CEC 15 President's letter about the importance of resistance and running for your CEC and Citywide Councils

See the excellent letter below from CEC 15 President Antonia Ferraro about how the CEC is responding to Trump's threats to control school curriculums, violate student civil rights, and ban books. 

She also points out how given this political climate, it is more important than ever for parents to run for their district CECs and Citywide Councils.  The deadline to apply is Feb. 16, only a few days from now.  More info on how to apply is here.

 

February 11, 2025 

Dear District 15 Families and Community,

CEC15 has received letters of concern regarding various Trump Administration Executive Orders1 2 3 and their potential impact on school funding4 5 and the rights of our diverse student body.6 I believe advocacy for all our children is more important than ever, and I appreciate the ongoing efforts of families to support students by sending such letters.

In the absence of statements from NYCPS I am compelled to respond to concerns about the executive orders. It is an open question as to how enforceable or legal they are; legal analysts have called their legality and constitutionality into question,7 8 9 and numerous lawsuits10 11 12 have already been filed. What I do know is that the federal government cannot dictate to states and cities how their schools function and what curriculums they use. Regardless of questions of legality, there are workarounds to safeguard student rights and I implore our NYCPS to stay the course and develop those workarounds.

What do I mean by workarounds? After the Supreme Court decided in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 113 that K-12 schools could not consider race in admissions, the Obama administration issued guidance14 that enabled school districts to integrate by looking at measures of poverty. This formed the basis for our diversity plans. This type of thinking is essential right now. It is crucial that NYCPS, together with school and community leaders, stay focused on the mission of ensuring that all children in New York City receive a high-quality education in a safe, caring environment.

I also want you to know that as President of CEC15, I have been reaffirming our organization's commitment to celebrating, protecting and respecting all of our students at every single meeting. I have and will continue to demand that the DOE leadership resist attacks on students’ and teachers’ civil rights, human rights, and First Amendment rights.

I have been doing this through the issues I elevate at our public CEC meetings and in meetings that I regularly attend with our Chancellor. CEC15 has been doing this through the resolutions the council has passed, such as CEC15’s Resolution to Prevent and Respond to Hate Speech.15 And I have been doing this through the banned and challenged books that I highlight in meetings. I often share banned books that reflect identities celebrated by our cultural and heritage months and various overlapping holidays. This month we celebrated Black History Month and Lunar New Year. To honor Black History Month, I featured All Because You Matter by Tami Charles, which offers love, hope and affirmation through the Black experience. And to honor Asian and immigrant families, I featured Drawn Together by Minh Le, which tells the story of a grandson and grandfather, struggling to communicate across a language barrier, but find connection through art.

CEC15’s recent Legislative Breakfast largely focused on the threats of this new administration. The event had more than 80 registrants including elected officials, principals, teachers and school staff, and parent leaders. Many important topics were raised, including SCA accountability, libraries, arts funding, protecting migrant and asylum-seeking families, school transportation, the importance of Title I funding, the importance of mental health professionals and mandated services, and the need to revise building utilization plans in buildings collocated with charter schools.

Here again CEC15 featured banned and challenged books. These books were raffled to attendees. The list of books honored the experiences of the trans or gender-questioning children, Native American, African American, Jewish, Hispanic, and immigrant children. The books included:

I am Enough by Grace Byers

Hold Onto Your Music by Mona Golabeck and Lee Cohen

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard

Planting Stories by Anika Aldamuy Denise When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff We are Still Here! by Traci Sorell

These books were challenged in 2022 by the Northampton (PA) Area School District (NASD) school board, which unanimously voted to table a donation of fifty books from The Conscious Kid, a non-profit organization focused on equity and promoting healthy racial identity development. They rejected the donation after just ten parents complained during a meeting. One of ten parents/grandparents to object to the donation claimed, “The Conscious Kid uses Marxist critical race theory.” Some of the people had not even read any of the books. 

I feel that elevating banned books does what proclamations can’t. By sharing these books, I aim to shine a spotlight on the creativity and excellence of writers whose work reflects the rich and varied lived experiences of children in our own communities. Others may call it DEI, but I call it reality. 

Therefore, I will keep calm and carry on with the mission of supporting all our students. But I will also keep an eye on protecting the democratic infrastructure that makes supporting students possible. Protecting the independence of democratic institutions and functions should be, must be a nonpartisan concern to all Americans. 

This is why it is so important for all community members to participate. I urge parents and caregivers who want to have a voice in our children's collective education to consider running for a seat on a Community or Citywide Education Council (CCEC). CCECs are a small but impactful part of our local democratic infrastructure. CCEC elections for the upcoming 2-year term will be happening soon, and if you have a child in a New York City public school, you can run for a seat. The deadline to apply is soon!

2025 Selection Process Schedule:

●      January 13 - February 16: Candidate application period

●      February 28 - April 2: Candidate Forums

●      April 25 - May 13: Parents vote online

●      May 14 - June 2: Run-off elections, if necessary

●      June: Election results announced

●      July 1: Members-elect take office

Regardless of whether you wish to run, we need parent voices at our CCEC meetings, Community attendance is critical to engage on these topics. Please join us for our next Business or Calendar Meeting, or join us for an upcoming workshop or community celebration.

Thank you again for your support of District 15 schools, and the children and families who depend on them. Rest assured, I will continue to be clear with the DOE leadership that District 15 families expect them to resist attacks on students and teachers’ civil rights, human rights, and First Amendment rights. Hearing your voices helps me do that.

Keep Calm and Carry On Supporting All Students,

 CEC15 Signatories

Antonia Ferraro Martinelli, CEC15 President Leslie King, CEC15 Co-President 1

Vanessa Gonzalez Ueoka, CEC15 Co-President 2 Nancy Cruz, CEC15 Secretary

Katina Rogers, CEC15 Treasurer Jonathan Davis, CEC15 Parliamentarian Hans Arrieta, CEC15 member

Kwame Egerton, CEC15 member

 D15 Presidents’ Council Signatories

Elton Dodson, D15 Presidents’ Council Co-President

Elizabeth Sanders Greyson, D15 Presidents’ Council Co-President

 

1 https://www.ed.gov/media/document/title-ix-enforcement-directive-dcl

 2 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/

3 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/

4 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/expanding-educational-freedom-and-opportunity-for-families

5 https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-advances-school-choice-supporting-charter-schools 

6 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/trump-executive-orders-local-control-schools.html 

7 https://www.nilc.org/articles/analysis-of-trump-day-1-executive-orders-unconstitutional-illegal-and-cruel/

8 https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/fact-sheets/background-unlawful-impoundment-president-trumps-executive-orders

9 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/where-do-legal-cases-against-trumps-executive-orders-stand-2025-01-30/

10 https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/tracking-the-legal-challenges-to-trumps-executive-orders

11 https://natlawreview.com/article/dei-whirlwind-continues-new-lawsuit-challenges-constitutionality-anti-dei-orders

12 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-lawsuits-list-executive-orders-doge-citizenship-2018514

13 https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/551/701/

14 https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/guidance-ese-201111.pdf

15 https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/951dd9a1-96ac-438b-8642-d89cc6651997/downloads/6e7a1ac2-4590-4f19-9535-bef161121cd1/Approved%20-%20CEC15%20Resolution%20to%20Prevent%20and%20Res.pdf?ver=173886625285 3

 

CEC 15 Resolution on Foundation Aid and Charter Funding FY 2023

See below -- a resolution passed by CEC District 15 last night on charter school funding that should be a model for other Community and Citywide Education Councils (CCECs) , Community Groups and Advocacy organizations to pass. It is an adaptation of an earlier one passed by CEC District 22.  The pdf version complete with citations and footnotes is here.  

 It shows how unfairly charter funding will eat into the planned increase in funding for our public schools, if the Governor's budget proposal is adopted.   It also shows how NYC schools have been unfairly deprived of over $2 billion in transitional aid meant to make up for the loss of funding going to charters in their districts -- with NYC the ONLY district in the state that is barred from receiving this funding.

Other CECs should pass similar resolutions and send them to Governor Hochul and their state legislators.

Approved  on February 15, 2022, the  following resolution  offers CEC  15’s  position regarding
Foundation Aid and Charter School Funding in the Governor's proposed state budget for FY 23.


Resolution on Foundation Aid and Charter Funding FY 2023


Whereas, in April 2021, the New York State Legislature and Governor committed to fully phasing-in
the Foundation Aid formula owed to NYS school districts by FY 2024 as a consequence of an almost
three-decades-long campaign for equitably funded public education by students, parents, advocates,
activists, organizations and elected officials1;

Whereas, in October 2021, Governor Hochul settled the case of New Yorkers for Students' Educational
Rights v. New York State, further promising this aid2;

Whereas for FY 2023, an additional $345 million in Foundation Aid will go to NYC Public schools,
but New York City is obligated to increase aid to charter schools by $200 million. This means 57%
of the total state aid increase will go to charter schools;

Whereas, from 2019- 2021, New York City’s public schools have received an average increase in this
state aid of $471 per student, while New York City’s charter schools have received an average
increase of $2,325 per student;

Whereas, in New York City, public schools enroll 1,033,669 students, while charter schools enroll
145,000 students - just 14% of all NYC students3;

Whereas, 14% of students receiving 57% of the total aid increase is an imbalance;

Whereas, State law mandates that local school districts pay tuition, based on a per pupil formula
established by the State, to charter schools in their districts;

Whereas, the tuition for charter schools in NYC for the school year 2021-22 will be $16,844, not
including facilities funds;

Whereas, payments to charter schools are already diverting more than $2 billion annually from nyc
public schools, not including facilities funds4;

Whereas, State law mandates New York City pay rent for Charter schools sited in private facilities,
making New York City the only school district in the state and the nation with this financial
burden, costing more than an additional $100 million per year with the amount rising fast 5;

Whereas, the New York City school district is the only district in the state that is excluded from
state Transitional Aid6, which helps local school districts offset the costs of charter schools.
Consequently, NYC has lost more than $2 billion in state aid since the 2012-2013 school year;

Whereas, charter schools  across the country have taken advantage of Covid-19 Paycheck Protection
Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans to acquire bailout aid, including NYC charter schools,
who received approximately $1.12 million per school7;

Whereas, 10 charter schools are currently located in District 15, enrolling approximately 3,600 or
12% of the 30,000 students in District 15;

Whereas, unlike other city school districts in the state, District 15 is not compensated through
Transition Aid for the $60 million in per pupil tuition lost to charter schools; and

Whereas, Community Education Council District 15 is committed to advocating for equitably and
sufficiently funded public schools for the children of the district and beyond.

Therefore be it resolved, that CEC 15 urges Governor Hochul and the State Legislature to take
action in the 2022-2023 budget to ensure that the majority of the school aid increase is allocated
to public schools serving the majority of students, including the 86% of students in traditional
public schools; and that the Foundation Aid awarded to our district public schools as a result of
the CFE case is not eaten up by increased payments to charter schools; and be it Resolved, that the state provide greater supplemental tuition payments to school districts
impacted by charters; and be it

Resolved, that the charter school tuition formula is revised to prevent adverse impacts on public
schools; and be it

Resolved, that the State eliminates the requirement of NYC to pay rent for the charter school or
provide space; and be it further

Resolved, that State law makes New York City eligible for Transitional Aid that other districts
receive, as well as retroactively compensate NYC for the funding lost over the last ten years; and
be it

Resolved, that the New York State Legislature not raise the statutory limit on the number of
charter schools permitted in NYC, because any increase in the number of charter schools would
further divert funding from our district public schools.


This Resolution was approved  at a CEC15  Calendar Meeting held on February 15, 2022 by a vote  of  members  present   including:  Camille   Casaretti,  Antonia  Ferraro,   Tia  Schellstede,
Nana-Poku Agyekum, Ivan Banda, Nancy Randall, and Joseph Alexander.