State budget testimony on class size and the broken Contracts for Excellence program

Today the state budget hearings are being held for education.  Below are the testimonies submitted by Class Size Matters and the Education Law Center, mostly focused on class size.

Clearly the Contracts for Excellence process is broken, with non-compliance by DOE and lax enforcement by the State Education Department.  This probably needs a legislative fix as I say -- so that the C4E law is updated and strengthened with actual class size caps to be achieved over five years, and with enhanced accountability and enforcement.   I also provide the data showing that the decline in class size this year is purely due to enrollment decline, not any actual effort by DOE.  In fact, there are fewer classes at all grade levels than there were in 2019 -- despite the even greater need for smaller classes for the sake of health and safety as well as more learning support.