students with disabilities or those learning English.

Reducing funding for career education and alternative high schools

That same proposal, however, would also eliminate extra money given to career and technical programs in addition to transfer schools, which serve students who are overage and at risk of dropping out — a possibility that raised some eyebrows during a public input session on Tuesday. (Those programs will receive about $32 million in additional funding this year.)

“I can imagine that transfer schools require a lot of funding based on the fact that these are students who are coming from other schools and coming from difficult situations,” said one principal who attended the meeting.

Sheree Gibson, a member of the funding task force who fielded questions, didn’t say why the group is considering a recommendation to cut funding from transfer schools or career and technical programs, but emphasized the recommendations are not final.

Charging schools the same amount per teacher

Teacher salaries come directly out of school budgets — and more experienced teachers command higher salaries under the teachers union contract.

One proposal would change that so schools pay the same amount of money per teacher regardless of the actual salaries of the educators in a given building, freeing up about $175 million in additional funding at schools with more experienced teachers.

But in the absence of a significant infusion of new money, charging all schools the same amount per teacher would essentially represent a transfer of resources from high-poverty schools to lower-poverty ones since high-poverty schools generally employ less experienced teachers, education department projections show.

The policy change would reduce funding most in the South Bronx, central Brooklyn, and the Lower East Side, while increasing it most on Staten Island and certain stretches of Queens.

City projections show which neighborhoods would lose — or gain — funding if schools were charged the same amount per teacher.

Still, the policy change has some supporters, including the city’s teachers union, which is represented on the task force.

“Schools have to be able to hire and keep the educators their students need, whether that’s to meet special education requirements, the needs of multi-language learners, CTE or other necessary programs,” Alison Gendar, a United Federation of Teachers spokesperson, said in a statement. “The current formula incentivizes poor hiring decisions.”

Increase base funding for schools

In addition to per-student funding, every school receives $225,000 — generally meant to pay for a principal and a secretary. But the task force is considering whether that number should be higher to include money for a social worker, assistant principal, and guidance counselor.

The cost of those additional positions would be $527 million, department projections show, and would require moving funding from about 500 larger schools to 1,000 smaller ones.

Questions remain about how to pay for changes

Several of the draft proposals would require millions of dollars in new funding or reductions elsewhere in the education department’s budget.

For instance, the city’s modeling shows that adding new funding for homeless students could be paid for by cutting money for students who are below grade level and reducing a per-student funding bump that typically accrues when students reach middle or high school.

Public meeting minutes show some of the working group members have repeatedly shared “concern[s] about looking at new models within a fixed pie, rather than with new funding.” And new funding may be hard to come by, especially as Mayor Adams has called on city agencies, including the education department, to reduce spending.

“I think the work group has been vocal about getting away from this zero-sum game and I think that is one of the major tensions,” said Bryant, the co-chair of the funding task force.

An education department spokesperson did not say if the city might allocate new funding without cuts to other parts of the formula. Officials said the proposals will be reviewed by the chancellor and there will be opportunities for feedback by parent councils this winter.

“We deeply appreciate the work of the Fair Student Funding Working group, and look forward to reviewing any and all changes suggested to enhance equity in the formula,” education department spokesperson Jenna Lyle wrote in a statement.

Additional materials and updates about the working group are available on the education department’s website.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC principals with enrollment shortfalls brace for more budget cuts

2022-10-07T18:44:23+00:00

Even as many New York City schools reel from this summer’s budget cuts, some principals are bracing for another financial hit.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, schools with enrollment shortfalls will have to pay back money midway through the school year. Education department budget directors warned many schools last week that they may have to let go of, or “excess,” teachers to achieve hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings through what’s known as the “midyear budget adjustment,” multiple principals told Chalkbeat.

Some principals sent teachers packing weeks into the new school year, while others warned staff that more cuts could be coming. Still others are opting not to make any more cuts this year and take on a budget deficit. But that decision could worsen their long-term financial outlook and bring additional spending restrictions for the rest of this school year.

“Principals are kind of between this rock and a hard place,” said one Brooklyn school leader who will likely owe more than $200,000 to the education department this school year, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It’s a significant amount of money.

“What I’ve chosen to do is not excess anybody and see where the cookie crumbles,” said the Brooklyn principal.

Principals receive their midyear budget adjustment —which takes away money from schools whose enrollment falls short of projections and adds money to those with more students than predicted — typically each fall after enrollment counts are finalized on Oct. 31, and again later in the winter.

The midyear adjustment is meant to address any student roster imbalances from the budgets issued in June, which are based on education department projections for the coming school year. When schools end up with fewer students on their rosters than projected or have students with extremely low attendance rates they can lose per pupil funding for those kids midway through the school year. That amounts to more than $4,000 a student for a general education high school student and up to nearly $12,000 a head for students with disabilities, who receive extra funding, according to DOE figures.

The midyear clawback was paused for the past two school years because of the pandemic, and its return could bring more financial pain and disruption for some schools still reeling from the effects of a first round of enrollment-based budget cuts over the summer.

At some schools, the midyear belt tightening has already taken a toll — even though it’s only about a month into the school year.

The principal of P.S. 222 in Jackson Heights, Queens, told parents last week that “due to…declining enrollment it has become necessary to reorganize our first grade classes at this time. The reorganization entails the elimination of your child’s class,” according to a copy of the principal’s letter posted by Susan Kang, a parent in the eliminated class.

Kang said her son was devastated to lose the teacher he’d spent weeks getting to know, and worried that the disruption would increase behavior challenges and slow down academic progress.

“Young children this age bond with their teachers very quickly,” Kang said. “I imagine there’s going to be more behavioral issues because of this change … it seems unnecessarily cruel.”

At one Bronx middle school, four teachers were excessed just this week, the teachers union confirmed.

“It’s really disruptive to the kids,” said one staffer at the school, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And then you have the rest of the staff, now we have four less people for coverages.”

The fact that the departures happened nearly a month into the year, after the school had already spent weeks “establishing routines,” made it particularly jarring, the staffer added.

The education department declined to say how much money schools with enrollment shortfalls are expected to have to pay back or how many teachers have been excessed since the school year started. Excessed teachers remain on the education department payroll, but have to find a job at a different school.

Education department spokesperson Jenna Lyle said “under the terms of our labor agreements, teachers must be notified by Sept. 30 that they may be required to take a role at another school due to enrollment shifts. If there is the possibility of an enrollment-driven staffing adjustment, principals often utilize this notification as a way to responsibly plan ahead.”

But long-time Queens high school principal Mike Athy, who recently retired after 14 years, said in his experience it’s “unusual” for so many principals to be grappling with the possibility of excessing as part of the midyear budget adjustment.

“In my particular case, I never issued a September excess letter in 14 years,” he said, adding that he’s heard from several principals in recent weeks who said they were encouraged to issue excess notices.

For schools facing big enrollment shortfalls, the midyear clawbacks can force principals to choose among what feels like a set of bad options.

One Bronx principal was notified two weeks ago that he will owe the education department about $750,000 due to enrolling roughly 75 fewer students than expected. That would mean excessing seven to eight teachers who he just hired this summer after a wave of departures. He’s planning to shift the debt to next year, even though district officials have urged him against it.

“It would literally destroy the school’s programs, not to mention excess all the new teachers we brought in who have brought fresh energy, fresh blood and new life to the school,” said the principal, who runs one of the city’s community schools, which serve larger shares of high-needs students.

Other principals said they’re also determined not to excess any staff midway through the school year, and are planning to carry forward a budget deficit into next year instead. Some school leaders are waiting and hoping that the education department will forgive the debt, as happened last year.

A few principals are pounding the pavement, trying to recruit new students before the Oct. 31 enrollment count.

The Bronx principal said since receiving a letter about his $750,000 deficit, about 10 new students have enrolled, bringing his debt down by roughly $100,000. In hopes of enrolling more children, he plans to spend the rest of the month promoting the school “on social media, getting brochures, getting flyers on to the streets.”

But taking on a budget deficit comes with its own risks, said Athy, the former principal.

Education department budget officials need to approve the arrangement, and can impose restrictions like limiting spending on after-school programs for schools that go into the red, Athy said.

Still, for many principals, that’s a more appealing prospect than cutting staff midway through the school year.

On the other end of the enrollment stick, schools with more students than projected get extra funding through the midyear adjustment. But the extra cash comes late enough into the school year that it can be difficult to spend effectively, Athy said.

It can be difficult to hire new teachers midway through the year, and plugging new hires into a schedule that’s already set can cause more disruption.

Making matters more complicated, the education department often doesn’t announce whether schools with budget surpluses can roll their extra money into next year until the spring, upping the pressure on principals to spend the cash right away.

“If you’re a principal and beat the projection … you don’t know whether or not you should roll that forward into the next fiscal year, or … buy all the copy paper in North America,” Athy said.

Loading…

If you are having trouble viewing this form, go here.

Reema Amin contributed.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Where do Hochul and Zeldin stand on education?

2022-11-07T17:29:07+00:00

On the surface, New Yorkers might assume that the state’s candidates for governor — Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin — would have polar opposite approaches to education if they were elected.

And while that likely holds true in several ways, there are still many open questions about how both would craft policy for schools.

Hochul has not focused much at all on education on the campaign trail, and while her time in office so far provides some clues, her campaign website has no details about her goals for the state’s K-12 schools beyond wanting to invest more money in them.

“As a frontrunner she has little incentive to take sharp or even very precise and specific positions, particularly on policies that are at all controversial, particularly policies that are controversial in suburbs,” said Jeffrey Henig, professor of political science and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

In contrast, Zeldin is “throwing everything at the wall that Republicans are trying in lots of places,” Henig said.

The congressman has proposed several priorities, such as banning “divisive concepts” from being taught in schools related to race — a talking point that conservatives across the country have embraced — but he has not provided more specifics on many of his ideas. Some of his proposals are self explanatory, such as wanting to lift the cap on how many charter schools can open in New York.

Zeldin’s campaign did not respond to questions asking to elaborate on his positions or provide more details.

As the governor’s race nears this fall, here’s what we know about where both fall on education issues:

Curriculum

Zeldin has said he would ban “divisive curriculum that pits children against one another based on race and other factors” — language that’s similar to what conservative lawmakers in other states have pushed for.

His platform does not explicitly talk about critical race theory, or CRT, which is an academic framework for studying systemic racism but has been used by Republicans as an umbrella term for diversity and inclusion efforts. Both city and state officials have said critical race theory is not taught in the city’s and state’s public schools. Both locally and statewide, officials have encouraged schools to teach culturally responsive lessons.

But Zeldin wrote in an opinion article last year that CRT was politicizing education. In it, he blasted a lengthy framework released by the state education department that encourages — but does not mandate — districts to teach culturally responsive lessons, or lessons that relate to and affirm various students’ backgrounds. The department also wants districts to consider acknowledging the role of racism in American history and create lessons that empower students to be “agents of change.”

Zeldin’s platform also calls for restricting “age-inappropriate” sex education, though it does not detail what that means, requiring financial literacy courses in public schools, and civics lessons that “teach students about how and why they get to live in the greatest nation in the history of the world.”

Still, if Zeldin were elected, it’s unlikely that he would be able to successfully ban schools from teaching about race since the state legislature is overwhelmingly Democratic and unsupportive of such policies. For example, a bill seeking to ban critical race theory in schools didn’t make it out of committee last year.

“You may see outside money and national organizations try to come in and really sort of add amplitude to those messages around parental rights and critical race theory and gender identity issues,” Henig said. “I don’t want to discount the importance of how people talk about things, but the impact on actual policy would be delayed, at best.”

So far, Hochul has not taken a strong position on what sorts of curriculum or learning standards she supports in schools. When pressed about a New York Times investigation that revealed a lack of basic lessons in core subjects, such as English, in Hasidic yeshivas, Hochul said responsibility over those private religious schools fell to the state education department, not her office. (Zeldin has been supportive of the Hasidic yeshivas, and has been courting the vote of the Orthodox and Hasidic communities, the New York Times reported.)

Asked where Hochul stands on curriculum, her campaign pointed to an ABC 7 story from May, where she said she supported a bill that would have required New York schools to teach about Asian American history. (The bill did not move out of committee.) They also pointed to a bill she signed that requires the state education department to ensure school districts are meeting requirements to teach children about the Holocaust — an idea that Zeldin also supports.

Traditional public schools vs. charter schools

Zeldin has expressed substantial support for school choice and charter schools. In fact, he first announced his education agenda last spring outside of a Success Academy school in Queens.

Zeldin supports lifting the cap on how many charter schools can open in New York, which was reached in the city in 2019. He also wants to establish “tax credits for school choice” and create education savings accounts, but doesn’t provide more details. With an education savings account, parents can withdraw their children from public schools and receive tax dollars in a restricted-use account to pay for private school or other educational options like therapy.

The state legislature so far has not supported lifting the charter cap.

Zeldin’s platform online says he wants more options for “technical grade school level learning, experience and certification,” though it’s unclear if he’s referring to career preparation programs or something else.

On the city level, Zeldin saw eye to eye with Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul on extending mayoral control of schools. And, like Adams, Zeldin also supports keeping the controversial admissions exam in place for the city’s specialized high schools, as well as “advanced and specialized” academics. He’s earned the support of some parents who favor screened admissions to the city’s public middle and high schools and “gifted and talented” programs.

During a debate with Zeldin on Oct. 25, Hochul also said she supported lifting the charter school cap, which seemed to be the first time she said that publicly. [Note: This story originally published before the debate and was updated to reflect her comment.] She’s repeatedly touted overseeing a budget that sent more state money to school districts as the result of an agreement to fully fund Foundation Aid, the state funding formula that sends more money to higher needs districts.

Hochul has taken an interest in boosting mental health resources for students, ensuring more children go to college, specifically by expanding college tuition assistance to part-time students in New York, and has attempted to address the teacher shortage by expanding alternative teacher certification programs and temporarily waiving an income cap for teacher retirees who want to return to the profession.

She also signed a popular bill that requires lower class sizes in New York City, which was celebrated by many families, the teachers union, and advocates. City officials and some conservative parent groups pushed back, arguing the mandate would pull money away from other services for students.

School budgets and enrollment

Neither Hochul nor Zeldin have addressed one of the most critical issues facing public schools: dipping enrollment.

Enrollment in traditional public schools has dropped by more than 2% nationwide since the onset of the pandemic, and by about 9.5% in New York City public schools. Changes in enrollment have big implications for school budgets that are closely tied to the number of students in classrooms. That issue is already playing out in New York City, where three-quarters of schools saw cuts in the funding that pays for staff and programs for students.

Zeldin’s education platform doesn’t address the issue. While Hochul has touted her commitment to boosting funding for public schools, she has not addressed what to do about enrollment changes across the state.

“What you see on the Hochul side is, ‘Yes, we support education, we are willing to spend more on it,’ but kind of resisting what progressive forces might want to see on the campaign, in terms of challenging basic funding formulas in ways that might not play well in wealthy or more affluent communities that would see this as redirecting state monies away from them and towards lower-income communities,” Henig said.

COVID policies

Most COVID mitigations for schools have ended, so it’s not likely that the election of either candidate would drastically change that.

Both Zeldin and Hochul have supported peeling back COVID mitigations, such as masking, with Hochul recently calling remote learning a “mistake.” But Zeldin has pushed harder to remove all sorts of mandates.

While Hochul ended mask mandates, she also oversaw sending at-home COVID tests to schools and has touted keeping schools open during a major surge in infections last winter, though in-person instruction was still severely disrupted. (She’s come under fire in recent weeks for a deal she made when choosing a vendor for those tests.)

Zeldin has opposed COVID vaccine and mask mandates. If elected, he may press Adams to drop a vaccine mandate in place for New York City schools staff. At one point, Hochul expressed support for requiring children to get COVID vaccines. The state legislature would have to pass a bill that added COVID vaccines to the list of already required shots for school children, according to the New York Times.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

3-K is getting the bulk of NYC’s school stimulus funding. But Adams might curb its expansion.

2022-09-22T13:32:13+00:00

When New York City schools received more than $7 billion in federal stimulus money last year, city officials planned to spend more than a quarter of it on one of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature initiatives: expanding preschool for 3-year-olds.

His administration, however, never outlined how the city would pay for the program once those federal dollars ran out by the 2025-26 school year, only saying that he felt confident the economy would bounce back by then.

Now, as Mayor Eric Adams stares down a potential $10 billion budget shortfall when federal dollars dry up in three years, observers are concerned that the city may not have enough money to pay for the growing program.

City officials declined to say whether they wanted to make preschool universal for 3-year-olds as de Blasio had planned, instead saying that the education department was “committed to optimizing access to care, as based on family need and preference, for ages birth to five.”

And the mayor and his schools chief, David Banks, seem to have their own agenda that Adams campaigned on: making care for children under 3 more affordable for low-income families, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

That could leave many families who are banking on child care and early learning for their 3-year-olds without subsidized options, according to budget watchdogs and organizations that represent preschool providers.

“The concern is really, if you’re offering a service that’s gonna be expected to be recurring, you need to tie down funding for it,” said Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan budget watchdog nonprofit.

Officials did not say how they plan to pay for the popular program once federal relief dollars run out nor have they shared plans to scale back stimulus spending.

“Federal stimulus dollars will eventually sunset, and we look forward to working with our partners from all levels of government towards a sustainable path forward for investing in high-quality Early Childhood Education programs,” education department spokesperson Suzan Sumer said in a statement.

Need for affordable child care

De Blasio began opening free preschool programs for 3-year-olds in 2017, after successfully launching universal preschool for 4-year-olds. Using federal stimulus dollars, the city opened 3-K seats in every community school district last year.

Prekindergarten for 3-year-olds was the only grade where enrollment actually grew last year, more than doubling from the year before, as the city opened more seats.

Last year, the city offered more than 46,000 3-K seats, a figure that includes spots that are funded by federal dollars, and filled about 38,000 of them. The city was expected to open about 8,000 more this school year, according to the education department.

Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the education department, tweeted that there are neighborhoods where many seats go unfilled, while in others, there are not enough to meet demand. For example, this year, Southwest Brooklyn had 1,054 available 3K seats and 53 left unfilled. But in the Bronx’s High Bridge and Morrisania, just under half of the 2,400 open seats had been filled.

Rebecca Iwerks, who lives in East Harlem with her husband and three children, enrolled her 3-year-old daughter in a city-funded program near their home. Before this year, she and her husband, who both work, were paying for daycare that cost nearly as much as their rent.

Iwerks’ daughter has “been really happy,” waking up each morning asking if she’s going to school. She seems to have been talking more there, Iwerks said.

“Having a more affordable child care option for her is a huge game-changer for us,” Iwerks said.

Several studies have found that preschool is beneficial for children. A 2019 study out of South Carolina found that children who attended public preschool programs had higher test scores in grades 3-5, improving the academic environment for their peers, too. The students who attended the program were also less likely to be disciplined. Another study found that the siblings and children of students who attended preschool did better academically, had better employment outcomes, and were less likely to be involved with crime.

However, a national 2018 study challenged that narrative: It found that public preschool didn’t lead to higher test scores in fourth grade, but there were gains for children in districts with majority Black students.

3-K gets lion’s share of COVID relief money

When federal COVID dollars rolled in, city officials planned to use $2 billion of it on expanding 3-K through the 2024-25 school year. It was the single largest use of the district’s stimulus dollars over time, according to an analysis last year from the Independent Budget Office, or the IBO. De Blasio had planned to make the program universal by next school year.

The problem, budget watchdogs have warned, starts in July 2025, when federal aid will run out. By then, the city will face a $376 million shortfall for 3-K and has not pointed to a funding source to cover the whole program, according to a budget tracker by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. That’s part of the roughly $840 million budget shortfall that the education department will face in 2025 because of programs it has funded using federal stimulus funds.

While stimulus spending on pre-K is increasing each year, the city is spending less on academic recovery for K-12 schools, including for extra services for students with disabilities, as the federal money dries up. The city is also spending less of these funds overall on school budgets due to projected declining enrollment.

Of the roughly 5,000 districts tracked by Future Ed, an education thinktank out of Georgetown University, 225 districts and charters are spending stimulus dollars on preschool or early education — though none at the level of New York City, according to Phyllis Jordan, associate director of Future Ed.

School districts are allowed to use the federal relief on expanding preschool programs, said a spokesperson for the state education department, which signed off on the city’s planned use of COVID dollars. Signaling support for the city’s plan, the spokesperson said that expanding pre-K programs “addresses lost early childhood learning, socialization, and other foundational skills required for long-term success.”

The huge investment of federal dollars drew mixed feelings from Nora Moran, director of policy at United Neighborhood Houses, which represents preschool providers. The city has addressed something that “is a huge issue for working parents” and good for young children, Moran said, but her organization was concerned about using temporary dollars to prop it up.

They raised the issue with the de Blasio administration, only to be told that the economy would rebound, she said. If it doesn’t, community-based providers might have to cut back programs.

“I think it would be probably a catastrophe for a lot of providers and families if you’re seeing a loss of programs,” said Gregory Brender, policy director for the Day Care Council, which also represents preschool programs. “Families end up scrambling, you have workers losing their jobs.”

Expanding smartly

Even as policy analysts worry about the program’s future, they also want the city to focus on a program that actually works for families. Both Moran and Brender noted that most preschool classrooms run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., which mirrors the school day but doesn’t cover families who work later. It doesn’t offer the sort of after-school programs that might be available for students in older grades. Moran noted that there are some federally funded preschool seats that go until 6 p.m., but those are in the minority and reserved for low-income families.

Iwerks, the East Harlem mother, still pays for aftercare for her daughter — albeit, at a fraction of the cost – that goes until 5:30 p.m. She feels lucky that the after-school program is located in the same church as her daughter’s 3-K.

“It’s a good question about how all this investment is happening and who’s able to benefit from it if you can’t get child care for a pre-K kid after 3 o’clock,” Iwerks said.

Brender, of the Day Care Council, said that any cuts to the program may invite intense budget fights down the road, and the city must make tough choices about what to do next.

“But we know that families are still desperate for early childhood options, and we do think it’s going to be popular enough where hopefully the city and state would work to continue it,” Brender said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Education officials walk back Banks’ comments on private school tuition

2022-09-21T22:46:38+00:00

Facing fierce pushback after Chancellor David Banks said the city is spending too much money on private schools for students with disabilities, top education officials walked those comments back during a Wednesday City Council hearing.

“I can assure you that the chancellor’s comments were not meant in the way that they were presented and he has apologized in many forums about that,” Christina Foti, the department’s special education chief, said during a City Council oversight hearing after multiple lawmakers raised the issue.

Last month, Banks told parent leaders that “folks have figured out how to game this system,” referring to private school payments that have ballooned to over $1 billion in recent years. He suggested the city could avoid budget cuts if more of that money was redirected to public schools.

“We’d be able to pay for all that after-school programming, all of those kinds of things. This is money that’s going out the back door every single day,” Banks said.

Those statements sparked intense and swift pushback from parents, advocates, and some lawmakers, who pointed out that students with disabilities have a legal right to a private placement if the city is unable to serve them appropriately in a public school. It’s also not clear that the city would save money by serving those students in public schools without reducing services.

Banks’ comments, first reported by Chalkbeat, prompted multiple City Council members to grill officials about the department’s plans on Wednesday. And it also sparked an unusual series of clarifications from senior education officials, including the department’s top lawyer, its special education chief, and a deputy chancellor who oversees instruction. Banks did not attend Wednesday’s hearing.

“Parents are not gaming the system — the system is broken,” Rita Joseph, who chairs City Council’s education committee, said during the hearing. “My office has been contacted by advocates [and] parents who are both outraged and stressed by the chancellor’s suggestion of slashing this vital source of funding for students with disabilities.”

Education officials said that contrary to Banks’ comments, they are not seeking to directly cut private school tuition dollars but hope to build public programs that are better able to serve students with disabilities.

Carolyne Quintana, the deputy chancellor for teaching and learning, said the department doesn’t “seek to limit payments.” Instead, “we’re looking for ways to provide families with what they need upfront,” she added, “so that fewer have to file such cases and to ensure that those cases that do proceed to a hearing reach consistent reasonable outcomes and comply with the law.”

Private school tuition payments for students with disabilities have long stirred debate. Some parents see the system as essential to ensuring their children are receiving adequate services that are often unavailable in traditional public schools, ranging from support for students with relatively mild issues, such as dyslexia, to more significant intellectual delays.

But securing tuition reimbursements can be a time-consuming process that favors families with time, money, or help from pro-bono lawyers — and some argue the money sent to private schools should instead be devoted to building public programs that are more accessible to all families.

Some students are placed directly in private schools by the education department in cases where the city agrees that the student can’t be properly served in a public program. Placements in those state-approved programs cost roughly $400 million last year, said Liz Vladeck, the education department’s general counsel.

Other families must sue the city to win tuition payments, often referred to as Carter cases, which cost $800 million last year, though Vladeck said that figure would likely grow as their accounting of last year’s spending is not complete. (It also includes payments for private special education services other than tuition.)

Vladeck also noted that the number of special education due process complaints, in which parents claim that their child is not receiving appropriate services, ballooned to over 18,000, a more than fourfold increase over the last 10 years. The system that handles those complaints has struggled with backlogs, though city officials are in the process of shifting that system’s oversight.

Still, education department officials maintained that even if most families are approaching the tuition reimbursement process in good faith, others are not. Vladeck said there are some “attorneys or consultants” who conduct “particularized evaluations” and then steer families to programs that they operate and charge upwards of $200,000 per student.

A spokesperson for the education department did not immediately provide evidence of that claim nor did he answer a question about whether the city is contesting the students’ placements in those cases.

“I know that the chancellor is deeply committed to ensuring that every dollar goes to children, not to help someone build their business,” Vladeck said, “and I think that’s what [Banks’] comment was speaking to.”

Maggie Moroff, a special education policy expert at Advocates for Children, said it would be “significant” if the city could serve more students with disabilities in traditional public schools and she appreciates “the DOE working to explain and think through [Banks’] comments.”

“Our concern remains that all students with disabilities can get the supports they need here in New York City,” Moroff wrote, “and if that can’t happen in the public schools, it has to happen outside of them.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC principals ready for new year after summer budget ‘rollercoaster’

2022-08-31T21:36:26+00:00

New York City principals were caught in the middle of this summer’s political fight over school budget cuts, trying to navigate a financial maze as they prepare to open classrooms next week in the nation’s largest district.

A lawsuit challenging those budget cuts continues to wind through the courts, leaving many principals uncertain whether they’ll get more money this school year. While they welcome the possible influx of cash, not knowing how much they could get or if restrictions will be tied to those dollars also complicated their ability to plan.

“It feels like a lot of things are up in the air,” said Valerie Leak, principal of 75 Morton, a middle school in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, whose school saw a 35% cut in funds, totaling nearly $2 million, for hiring and planning. “It’s been quite a rollercoaster.”

Despite protests from educators and advocates, elected officials in June approved cuts to school budgets based on declining enrollment projections. Roughly three-quarters of the city’s schools saw their budgets shrink from the previous year, according to Comptroller Brad Lander, who calculated $372 million in cuts across all schools.

Then in July, two parents and two teachers filed a lawsuit against the city challenging the approval process for the cuts. A Manhattan judge ruled in their favor, and ordered Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council to redo the education department budget. In the meantime, the judge called for the city to fund schools at last fiscal year’s levels — roughly $1 billion more than planned for this year.

In yet another twist, an appeals court judge put that on hold until the court reviews the case on Sept. 29, which is three weeks after school starts.

Still, while the budget cuts have been tough on school communities, an “overwhelming majority” of principals are ready to open their buildings, said Mark Cannizzaro, the head of the principals union. For those who are not ready, the education department is providing “very prompt” help once the union flags it, he said.

“In the last two years with COVID and the pandemic and the craziness happening there, people literally were not ready to open their buildings,” Cannizzaro said. “This year I am hearing, although there are some challenges, the overwhelming majority of people are ready to open their buildings.”

A dizzying problem

On the school level, the cuts and legal battle have been dizzying for principals who have been trying to plan yet another academic year.

At 75 Morton, Leak is expecting 500 students, so she was “shocked” when she learned that the education department projected 381 students to enroll at her school in the fall. With more than a third of her budget slashed, she had to excess 13 staffers, meaning they would no longer work for or get paid by her school but could look for work elsewhere in the system while being paid by the city.

She let go of just half of those staffers while others left the school on their own accord.

Meanwhile, she appealed the education department’s budget based on its enrollment projections, checking in for nearly two months to see if it had been granted. Finally, she was able to secure funding in mid-August to hire four teachers. But the drawn-out process delayed her ability to post the job openings and made it harder to find candidates.

City officials said the ongoing lawsuit temporarily held up the appeals process, but the process was expedited in August.

“I wouldn’t have been able to start with a full staff if the appeal hadn’t gone through,” she said.

If the lawsuit results in more money, she also hopes to rehire a social worker and a counselor.

Parents are worried about losing those positions because they “want a lot of support” for their children, which Leak also wants, she said.

“It makes hiring tricky because you don’t wanna hire someone and say, ‘Oh, sorry, we no longer have the money for you,’” Leak said.

Enrollment loss snowball effect

With about 20% less funding at P.S. 503 in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, the principal, Nina Demos, cut three classes this fall and increased class sizes in some grades. Some extracurricular and enrichment activities also were in limbo.

Here were some of the complicated calculations Demos faced: In April, she made plans to hire a bilingual special education teacher and planned to cover that salary with separate funds from the education department. That funding, however, didn’t hit her budget until Tuesday, so she had to front the salary from COVID stimulus funds. (Originally reserved for “academic recovery” activities, such as tutoring, city officials are now allowing schools to use that money for teacher salaries.)

That left hardly any money in her budget for overtime costs used to pay teachers who oversee things like clubs or tutoring while she waited for the other funds to come through, she said.

Without the money in hand, Demos didn’t feel comfortable planning after-school programs or clubs, or even telling families about the possible options.

One parent left the school because of the uncertainty, enrolling in a nearby charter school, she said. If she had some more money on hand, she could have committed to run programs through at least the fall, she said.

“We’re in this situation because of register loss, but it further exacerbates register loss,” Demos said.

Demos now expects to use her newly freed up COVID relief funds for a limited number of clubs and other after-school programming and a Saturday academy.

Flexible stimulus funds are ‘welcome change’

One Queens principal, who asked not to be named, said the ability to use relief funding for teacher salaries was “a welcome change.” His school lost very little funding, but with dozens more students enrolled than projected, he wants to hire new staff.

He hopes that the relief funding can be used as a stopgap measure until this winter, when he’s banking on getting more money from the city because the school is enrolling more students than projected — known as the mid-year adjustment. When schools get those funds in the middle of the year, it’s usually too late to pay for the teachers.

One Manhattan elementary school principal may use all of her academic recovery dollars on a teacher instead of paying for extra services or tutoring, as she did last year. Her part-time English as a new language teacher retired and must be replaced, said the principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An education department budget staffer told her she had to use her academic recovery funds after she appealed for more funding.

A week out from the first day of school, the principal has been unable to find a replacement — and she isn’t sure it’s enough money to make a hire.

The principal saw her budget cut by about 25% and was forced to excess one of her few teachers of color because they were one of the newer staffers. That felt painful and at odds with the city’s rhetoric on hiring a more “diverse staff,” she said. Three-quarters of her teachers are white, even though more than 85% of her students are of color.

The principal also may not have enough funding to maintain a service they offered last year at the school, where 75% of students are living in poverty: paying teachers overtime to supervise children who need before-school care.

“I would have to limit the number of children we could have coming early,” the principal said. “That’s one thing we’re thinking a lot about.”

Alex Zimmerman contributed

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools lays out plan to enroll hundreds of asylum-seeking students

2022-08-19T21:51:56+00:00

As New York City sees a surge of new immigrants seeking asylum from Central and South American countries, officials announced Friday that they will provide extra enrollment help to hundreds of new students expected to attend city schools.

City officials estimate that about 6,000 such immigrants have entered the city’s shelter system over the past three months, which the administration has blamed, in part, on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending migrants on buses to New York.

At least 1,000 new students are expected to enroll in district schools, including preschool-aged children. However, that figure is “fluid” and will continue to change, said education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer.

Many of these students may need extra support, such as legally mandated services for children learning English as a new language.

“Our public schools are prepared to welcome families seeking asylum with open arms,” said Chancellor David Banks in a statement. “We are working alongside our agency partners to set students up for success by addressing their academic, emotional and social needs, and ensuring there is no disruption to their education.”

As part of a city plan dubbed “Project Open Arms,” shelters will host “pop-up” enrollment offices, where education department staff will help new families sign their children up for school. Staff will also accompany families to Family Welcome Centers, which are city offices where people can enroll their kids and get more information about school.

Staff will give out backpacks and school supplies and connect new asylum-seekers with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Clinics for medical care, officials said. The city also plans to work with community-based organizations that work with immigrant families so that they can provide families with “critical resources and services.”

Enrollment officials are placing students in schools with open seats that are near their shelters, and considering a family’s preferred choice of language instruction, according to the department. Children who are learning English are entitled to traditional English as a new language instruction, meaning their classes are in English but they’re supposed to get extra support and translation help during and outside of class. They can also choose bilingual programs or dual language instruction, but most city schools lack such programming, according to program data from last school year.

So far, students are concentrated in Districts 2 and 3 in Manhattan, District 10 in the Bronx, District 14 in Brooklyn, and Districts 24 and 30 in Queens, officials said. These new students range across ages and grades, said Yesenia Escalante, an education department enrollment counselor.

Students who enroll after the traditional admissions process has concluded tend to have higher needs, such as this influx of asylum seekers. In the past, late-arriving students have been sent to lower performing schools, raising questions about where these new immigrant students will be enrolled and whether they will be adequately served.

Enrollment has declined across the city, meaning there could be enough seats available across many different types of schools.

In Manhattan’s District 2, officials have been speaking with families at shelters, then connecting them to individual schools, said Kelly McGuire, superintendent for the district.

“Our schools have pulled together some of their office staff, they have folks who are enrolling students directly at the school site, and that’s kind of the critical piece in terms of evaluating who the students are, what their language needs are, their students with disabilities, making sure that they are getting connected with the services that they need,” McGuire said.

Kamar Samuels, superintendent of District 3, noted that they’re working with organizations and schools’ staff to ensure students “are feeling welcome.”

“We’re working with CBOs, we’re working with school staff to just make sure that we tap into all of the resources that we have regarding language and making sure that we have access to those languages,” Samuels said.

The new wave of students comes as schools across the city are seeing budget cuts due to projected declining enrollment, though a legal fight could eventually overturn those cuts. Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said that schools seeing an influx of new students, particularly those with extra needs, will be able to request more funding, such as to hire more staff — a process, he added, that’s not unique to this school year.

“You might need to immediately post and hire for an additional guidance counselor, or an additional (English as a new language) teacher, and if you need to do that, you’ll talk to your budget director, you talk to your superintendent, and you’ll get it posted very quickly,” Weisberg said of principals. “It won’t be, ‘Oh, gosh, you’re gonna have to wait a few months,’ and then do it then, because you need it right now.”

Advocates lauded the city’s effort to work across various agencies to address immigrant students’ needs.

However, they worried about historic barriers to adequate schooling for new immigrants, which have been the subject of a longstanding state-issued corrective action plan. For example, the city has for years failed to provide legally required services to all bilingual students with disabilities, in part due to a shortage of trained bilingual educators.

“We know there aren’t enough bilingual programs in the city for all of the English language learners that qualify for them,” said Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students Rights Project at Advocates for Children New York. “We also know schools don’t always inform families of their right to elect bilingual programs.”

Additionally, city officials should ensure that school workers and those at Family Welcome Centers are trained on the legal rights of immigrants, especially those who are undocumented, said Vanessa Luna, co-founder of ImmSchools, which trains schools on supporting immigrant families.

Rodriguez-Engberg and other advocates worried that there won’t be enough bilingual social workers to help these students, who may be experiencing varying degrees of trauma after fleeing their home countries and relatives or friends. City officials said they plan to evaluate every student’s social-emotional needs using screeners that the district launched last school year.

“We want kids to be in schools that can support them – schools that create a sense of safety for the child and for the family,” said Alejandra Vázquez Baur, an education policy expert who focuses on immigrant students for think tank Next 100. “That is critical for the child’s educational opportunities and also the child’s well being in the school.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NY begins offering tuition assistance to part-time CUNY, SUNY students

2022-08-18T20:32:20+00:00

Part-time CUNY and SUNY students can now apply for state tuition assistance, a move that advocates believe could be “transformative” for low-income students eyeing college.

The aid is also available to students attending private, nonprofit colleges.

The $150 million initiative will expand the state’s Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP, to reach 75,000 more students who are earning between six to 11 credits per semester, state officials said.

The program’s expansion was proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year and passed as part of the state budget in April. It now includes students who previously didn’t qualify for financial aid from the state because they weren’t taking enough credit hours.

Part-time students can now apply for aid for the fall semester. Full-time students can receive up to $5,665 a year. Aid will be offered to part-time students on a prorated basis.

The old policy worked against students who needed to balance college with work or care for children or relatives, and ultimately could have been shut out from higher education, Hochul argued.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Hochul said at an event Thursday in Manhattan to officially launch the new tuition assistance eligibility. “This is the group of people we should have invested in first.”

In the past, students were only eligible for TAP if they enrolled full time for two semesters in a row and met a slew of other requirements, including making at most $10,000 if they were single students without dependents. Those same requirements apply, except now, students don’t need to be enrolled full time.

Just over one-third of CUNY’s students were part time in the fall of 2021 across the system’s community colleges and its four-year schools, according to the most recent data available online. (That includes students in degree and non-degree programs.) Roughly 80% of first-time freshmen come from New York City public high schools, and half of CUNY’s students come from households with incomes less than $30,000, according to a 2021 report from the city comptroller.

In conducting research about the program, The Center For Urban Future found students who would enroll full time in order to qualify for tuition assistance, even if their schedules barely allowed for it. Sometimes, that led to low grades, causing them to lose financial aid. The center has long advocated to expand the eligibility for TAP.

Students often enroll part time because they need to work — sometimes, multiple jobs — to support their families, such as by contributing to rent, said Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the center, who called the new policy “transformative.”

“All of these costs make it so difficult to attend college at all, and for many students, the only option has been to attend college part time,” he said.

Jessica Kane, who spent six years as a college counselor in Queens and Harlem, said she knew students who didn’t pursue college after graduating because they couldn’t imagine juggling work with being a full-time college student. That was especially true of her undocumented and immigrant students from low-income families, who needed to contribute to their households. (Undocumented students can apply for state tuition assistance through the New York Dream Act.)

Part-time aid could also be helpful for students who want to enroll in a few trade certification courses at community colleges, such as to become an electrician or a plumber, that previously didn’t add up to enough credits, she said.

“Their other option was to go to trade school, which is quadruple the price,” Kane said.

Kane, who left the Queens high school for a Long Island school district last fall, said she hasn’t received communication about this new eligibility from the state. Had she known in the spring, when the state budget passed, she could have helped inform seniors’ decisions about college. State officials did not immediately comment.

“Access to education is always great,” Kane said. “It would just be nice to have more information about it.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Restorative justice funding under threat, NYC schools advocates warn

2022-08-15T22:29:47+00:00

Thanks to billions in federal pandemic relief funding, the city’s education department made plans to dramatically expand restorative justice programming, more than tripling funding over a three-year period to $21.6 million this school year.

But dozens of advocacy groups are now raising the alarm that much of that funding is “at risk” — including a planned expansion of restorative justice programs to all middle and high schools — according to a letter sent to top city officials that was released on Monday.

“Cutting funding and rolling back citywide restorative justice initiatives will deny schools the resources they rely on to respond to and prevent harm, support young people to navigate conflict, and hold students accountable for their actions while supporting them in feeling connected to school and learning,” says the letter, which was distributed by the Dignity in Schools Campaign, which advocates for alternatives to suspensions and other punitive discipline measures.

A spokesperson for the education department, Suzan Sumer, did not dispute that funding cuts for restorative justice are in the works. “We are still in the process of setting priorities for the upcoming year, but reprioritization does not necessarily mean a reduction in school support funding,” she wrote.

The education department’s security director, Mark Rampersant, hinted that the program may face cuts, but also said restorative justice programs have been effective. “As the Department of Education starts to think about the ways by which we can deal with the economic and financial shortfalls, there are premature conversations about [restorative justice,]” he said at a meeting of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council last week.

A representative of the city’s Independent Budget Office said the $21.6 million in restorative justice funding was included in the city budget passed by City Council and signed by the mayor in June, but noted that the education department has leeway to reallocate funding. About $15 million of that planned spending comes from federal stimulus money.

Restorative justice refers to a set of practices that vary from school to school but which generally prioritize talking through conflicts through peer mediations and regular circle conversations as an alternative to suspensions. Those efforts gained steam under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose administration made it harder to suspend students for a range of infractions and limited lengthy suspensions. The reforms helped cut the suspension rate dramatically, but have won mixed reactions from educators.

The current administration’s philosophy has been less clear. Schools Chancellor David Banks has said he does not favor zero tolerance approaches, but the education department has declined to answer specific questions for months about their plans for restorative justice programs.

A central office employee familiar with restorative justice programs, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said staff have been verbally told that restorative justice programs are being cut. Restorative justice coordinators who work across multiple schools are being reassigned to superintendent offices, the person said.

“Positions like restorative justice coordinators will no longer be in effect,” the person said. “It will be up to the superintendents about whether they want to do restorative justice.”

The letter released by the Dignity in Schools Campaign also indicated that the education department is reorganizing its Office of Safety and Youth Development, though department officials did not respond to questions about the purpose of that move.

Martin Urbach, the restorative justice coordinator at Harvest Collegiate High School, said that funding cuts would likely mean less training and the end of a department program that provided funding to pay students to help organize training at their schools. (The school planned to pay about a dozen students under that program this coming year.)

“We will no longer have access to coaching and to a network of outside providers who do this work for a living and have been doing it really well,” Urbach said, adding that his position is safe because it is funded by his school.

While Harvest Collegiate has invested heavily in restorative approaches for years, Urbach worries about schools that aren’t as far along. “Now there will be schools that are like, ‘Okay, we don’t have to host a circle’” and may issue suspensions instead, he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Banks wants to cut private school payments for NYC students with disabilities

2022-08-11T23:32:40+00:00

As the education department faces intense pressure to reconsider school budget cuts, Chancellor David Banks indicated that there’s another pot of money he wants to slash: hundreds of millions worth of tuition payments for students with disabilities.

“All this money that is meant for the kids in our public schools are going to private schools,” Banks said during a regularly scheduled meeting of his parent advisory council. “Folks have figured out how to game this system.”

If that money were plowed into traditional public schools, “We wouldn’t be having this fight about budget cuts,” Banks said. “We’d be able to pay for all that after-school programming, all of those kinds of things. This is money that’s going out the back door every single day.”

Banks’ comments struck a nerve with some parents and advocates who argue the growing cost of private school tuition payments is due to the city’s inability to provide adequate options for students with disabilities rather than an effort to take advantage of the city. Under federal law, families have the right to seek private placements if the city isn’t able to provide a free and appropriate education in a public setting.

“It sounds a little bit like shifting the blame to the families, but the reality is there isn’t somewhere in the public school system for many of those families to turn,” said Maggie Moroff, a disability policy expert at Advocates for Children, which offers free legal help to families seeking private placements.

Several hours after Banks’ comments, education department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote, “We know that families want to do what is best for their children, and all children are entitled to attend a school that best meets their needs and allows them to reach their highest potential.”

Private school tuition payments have long been a contentious policy issue in New York City. Many families and advocates say they are a lifeline for students who would otherwise languish in public school settings, ranging from those with relatively common reading challenges like dyslexia to those with more serious intellectual delays.

But securing the tuition payments often requires significant time and resources, creating barriers for low-income families. Some argue the money could be better spent creating quality programs that are more accessible within the public system.

Banks seems to favor creating more in-house programs and his administration has begun launching programs specifically for students with dyslexia, though those efforts remain quite small. The chancellor did not say exactly how he thought families were gaming the system or whether the education department is considering any specific policy changes to make it harder for families to secure private school tuition payments from the city. A spokesperson declined to elaborate.

Under Mayor Bill de Blasio, city officials sought to make it easier to navigate the reimbursement process, a break from his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, who hired additional lawyers to fight families’ attempts to enroll in private schools.

Banks indicated that the city now spends $1.2 billion on special education payments, including tuition for private schools. There are thousands of students with disabilities who attend private schools paid for with public dollars, but their paths to securing that funding can differ significantly.

Some students are placed directly there by the education department in cases where the city does not dispute that the student can’t be properly served in a public program. Other families must sue the city to win tuition payments. Payments to private schools have been rising dramatically in recent years, according to a 2021 report from the city’s Independent Budget Office.

It took a lengthy battle — and pro-bono legal help — for Manhattan mom Yolanda Rodriguez to secure a private school placement for her son who was struggling to learn how to read at a traditional public school.

But she ultimately won her son a placement at The Community School in Teaneck, New Jersey, which has offered more specialized instruction and one-on-one help. Her 12-year-old son, Landon, has thrived there.

“In the beginning he wasn’t reading at all,” Rodriguez said. “Once we switched him to the Community School, he was able the next year to start reading and pick up books and read signs.”

Rodriguez bristled at the chancellor’s suggestion that she was taking advantage of the system. “It was not easy at all,” she said. “Maybe for the rich parents it’s easier, but not for us.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NY to help cover back-to-school costs for low-income children

2022-08-11T22:15:51+00:00

New York families on public assistance can expect an additional boost to their wallets this month to help cover back-to-school costs, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced Thursday.

The one-time payments come as inflation has tightened household budgets across the country, making the annual shopping trip for notebooks, pencils and backpacks a greater financial burden, particularly for low-income families.

State officials will begin distributing the money Friday. Families on public assistance will receive $214 for each of their children ages 3-17. For each child under 3, families will receive $150.

Public assistance provides cash to low-income families for up to 60 months who may have trouble meeting basic needs, such as housing, according to the governor’s office.

The payments are expected to reach 136,377 children ages 3-17 across the state and another 34,300 children under the age of 3. While more recent data wasn’t immediately available, nearly 150,000 New York City children received public assistance in 2019, according to the Citizens Committee for Children.

The extra help could provide some relief for families who had also benefited from the expanded child tax credit, which provided extra money to more families with children — up to an additional $1,600 a year for children under 6 and up to $1,000 for ages 6-17. Advocates had expected the federal initiative to lift a quarter of a million New York children out of poverty, but Congress did not renew it for this year.

State officials will spend $44 million of federal COVID stimulus funds on this initiative, according to the governor’s office. That money comes from the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund, meant to provide one-time benefits to families “with a specific short-term situation or need,” a news release said.

“As New Yorkers prepare to send their children back to school this fall, these one-time payments will help struggling families across the state pay for education supplies and other household expenses that may otherwise pose a burden on their household budget,” Hochul said in a statement.

For more information on the state’s public assistance program, call 1-800-342-3009, and wait for the option for “temporary assistance.”

Correction: An estimated 136,377 New York children ages 3-17 will receive this benefit, not 184,000, as a previous version of this story mentioned based of incorrect data issued by the state.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school budget cuts can move forward for now, appeals court says

2022-08-10T01:04:31+00:00

The education department can move forward with budget cuts after an appeals court temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling that invalidated the budget process.

The appellate court’s order Tuesday brings whiplash to back-to-school planning for the fall. Four days prior, a lower court judge ruled that the city needed to redo the education department budget, which includes cuts for nearly 75% of schools. Now that order has been paused — at least until the case is back in court on Aug. 29, a little more than a week before the first day of school.

A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams applauded the decision allowing the city to move forward with its current budget.

“As Mayor Adams said this morning, schools will open, on time, in September and will have the resources they need to ensure our students thrive next month,” City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield said in a statement. “We will continue to defend the city’s budget process.”

The Aug. 5 ruling in favor of two teachers and two parents who filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court last month said that the city violated state law when it approved the education department’s budget for this fiscal year.

The ruling called on Adams and the City Council to reconsider how to fund schools this year, and until that happens, it meant the school system should be funded at the same levels as last year. Last year’s budget was about $1 billion more than this fiscal year’s $31 billion budget, largely due to a boost from federal stimulus relief.

The city and the education department filed their appeal earlier on Tuesday claiming that the Aug. 5 decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank “plunges [the education department] into chaos at the worst possible time and causes irreparable harm,” and “throws a wrench” into planning for September “that may reverberate throughout the school year.”

The appeal not only pushes back on the lower court’s finding that a procedural error was made, it also said it was an “entirely unprecedented remedy of imposing a record-high and expired budget on DOE.” City lawyers argued that the lower court’s ruling could require the education department to spend “at levels that would likely exhaust the funding allocated to it well before the end of the school year.”

Laura Barbieri, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, emphasized that the appeals court issued an “automatic stay” and had not yet ruled on the substance of the case.

“We are disappointed that the city asked for a hearing date at the end of August, rather than immediately,” Barbieri wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.

“This will further delay the ‘chaos’ that the city repeatedly cited in its brief, and prevent principals, teachers, and parents from knowing what their school budgets will look like until the appeal is heard on August 29.” The automatic stay “is not appealable,” Barbieri wrote in a text message.

For now, the legal back-and-forth does not appear to have caused any dramatic changes in school operations, aside from a very short freeze on school spending that was quickly lifted. Still, the sudden reversals about whether the city can move forward with cuts threatens to sow uncertainty about school budgets less than a month before the first day of school.

The lawsuit focuses on the budget approval process, with the lower court finding that schools Chancellor David Banks had violated the law by using an “emergency declaration” to circumvent a vote on it by the Panel for Educational Policy, a largely mayoral appointed board that approves spending and contracts.

But the larger issue that touched off the lawsuit was Adams’ $215 million cuts to schools. That number has been a moving target. The cuts were closer to $373 million, according to City Council and city Comptroller Brad Lander, who has said the city has enough stimulus funding leftover from last year to cover the cuts.

City Hall argues that school budgets need to be reduced to account for enrollment declines that have accelerated during the pandemic. The previous administration used federal funding to keep school budgets steady even if they lost students and the administration contends that cuts are necessary to avoid even steeper cuts in two years when federal funding runs dry.

But many parents, advocates, and educators counter that the stimulus funding was designed to avert further disruptions to learning and that it doesn’t make sense to kneecap schools at a time when children have deep academic and emotional scars.

It’s possible that the city will ultimately restore some school funding even if officials are not forced to do so by the courts. City Hall has reportedly been negotiating with the City Council over restoring funding, but those talks have not yielded a deal.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

What is going on with NYC’s public school enrollment? We explain.

2022-08-09T22:19:26+00:00

New York City’s fight over school budget cuts has dominated the news. But at the heart of that debate is declining student enrollment.

Overall, K-12 enrollment has dropped by 9.5% since the pandemic began. Officials are expecting 30,000 fewer K-12 students to be on the rolls this fall compared to last year.

In this most recent school year, three-quarters of schools saw fewer students, a Chalkbeat analysis previously found. Enrollment of Black and white students dropped by 7.5% each, while it dropped by 5% for Asian American students and 4.5% for Latino students.

Enrollment numbers have been declining steadily since the 2015-16 school year – before the steep drops during the pandemic, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office, or IBO.

But there’s also little evidence that families are fleeing traditional public schools for charters or private schools.

Student enrollment has big implications for public schools. Projected declines have already impacted school funding this year. And fewer students could mean tough decisions about school closures and mergers, which education officials have not yet discussed.

Here’s an overview of what is happening with enrollment in New York City:

How does NYC’s enrollment drop compare to the rest of the country?

Enrollment in public schools nationwide dropped by 1.2 million students, or about 2%, between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020, according to the Return to Learn Tracker, which collects state level data. (This figure does not include prekindergarten).

That tracker shows an additional 91,000 students did not show up to public schools in the fall of 2021. That would put the total drop in enrollment at 1.27 million children nationwide since the pandemic started.

Compared to the national numbers, New York City’s declines are striking and likely have led to the state’s dubious distinction: With 6% fewer students in schools statewide since the pandemic began, New York has seen the biggest declines of any state, according to the tracker.

Enrollment is not dipping evenly across all grades.

To understand why enrollment may be dropping, it’s first important to know which grades are seeing fewer students.

In the 2020-21 school year, most grades in the city’s traditional public schools saw enrollment declines, except for eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th, according to the IBO. The most steep drop was in pre-K for 4-year-olds and kindergarten.

Then, last school year, every grade saw fewer students except the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds, which more than doubled as seats have expanded. The biggest decreases were in third grade, followed by sixth grade. First and fifth grades were next. In turn, some of the smallest declines were among pre-K for 4-year-olds, kindergarten, and high school grades except for tenth grade.

However, when comparing to pre-COVID, the largest enrollment drops last year were in pre-K for 4-year-olds, followed by second grade, then kindergarten, third grade and first grade. Nationwide, kindergarten enrollment dipped following the start of the pandemic, but districts began reporting some rebounds this past school year.

Enrollment in New York City’s pre-K and elementary grades ranged between 82% and 88.5% of what they were before the pandemic, the IBO found. Starting in seventh grade through senior year of high school, enrollment ranged between 89% to 99% of what it was pre-pandemic, with the highest levels in the high school years.

So, while enrollment has dipped across every grade since 2019, changes are more pronounced among early grades, despite the availability of free preschool in New York City.

Are students leaving the school system, or are parents choosing not to enroll their children?

The answer is probably both.

Last year, a team of researchers estimated that, after the first year of the pandemic, about a quarter of the nation’s enrollment loss was linked to schools that didn’t offer in-person learning. Remote learning policies specifically dissuaded families of younger children, while it had no significant impact on older students.

A Chalkbeat and Associated Press analysis also found that enrollment among white students dipped more in states where most students were learning virtually.

That could help explain some of the drop in New York City during the 2020-21 school year, when schools were not yet open full time.

“Parents demonstrated they didn’t want kids at that age sitting in front of a computer,” said Thomas Dee, a professor in Stanford’s Graduate School of Education who was part of the research team. He also noted that families wanted a safe in-person option. That could have meant families home-schooled or delayed enrolling their children in preschool or kindergarten.

So what accounts for another drop in enrollment this past school year, when buildings were open full time?

Parents again may have been delaying the start of school for preschool and kindergarten-age children, Dee said. Or parents may have felt more comfortable moving younger children to a new school. Some families might have moved because of the city’s rising cost of living.

City officials have previously linked enrollment declines, in part, to declining birth rates.

A Chalkbeat analysis found that the greatest drop in enrollment happened in schools with the smallest share of low-income students. But, the second biggest drop happened in schools where between three-quarters to all students were poor. Enrollment among low-income students fell nearly 7% this year, more than double that of students who are not considered low-income.

With the rise of remote work, it’s also possible that families are moving to a new place — perhaps to be closer to family or live somewhere more affordable.

Contrary to some theories, there’s no evidence that families are fleeing public schools in droves or for charters and private schools. While the city’s enrollment dropped by about 100,000 students since 2019 — not counting 3K — overall enrollment in city charter schools has grown by just over 10,000 students, or by 7.8%, since the pandemic started. And over that same time period, the city’s private schools actually saw a 3.6% drop in pre-K-12 enrollment, according to state data.

Dee said it’s also possible that more families are home-schooling, and not all of them have registered with the state. Homeschooling nearly doubled, to 14,000 students in New York City, with the largest increases in districts with higher shares of students living in poverty.

Demographic changes, Dee noted, may also play a big role. New York State had some of the largest population declines last year, particularly among school-age children, he said.

“No social behavior has only one cause, and I think as more data become available, we are starting to realize the broader trends that influence the character of enrollment decline and flight from places like New York City,” he said.

What can districts do to build up enrollment?

Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks have raised alarms about the city’s enrollment numbers and have promised to entice families to choose public schools.

Asked how the administration is planning to do that, a spokesperson pointed to various initiatives the city has rolled out, including rethinking literacy instruction and programs for students with dyslexia, expanding gifted and talented programs, piloting a new Asian American and Pacific Islander curriculum and including parents in the hiring of superintendents, which had a bumpy rollout.

“Chancellor Banks, his leadership team, and every district superintendent is focused on reversing dropping enrollment in our public schools,” Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the education department, wrote in a statement. “This work is informed by listening to families and school communities as well as putting in place policies that will ensure our public schools are the destination of choice for all of our students and families.”

There are a few things that parents typically focus on when it comes to choosing schools for their children, Dee said.

First, parents are attracted to school quality. For many families, that can mean ensuring that schools have high-quality curriculum, well-trained and effective teachers, and often, smaller class sizes, which Dee noted can be a pricey endeavor.

Recent budget cuts due to declining enrollment will likely result in higher class sizes. State lawmakers passed a bill to reduce class sizes in the city’s public schools, but the Adams administration has opposed it, and Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to sign it.

Families also care that classrooms are “welcoming, inclusive, supportive spaces” for students, Dee said.

From his research, Dee found that parents of young children wanted safe in-person instruction, so he suggested improving COVID mitigations at schools. That includes ventilation and filtration. The city has been shedding safety measures, such as universal masking and social distancing, and city officials have not yet released their safety plans for this fall.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams is facing pressure to reverse NYC school budget cuts. Should he?

2022-08-04T19:58:08+00:00

New York City’s school budget cuts have taken center stage.

Parents have cast Mayor Eric Adams as a villain, trailing him around the city protesting budget reductions to their schools. A chorus of City Council members have apologized for overwhelmingly approving the city’s budget, which included hundreds of millions in cuts to public schools. In a new twist, a Manhattan judge seemed poised to invalidate the current budget and force the City Council to take up a new vote on it.

The Adams administration has argued that school budget reductions are a necessary response to declining enrollment and avoid an even bigger budget cliff when federal COVID relief runs dry in two years. But educators and parents argue that students are hurting right now and need as much help as possible. They point out that there is enough federal funding to avoid the cuts.

The intense pushback has prompted Adams to take the unusual step of returning to the table with the City Council after the budget was passed. Negotiations to potentially avert hundreds of millions in cuts to the city’s schools have not yet yielded a formal deal, though city officials have begun freeing up money once restricted to academic recovery programs to cover teaching positions.

Adams is facing a choice: Should he stick to his initial budget and allow the cuts to go through, or should he relent to the pressure and restore funding?

The decision is more complicated than meets the eye, and either choice involves some trade-offs.

“I can see both sides,” said Sarita Subramanian, the assistant director of education at the Independent Budget Office. “At some point that will be a large hole to fill,” she said. “But on the other end of the spectrum, we are still in a pandemic.”

The case against the cuts

The argument against cutting school budgets is straightforward: The pandemic has continued to cause severe disruptions to student learning, and reducing the budgets of most city schools will hobble their efforts to help students address interrupted learning and deep mental health needs.

The city expects to cut Fair Student Funding, the formula that governs the bulk of school budgets, to the tune of about $215 million next school year, though the city’s Comptroller, Brad Lander, argues the true figure is nearly $373 million. (City Hall did not respond to questions about the discrepancy.) Nearly three-quarters of city schools are facing cuts, with an average reduction of 8%, Lander’s analysis found.

The budget reductions have already led to the elimination of teacher positions as well as cuts to art, music, and other enrichment programs at some schools. Class sizes may swell in some cases, as schools may merge classrooms if they lose funding for a teaching position but not an entire classroom’s worth of students.

Advocates argue that the $7 billion in federal relief funding earmarked for the city’s schools was meant to help avoid those types of reductions, and there appears to be plenty of it left. The education department has nearly $506 million in relief funding that wasn’t spent last year alone, according to Lander, more than enough to make up for next year’s school budget cuts.

“We have so much evidence that kids have not recovered, so it isn’t business as usual at all,” said Leanna Stiefel, a professor at New York University who said holding off on budget cuts could buy time to see if enrollment stabilizes. “This year seems like not the year to do such a big reckoning.”

The mayor’s case for the cuts

The Adams administration’s case for the budget cuts boils down to a simple math problem: fewer students equals fewer dollars.

Before the pandemic, school funding fluctuated up or down based on enrollment, as the Fair Student Funding formula is based on student headcount. But the previous administration used federal stimulus money to keep school budgets steady, as policymakers argued schools needed every possible dollar to address interrupted learning.

The result is that school budgets have not been significantly adjusted, even though there are roughly 9% fewer students in the city’s public schools since the pandemic hit (excluding charters). On top of that, city officials are projecting an enrollment drop of 30,000 students next school year, a 3.7% decline.

Without phasing in cuts now, the city will hurtle over a fiscal cliff in two years that will require even more “dramatic” reductions, schools Chancellor David Banks warned in June. “Our stimulus funding is running out, so we made a decision to begin the process of weaning the schools off of the stimulus funding,” he said.

Cutting school budgets to account for several years worth of enrollment declines all at once could lead to severe reductions in teacher positions and other programs. And if making cuts now is generating intense backlash, it may be even more politically challenging to make them later on when the effects will be more severe.

Keeping budgets steady could also lead to unintended consequences, as enrollment declines are not spread evenly. Funding schools regardless of how many students they serve will lead to greater per-student spending at schools with significant declines at the expense of schools with more modest losses or even enrollment gains. There is some evidence that such a policy may favor a small number of schools that serve few low-income students.

“If you hold everyone harmless you create inequities across the system,” said Amy Ellen Schwartz, an economics professor at Syracuse University. “That’s what the ‘hold harmless’ approach takes you to. I’m not opposed to spending money, I’m opposed to whether this is the best strategy.”

Other ways forward

Multiple experts said there are potentially fairer ways of distributing funding than simply keeping all school budgets steady regardless of how many students are enrolled.

One option is to adjust the Fair Student Funding formula, which offers a baseline amount of funding for every student a school enrolls, but provides even more for high-need students, including those with disabilities, learning English, or living in poverty.

If the city’s goal is to make more resources available to the students hit hardest by the pandemic, officials could increase the weights for students in high-need categories, experts said. That would have the effect of boosting the budgets of schools that serve higher shares of vulnerable students. (The city has convened a task force to look into tweaking the funding formula.)

“The smartest thing to do with this funding would be to use it in a compensatory way for students in schools that were hardest hit by the pandemic,” said Sarah Cohodes, a professor of economics and education at Columbia University.

Another option is to use the funding to invest in targeted tutoring programs, after-school enrichment, or even a longer school day. City officials have indicated that they plan to fund academic recovery programs, including tutoring, but have offered few details about how they will operate or how many students they expect will benefit.

Still, Cohodes and other experts generally said keeping budgets steady could be a reasonable approach even if it is not the most perfectly targeted.

Holding off cuts for now — or slowly phasing them in, as the city is planning — could give officials time to plan and involve communities in discussions about how to grapple with enrollment declines, said Schwartz, the Syracuse professor. One looming dilemma, for instance, is how to tackle a growing number of very small schools, as more than one in five of the city’s elementary schools now have fewer than 300 students and will require much more per-student funding to run than larger schools.

“Should we be closing schools? Should we be taking two elementary schools that are smaller than they should be and combining them?” Schwartz said. “We ought to be thinking about: What does a smaller system look like?”

Kae Petrin contributed data analysis

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Judge could allow NYC Council to revote on education budget

2022-08-04T17:29:49+00:00

New York City did not follow the proper procedure when approving the roughly $31 billion budget for the education department, a Manhattan judge said Thursday, potentially setting up the City Council to revote on funding for the nation’s largest public school system.

While an official court order is not expected to be issued until Friday, Judge Lyle Frank indicated that he will side with the two teachers and two parents who filed a lawsuit last month, which sought to invalidate the education department budget and force the City Council to take another vote.

The lawsuit claimed the city did not follow the proper protocols before the council voted on the final budget, which included hundreds of millions in cuts to city schools. Frank agreed, arguing the city didn’t have a good reason when it used an “emergency declaration” in May to bypass the rules set out in state education law.

“The emergency declaration changes the law — you really should have a good reason,” Frank said. “It really should be because of COVID, because of something.”

Thursday’s hearing was the latest in a stunning pushback against Mayor Eric Adams’ $215 million cut to city schools based on declining enrollment projections. (City Comptroller Brad Lander estimated the cuts were closer to $370 million.) City schools have lost about 9.5% of K-12 students since the pandemic started and are expected to lose about 30,000 more students this upcoming school year.

Though the City Council overwhelmingly approved the budget, many council members apologized for their vote after public outcry and are pushing the Adams administration to restore those dollars. The administration is phasing in the cuts over two years, using some stimulus dollars to soften the blow, and argues that cuts are necessary now in order to avoid even sharper slashes if enrollment continues to fall.

The lawsuit seeks to fund schools at last year’s levels until the City Council votes again. That would mean funding boosts for 77% of schools but cuts for the rest, according to an analysis from the comptroller’s office. Laura Barbieri, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said her team could propose language for the judge’s forthcoming order that prevents any schools from seeing funding cuts.

Laura Barbieri, an attorney for the plaintiffs, speaks with reporters at a Manhattan court.

Jeffrey Dantowitz, an attorney for the city, argued that reverting to last year’s funding levels — which were about $1 billion higher, buoyed by stimulus funding — “would exact a harm” on the city because the financial picture is different every year.

School budgets were already in limbo as Frank had issued a temporary order on July 22 barring the city from cutting funding from schools. That order remains in place, and while it may have affected principals’ ability to plan, the city threw another curveball this week, releasing some funding to schools that it had previously held back because of this lawsuit.

“Students, teachers, and parents need finalized budgets to ensure they are on track for a smooth opening next month,” Adams said in a statement. “We hope the court will recognize that an entirely new budget process a month from the start of the school year will only bring further uncertainty.”

The judge wants to suspend only the education department portion of the budget, rather than the city’s entire budget. He suggested that he wants to allow city lawmakers to decide the next steps.

Frank’s decision hinged on a narrow part of state education law.

The education budget must first be approved by the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP — a largely mayoral appointed board — then move to the City Council as it considers the full city budget. However, as his predecessors had done, schools Chancellor David Banks issued an “emergency declaration” at the end of May, about a month before the deadline for passing the city budget, allowing the education department to send the budget to the council without the panel’s approval. His declaration said that there wasn’t enough time for the panel to vote and hold a required public hearing before the July 1 deadline for city lawmakers to pass the budget.

The judge seemed to agree with the lawsuit’s argument that Banks didn’t give a sound reason for issuing that declaration.

“I know it’s done all the time, but it’s called an ‘emergency declaration’ — it really should be an emergency, not boilerplate language,” Frank told the court, adding that the city could have found time to hold a panel vote if it wanted.

Dantowitz argued that it’s not possible to “divorce one part of the budget from the rest of it.” He also pointed out that the PEP approved the budget when they eventually voted in late June, as required by law, so there’s no reason to believe that the outcome would have been different.

Paul Trust, one of the plaintiffs, was a music teacher at Brooklyn’s P.S. 39 but was excessed from his school due to budget cuts. That meant he was let go from his school but could remain on city payroll and search for another job in the system. His school saw more than $401,000 less than last summer for its budget to hire teachers and create programming, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

“I feel that these cuts were unjust and that the ruling gives the City Council the chance to right a wrong that was done,” Trust said after the hearing.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Amid budget battle, NYC OKs using stimulus dollars to cover teacher salaries

2022-08-03T20:03:57+00:00

New York City schools can now use $100 million of federal stimulus money to pay for school staff, city officials announced Wednesday, as the debate over school budget cuts roiled on.

The money is not new funding for schools. Rather, it’s a portion of stimulus dollars they’ve already received for “academic recovery” that the city is now allowing schools to use for teacher salaries. It was previously earmarked for various costs, such as overtime pay for tutoring or other extra support, but could not be used for teacher salaries since it’s temporary funding, set to run out in the 2024-25 school year.

Officials changed their tune after hearing from principals, teachers and families, schools Chancellor David Banks said in a statement. The move comes amid a battle over cuts to school budgets, which have resulted in many schools excessing staff or cutting back programs.

Mayor Eric Adams announced in February that school budgets would shrink by $215 million for the upcoming school year, in response to projected declining enrollment. (Comptroller Brad Lander has said the cut is even steeper than originally anticipated.) New York City schools have lost about 9.5% of their K-12 students since the start of the pandemic.

“This will help schools continue to serve our students as we work to transition to new enrollment levels,” Banks said. “We must still focus on reversing enrollment declines by winning back families, but that does not mean we cannot act today to provide more relief to our schools.”

Additionally, the city planned to distribute nearly 70% of $50 million in funding on Wednesday to schools that have appealed their budgets because they couldn’t meet the needs of their students. Officials had previously paused on distributing this funding because of a lawsuit filed seeking to invalidate the school budget cuts, according to a press release from City Hall.

Two teachers and two staffers filed the lawsuit against the city, claiming that officials didn’t follow proper procedure when approving the education department’s budget in June. The legal challenge is expected to be heard in a Manhattan court on Thursday.

Some schools last year struggled to use their “academic recovery” stimulus cash for after-school tutoring programs, in part because they couldn’t convince staff to work overtime.

And while principals may find it helpful that they can now use this cash to cover a teacher salary, it doesn’t address the budget cuts that are already in place, according to an education department employee who works closely with school budgets and was not authorized to speak to the press.

“It’s just rearranging money,” the employee said.

In a press release, the education department said that school leaders can use the money to hire back teachers they’ve excessed. However, that could be tough or even impossible if those staffers have received new jobs. The money may not even cover a full salary, officials from the teachers union said.

“If your staff found another school to take them and took another job, then it may be too late,” the education department employee said. “Then you’re starting from scratch, and you have to interview and hire.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Judge upholds pause on hundreds of millions in NYC school budget cuts

2022-07-27T16:26:06+00:00

Budget cuts to New York City schools are on hold at least until an Aug. 4 court hearing, a Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday, despite strenuous objections from city lawyers who argued that pausing the cuts would disrupt planning for next school year.

Judge Lyle E. Frank’s decision keeps in place his July 22 order temporarily blocking the education department from moving forward with hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts to school budgets.

The original order states that the city is “enjoined from any further implementation of the funding cuts” and “enjoined from spending at levels other than as required” in last school year’s budget.

It remains unclear what practical effect the temporary order will have, as schools received their budgets nearly two months ago, and many have already made decisions to eliminate programs and teaching positions. In the days since the initial order was issued, the education department did not appear to alter school budgets or instruct principals to change spending plans.

“We are happy with this decision and believe the city should take this as a signal and restore school budgets immediately,” said Laura Barbieri, an attorney with Advocates for Justice, the legal organization that filed the lawsuit earlier this month challenging the budget process on behalf of two teachers and two parents.

Barbieri said the ruling does not require schools to undo cuts that have already been made, but they may not make additional ones while the order is in effect.

Amaris Cockfield, a City Hall spokesperson, said the city is “disappointed by the court’s decision today, which will only further delay schools’ preparation for September.” She added: “We are exploring options to minimize the disruption to our schools.”

The lawsuit claimed that the city did not follow the correct budget procedure in part because it was passed by City Council before the city’s Panel for Educational Policy approved it. (The PEP is a board with a majority of members appointed by the mayor.)

The suit argues that a judge should invalidate the education department’s budget and force a new vote by the City Council. Although local lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the education department’s spending cuts, several City Council members have since expressed regret over their votes as principals have begun eliminating staff positions and public outcry has grown.

In a court filing, city lawyers argued that the judge’s initial order to pause the spending cuts “would lead to operational confusion at best and chaos at worst” potentially leading to a “domino effect” of staffing changes throughout the system if schools wind up with different budgets from the ones they were given at the beginning of June.

The city claimed that it is “entirely speculative” to suggest that the timing of the PEP’s vote would have altered City Council’s approval of the budget and that council members were aware of the proposed cuts at the time. They assert that the court’s temporary restraining order improperly usurped the power of the mayor and City Council.

The judge’s ruling blocking the budget means that, at least for now, the cuts may not go forward while the case continues to wind its way through the court system. The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 4.

Separate from the lawsuit, it’s possible that the funding reductions will be reversed. Mayor Eric Adams is reportedly negotiating with the City Council over restoring a substantial chunk of the cuts. Those talks have not yet yielded an agreement, but the judge’s order pausing the cuts may increase pressure on city officials to strike a deal.

The Adams administration has argued that the cuts are needed to account for reductions in student enrollment, as the lion’s share of school budgets are calculated based on how many students are enrolled on each campus through a formula called Fair Student Funding.

Thanks to an influx of federal funding, city officials did not reduce school budgets during the pandemic even as the number of students in the city’s traditional public schools dropped. Since the 2019-20 school year, K-12 enrollment has shrunk by 9.5%, and officials are projecting further enrollment declines next year.

Schools Chancellor David Banks has argued that school budgets need to be “right sized” to account for enrollment drops, as the federal funding that was used to keep school budgets steady is one-time money.

Beginning next school year, city officials planned to begin that process with a $215 million cut. City Comptroller Brad Lander has said the true cost to schools will be about $150 million more. About 77% of schools are facing cuts, and the average reduction among those schools is 8%, according to an analysis from Lander’s office.

But advocates argue the city should use remaining federal funding to hold budgets steady, as the pandemic has continued to disrupt learning. Cutting staff or eliminating programs, they argue, will hamper efforts to catch students up.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC nearing deal to dial back school budget cuts: sources

2022-07-20T21:02:00+00:00

After weeks of protests over funding cuts, New York City Council members and City Hall are nearing a deal to restore school budgets with $250 million, council sources confirmed.

Mayor Eric Adams’ budget proposal, which City Council overwhelmingly passed last month, outlined a $215 million reduction to school budgets based on declining enrollment projections. City Comptroller Brad Lander, however, uncovered that the cuts for the coming school year would be far steeper, with $372 million less to send to schools. City officials have not provided updated figures but pointed to deeper enrollment losses than originally predicted.

That means the deal — first reported by NY1 — would still fall short of the overall cut to school budgets, according to Lander’s analysis. It also is far less than the $760 million restoration that a majority of council members this week called to be sent to schools, using unspent federal stimulus dollars.

At an unrelated press conference Wednesday at Gracie Mansion, Adams said there was no agreement over restoring funding cuts but that he’s been having conversations about it with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. One council source said discussions about funding restorations have been brewing for at least two weeks.

City Hall declined to comment further.

A deal could be finalized as soon as this week, one source said.

As advocates and educators have protested the cuts, school leaders have been planning for next school year with smaller budgets. The cuts impact the pool of money that schools use to hire staff and build out programming for children. While fewer students in a school may mean they need fewer teachers, less funding can impact new programs or class offerings. It could also mean increasing class sizes just as state lawmakers passed a bill to reduce them.

Principals are reportedly excessing staff and changing or cutting programming.

At least $200 million of the potential funding restoration is expected to come from the federal stimulus dollars, a council source said. Of the $7 billion that New York City received to spend through 2024, just under $4.7 billion remained unspent as of last month. That money could be used for hiring teachers or retaining staff who would have otherwise been excessed, according to one of the sources.

Even with the comptroller’s analysis, city officials have not clarified exactly how much money is being cut from school budgets for the coming academic year.

“The fact that there is a $250 million restoration when the council originally said it was $215 million indicates people are playing catch-up and trying to figure out how much is lost,” one of the sources said.

All but six of the 51 council members voted to pass the budget. Now, council members are apologizing for approving it.

Adams has resisted restoring the cuts.

On Wednesday, Adams reiterated his concerns about using federal stimulus dollars to backfill school budgets if enrollment continues to drop since those dollars will eventually run out.

The cuts impact Fair Student Funding, a formula driven by enrollment that sends more money to schools with certain high-needs students.

“All we’re doing is denying the reality we’re facing,” Adams said during an unrelated press conference.

Adams faces pressure not only from the City Council but also from state legislators, who recently passed a bill to reduce class size in New York City. Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, has not yet signed the bill.

A group of parents and teachers filed a lawsuit this week claiming the city failed to follow proper procedures before voting on the final budget, which took effect on July 1, and are seeking to allow the council to re-vote on it.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Lawsuit filed to halt hundreds of millions in NYC school budget cuts

2022-07-18T21:13:53+00:00

Two New York City parents and two teachers filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn the City Council’s approval of the city budget, which cut hundreds of millions of dollars from school budgets for this upcoming academic year.

The lawsuit — filed against New York City, the education department, and schools Chancellor David Banks — claims that city officials failed to follow the proper protocols before elected officials voted on the the final budget, which took effect July 1.

They are asking for a court to invalidate the adopted budget and require the City Council to reconsider and vote again. While they await a hearing and a final decision, the plaintiffs also want a temporary restraining order on implementation of the budget cuts, and city schools funded at the same levels as last fiscal year.

If allowed to vote again, it’s likely the City Council would push to reverse the cuts.

Jonah Allon, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, said the administration increased its portion for the education department’s budget for this fiscal year.

Overall, however, there is less money because of declining federal stimulus aid.

“While enrollment in public schools dropped, the city has maintained the unprecedented commitment to keep every school from every ZIP code at 100% of Fair Student Funding,” Allon said in a statement after this story initially published. Fair Student Funding is the formula that funds the bulk of school budgets.

“We are reviewing the lawsuit,” he added.

The lawsuit comes as pressure has built around the budget cuts, which are a result of declining projected student enrollment. The cuts impact the pool of money that schools use to hire staff and build out programming for children. Principals are reportedly excessing staff and changing or cutting programming as they plan next year with smaller budgets. Lawmakers, parents, teachers and advocates — and even former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who’s running for Congress — have been pushing the city to backfill cuts with a portion of the remaining $5 billion in federal COVID stimulus funds.

Adams and Banks have resisted those calls because they want to ease in budget cuts over the next few years if enrollment continues to drop, as it has by 9.5% since the start of the pandemic.

Cuts to schools were publicized and even a sticking point last month before a budget deal was reached between Adams and the council; however, all but six City Council members voted to approve it. Amid the recent pressure, most of City Council is now calling for Adams to restore the cuts and add more funding to school budgets using federal stimulus dollars.

In February, Adams announced his intention to cut school budgets by $215 million for the 2022-2023 school year. Comptroller Brad Lander said the cut is steeper – by about $150 million more — which officials have said is due to an even deeper projected enrollment drop. Officials revealed last week that they’re expecting K-12 student enrollment to drop by another 30,000 students, or 3.8%, next year.

But the lawsuit claims that the city skirted proper protocols by failing to allow the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP — a largely mayoral appointed board that approves major contracts and policies — to approve the department’s estimated budget before it went to City Council for a final vote.

“We’re not telling the DOE how to make decisions at all,” said Laura D. Barbieri, an attorney with Advocates for Justice, the firm that filed the suit. “Instead, we are talking about a simple procedural mistake.”

On May 31, Banks issued an “emergency declaration” that temporarily declared the budget approved for 60 days, or until the PEP’s approval. He said there was not sufficient time to hold a required 45-day public comment period before schools were notified of how much money they would receive and before the City Council needed to adopt the budget. The city budget must be approved by July 1. Delaying this process, Banks wrote, would have a “harmful effect on the operation of schools.”

Previous chancellors have issued similar declarations a dozen times since at least 2010, the lawsuit found, based on documents available on the education department’s website.

The lawsuit also claims Banks did not cite an adequate reason to call such an emergency declaration. The PEP voted on the budget in late June, two weeks after the City Council had already adopted it, “depriving the City Council of the benefit of the public hearing, public comments, and vote” by the PEP, the lawsuit argues.

While the lawsuit makes a “coherent case” over whether the city violated certain procedural rules, it’s not likely they will stop the city’s budget from moving forward because it could bring the entire financial plan to a halt, said David Bloomfield, an education professor at Brooklyn College and The CUNY Grad Center, who was general counsel for the former city board of education.

One issue is that previous chancellors have declared emergencies for many years without, seemingly, any problem, he said.

“It seems to me that obviously, a court can’t go back in time and declare all these other actions illegal,” Bloomfield said. “The way I would put it in legalese: the pattern and practice that has been in place for many years makes the petitioners’ argument more difficult to carry. I’m not saying that it can’t carry, but there’s a tendency, I think, on the part of the court to allow the political process to go forward – and particularly here, where the stakes are so high in restraining the budgetary approval.”

Barbieri argued that the matter isn’t political, but rather one related to the common public interest of public education.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Most NYC schools are losing funding. See what’s happening at your school.

2022-06-28T17:59:30+00:00

New York City educators and families are finishing this school year worried about how hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to school budgets will impact their classrooms in the fall. They’re hearing about rising class sizes, losing teachers, and cutting enrichment.

City lawmakers passed a budget deal earlier this month slashing school budgets based on declining enrollment projections: The city’s public schools (excluding charters) have lost 9.5% of their students since the pandemic began.

Mayor Eric Adams’ $215 million cut to schools was somewhat softened by federal coronavirus stimulus dollars. Without that federal funding, Adams would have cut budgets by $375 million, which he plans to do by the 2024-2025 school year.

Schools must typically return money if they enroll fewer students than projected midway through the school year. But Mayor Bill de Blasio held schools harmless from these cuts over the past two years, largely using COVID stimulus dollars. Adams’ plan reverses this policy and goes back to a funding system that’s more closely tied to enrollment.

To show how those cuts affect each school, Chalkbeat created a lookup tool examining changes to Fair Student Funding — the pot of money that makes up 65% of school budgets and is sent to schools months ahead of the next school year. It’s what principals use to hire staff and create programming. The formula provides more money to schools with higher shares of students with disabilities, those learning English as a new language and those struggling academically.

A majority of schools — just over 1,200 — will see cuts in Fair Student Funding, as high as $5 million at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton High School, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. Close to 300 schools will see an increase, up to $2.5 million at Queens’ Thomas J. McCann Woodside Intermediate School.

Some education advocates have encouraged families to look up current school budgets and compare them to what’s posted online for schools for next fiscal year, which begins July 1. However, that won’t show an “apples-to-apples” comparison, since schools typically receive all kinds of funding throughout the course of the year.

“A true apples-to-apples comparison would be looking at preliminary budgets for this current school year compared with the preliminary budget for [next year], because that’s really what schools are using to plan for school opening,” said Sarita Subramanian, assistant director of education policy at the city’s Independent Budget Office.

To account for those discrepancies, this tool shows how much Fair Student Funding each school had as of June 2021, as principals planned for this current school year, and compares that to how much schools have right now, ahead of this fall. We included money that schools received to cover for enrollment losses, but excluded additional funding schools may have received for this halfway through this school year, since school leaders didn’t have that money when they planned for the year.

We also included forgiven debts related to enrollment losses that schools may have owed to the education department.

(Some programs and schools may not show up in our tool because there was no information posted for them in Galaxy, the public website where school budget allocations are posted.)

Numbers don’t add up

Education department officials at a Friday City Council budget hearing said about 400 schools are seeing increases, though did not share details on how they calculated those numbers. Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the education department, declined multiple requests for comment on Chalkbeat’s analysis methods.

While the city has said the cuts total $215 million, the actual blow to individual school budgets would have been closer to $132 million, since a chunk of the money was related to fringe benefits that are covered centrally, according to Comptroller Brad Lander. However, a new analysis by Lander found that the cuts this year will actually total nearly three times that amount, at about $372 million. Department officials did not immediately explain the discrepancy.

Schools may see cuts or increases based on rising or falling enrollment projections, but also based on how many high-needs students they are projected to enroll, since those students receive more money under the formula, Styer said.

On top of all of this, the city has reduced the amount of per-pupil funding it provides to schools through Fair Student Funding by about $25 per student, due to a drop in average teacher salaries across the whole system, as first reported by the New York Post.

Schools with veteran teachers earning higher than the citywide average get an extra cushion to help pay their salaries, Subramanian noted.

As they plan for next school year, principals and educators are reporting plans to excess staff and eliminate enrichment programs. While it’s true that fewer students may mean fewer teachers are needed, less funding could mean that principals can’t build out new programming or must increase class sizes — even as the city faces a potential new state law to shrink class sizes.

Additionally, principals have criticized the city for incorrect enrollment projections, resulting in fewer dollars than they’ll need next year. At Friday’s hearing, one City Council member said a principal in her district surveyed every family in her school and found enrollment would be dozens of students higher than the education department’s calculation.

Both City Hall and education department spokespeople have repeatedly refused to share how much enrollment is projected to drop next year. Schools could get money back if they enroll more students than expected, but that money typically arrives after schools have finished hiring for the school year.

Families and educators have forcefully protested the cuts and have questioned why the remaining $5 billion in unspent stimulus dollars can’t be used once again to protect school budgets.

Many City Council members pressed education department officials at Friday’s hearing about why these cuts are happening, in hopes of restoring the funding. The cuts briefly held up a final city budget deal, though all but six of the 51 council members approved the deal earlier this month.

Correction: An earlier version of the lookup table used an incorrect data point for fiscal year 2022. The table and story have been updated to reflect the correct figures, including new totals for schools with highest and lowest increases.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chaotic end to NYC school year: Rage over budget cuts

2022-06-17T22:14:13+00:00

A wave of disappointment and anger is spreading across New York City school communities, touched off by Mayor Eric Adams’ recently announced budget cuts: Parents fear they’ll see programs discontinued in the fall, and teachers are worried about their jobs.

While the cuts are tied to K-12 declining enrollment —which has dropped by 9.5% since the beginning of the pandemic — many parents, educators, and politicians believe they will hurt students as they continue grappling with the academic and social-emotional toll from the pandemic.

“These cuts don’t translate to just fewer textbooks,” said state Sen. Jessica Ramos, who held a rally Friday outside of P.S. 69 in Jackson Heights, Queens, the school her children attend. “What we’re seeing is cutting a guidance counselor, cutting an art teacher, cutting a music teacher. I can’t tell you what my little guy would do if his trumpet was taken away from him. This is very personal.”

Ramos said she would like to see a budget that is responsive to the trauma that families have endured throughout the pandemic. She also said that, “It’s a matter of trusting the principals and the teachers to know what the schools need, and perhaps making those investments there.”

Adams said he did not cut funding, but rather adjusted the budget according to the Fair Student Funding formula, which provides the bulk of money for individual school budgets. It’s based on enrollment projections, sending more money to schools with high shares of students with disabilities, learning English as a new language, or facing academic struggles.

“We did not cut funding. Can someone put that in a sentence? We had a drop in students,” Adams said during an unrelated press conference earlier this week. “This administration is focusing on giving children what they need. We did not cut. I’m going to make a T-shirt saying we did not cut.”

The city has increased its own spending on education by about $720 million. But its financial plan for the coming fiscal year shows a $1 billion decline for the education department, largely attributed to a decrease in federal COVID funding. The budget passed this week.

Some critics, like Ramos, are angry about that decrease because the city acknowledged that it still had about $5 billion in unspent school COVID spending as of early May.

Teachers have gone on social media to share fears about co-workers being excessed from their schools. Meanwhile, the city may be trying to get schools with vacancies to hire excessed teachers through a hiring freeze of educators from outside the system. A recently sent letter to prospective teachers outlined hiring restrictions for teachers with certifications affecting prekindergarten to sixth grade.

An education department spokesperson said this kind of restriction is typical for this time of the year and done to ensure that they are able to keep talent in the system.

“We will monitor the vacancy and excess numbers on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed in hiring restrictions to ensure all schools are staffed in September with qualified teachers,” the spokesperson said.

State Rep. Jessica González-Rojas, who also attended Friday’s rally, said she felt personally devastated.

“My son is a fifth grader at P.S. 212, his school has nearly half a million dollars in cuts. Talking to your child’s teacher who’s in tears about losing her job is just devastating,” she said. “I have a district that is predominantly immigrants, English language learners, and working class. So these cuts are going to hit us the hardest.”

Aria Hossain, a junior at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, said she’s disappointed about the budget cut.

“Our schools, as they are, are very underfunded,” Hossain said. “One painful example would be when my chemistry teacher did not have enough poster boards for all of us, so she had to repurpose old student work.”

Marilyn Mendoza of Make the Road New York, a nonprofit that provides social service support to families, echoed that parents are still struggling from the economic impacts of the pandemic.

“We’re getting worried that the city wants to slash our school budgets right when our communities need it the most. Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst were some of the communities hit the most by COVID, where a lot of our children lost family, they lost parents. It’s been a really tough year for them. And our schools have become like a second home for them,” she said.

“We don’t understand why school budgets have to be on the chopping block all the time. We’re just angry and we’re not going to stop fighting until our schools receive every cent that they deserve.”

Marcela Rodrigues-Sherley is a reporting intern for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Marcela at mrodrigues-sherley@chalkbeat.org.

NYC budget deal cuts school funding amid declining enrollment

2022-06-10T23:08:10+00:00

New York City lawmakers reached a $101 billion budget deal Friday that finalizes cuts to school budgets for the 2022-2023 school year.

Many details of the agreement, which sets the city’s financial plan from July 1 through June 2023, were still unavailable Friday evening. But in April, the mayor’s proposal showed a $1 billion drop for the education department, to just under $31 billion — largely because federal coronavirus relief is beginning to dry up. That budget is made up of state, federal, and city funding, and under Adams’ proposal, the city would boost its own spending on education by about $720 million.

Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council were expected to reach a deal this week. But, Politico reported that an 11th hour disagreement developed over cuts to individual school budgets after school and union leaders decried the decreases, which they saw for the first time this week.

Those cuts were announced in February, but they made it into the final budget.

The cuts, totaling $215 million across all schools this year, represent a reversal of a policy over the past two years, which covered schools financially for enrolling fewer students than expected halfway through the year, during the pandemic.

While schools will see a drop in funding compared to this year’s budgets, Adams would not call them cuts.

“We had a major drop in student population in the [department of education], so what we’re doing — we are not cutting, we are adjusting the amount based on the student population,” Adams told reporters after a ceremonial handshake with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.

Separately, the budget also sets aside $2 billion in coronavirus relief funds for next school year and expands summer programming for children and young adults.

Here are some highlights from Thursday’s budget agreement:

School budgets

Many schools will see smaller budgets due to the city’s projections of declining student enrollment, which has dropped by 6.4% since the pandemic’s start in 2020.

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, schools will be funded in a way that’s more closely tied to their enrollment, but school and union leaders are worried about the impact of the cuts on students and staff.

Before the pandemic, schools were required to send money back to the education department if, by halfway through the year, they had enrolled fewer students than originally projected.

To blunt the financial blow on schools during the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio spent $177 million — 75% of which came from federal coronavirus relief dollars — to cover budgets for 870 schools that saw mid-year enrollment drops. Again this year, the administration spent $324 million to forgive mid-year enrollment drops at 1,200 schools, again with roughly three-quarters covered by stimulus dollars.

In February, Adams announced he wanted to reverse this policy and gradually cut budgets over the next two years. Using federal stimulus dollars to backfill the cuts, Adams plans to cut school budgets by $215 million this fall, just under $300 million for the 2023-2024 school year, and finally $375 million in 2024-2025.

“We are in a very dangerous time that many people are not realizing,” Adams said. “We are dropping students so much.”

Fewer students could mean a need for fewer teachers. But reduced funding complicates plans that principals had for their schools, such as launching new programs or hiring new staff. The city is also facing a new state law requiring New York City to reduce class sizes, but officials have not explained how they’ll reconcile the new mandate with cuts to school budgets.

Principals are also worried they may need to “excess” staff, meaning those staffers would leave the school and could look for jobs elsewhere in the system. If unsuccessful, those staffers could enter the Absent Teacher Reserve, where they still get paid.

Asked how the city devised enrollment projections, a City Hall spokesman said officials calculate them based on recent trends in each grade level from kindergarten through 12th grade. Principals, superintendents, and other education officials who work with schools “review and provide significant feedback” before enrollment projections are finalized.

The plan received blowback from educators and some city officials.

Comptroller Brad Lander said the city must address enrollment drops, but schools should not see cuts yet as schools emerge from the pandemic. He also suggested the city should revisit the Fair Student Funding formula, which is based on enrollment projections but also sends more money to schools with high shares of students with disabilities, learning English as a new language, or facing academic struggles. The city has plans to begin reviewing the formula this year — a process that happened once before in 2019 but never resulted in changes.

“Our schools have endured the hardest two years and need every penny to provide the social, emotional, and academic supports that all our students deserve this summer and fall,” Lander said in a statement.

COVID stimulus spending

The administration plans to spend about $1.8 billion in COVID stimulus money next school year. City schools received about $7 billion in stimulus money, of which $2 billion has been spent through the first week of May, according to City Hall.

While hundreds of millions of dollars went directly to schools this year to create academic recovery programs, some schools struggled to spend the money because they couldn’t recruit teachers to work overtime to staff tutoring programs. Roughly a third of the city’s students with disabilities were expected to have received stimulus-funded recovery services by the end of this school year.

About $160 million will go toward softening the blow of enrollment declines for schools (leading to the overall $215 million cut for next year). Another $125 million is expected to go directly to schools for “academic recovery” and arts instruction, with more funds slated for schools with higher needs students. Schools must use the money to provide academic intervention and additional support for students learning English as a new language.

The mayor’s executive budget proposed some other initiatives to be covered by COVID stimulus dollars, including $176 million for Summer Rising, the city’s universal summer enrichment program.

Summer programming and community schools

The budget calls for $110 million to cover an expanded summer enrichment program that will have 10,000 more slots for kindergarten through eighth grade students, reaching a total of 110,000 elementary and middle school students and 210,000 across all grades.

The budget also includes $79 million to expand the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which provides summer jobs for youth ages 14-21. The program will be funded to have 90,000 slots, plus another 10,000 through other city programs. While it’s open to any city resident, the program is not available to undocumented children.

Additionally, the city has restored planned funding cuts for organizations that provide extra support to students in dozens of community schools, said Jonah Allon, a spokesperson for City Hall. The schools provide wraparound services for students in high-needs schools. The cuts, related to a changed funding formula, meant that these organizations would have to lay off staff and shrink their services, such as attendance monitoring and mental health support.

The city will spend $14 million to restore those cuts, but the organizations had only requested $9 million. It wasn’t immediately clear what accounted for increased funding.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.