Testimony on the need to fully fund and provide more accountability with the Foundation funds owed NYC so that class sizes are (finally) reduced

Here is the testimony from Sarita Subramanian of the IBO which cites an Urban Institute study showing NY ranking second-to-last among 50 states because of how regressive its school funding is (including state and local.) Here is testimony from Michael Mulgrew of the UFT and Andy Pallotta of NYSUT.

Yesterday I spent most of the day at NY Senate hearings by the Education and Budget Committees on the Foundation aid formula for school funding, following a series of round table discussions that have been held throughout the state.

The Foundation aid formula which was established in 2007 but has never been fully implemented. NYC schools are owed either $1.1 billion or $1.4 billion from the state, according to different sources, as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court decision and the Contracts for Excellence law passed in 2007.  Statewide, the unmet need varies from about $3.4 billion to $4.2 billion according to whom you ask.  Some of the witnesses said there should be a two-year phase in, and others a three-year phase in of these amounts.

There were many experts in school finance, some who said the formula was so badly flawed it should be improved before funding it, and others who said we can't wait for this to happen.  They argued that our schools need more resources now because students are suffering, and can't wait.  They said that the state legislature and Governor need to fully fund the original formula and worry about tweaking the formula later.

The first witness was Lindsey Oates, the Chief Financial Officer of the NYC Department of Education  who began with a long account about how wonderfully our schools are doing, from rising graduation rates, more students taking SATs, more preK, yadda yadda yadda.  The thrust of her remarks would make any listener think that  our schools don't really need more funding at all.

When asked what they would do with the additional $1.1 billion, she echoed Carranza: all schools' Fair student funding would be brought up to 100% and then principals could do with the money what they want.  In the DOE experience, this usually meant primarily the hiring of more staff of one kind or another.   She said it would cost $750 million to bring all schools up to 100%, though a couple of years ago, the IBO estimated less than $500 million. [Update: DOE is now including pension and fringe costs

NYC Council Education Committee chair Mark Treyger was a far more effective witness in outlining the crying lack of counselors, social workers and teachers to provide reasonable class sizes, and argued that the need to fund these positions are "non-negotiable."

The results of a recent survey of School Superintendents throughout the state was released, reporting a sharp increase in the number of English Language learners and students diagnosed with disabilities who need more support, and a need in many districts to supply more mental health services to their students.

Sen. Robert Jackson, the lead plaintiff in the original CFE lawsuit, was vociferous about the fact that the state was in non-compliance with the court decision, and that the Legislature must take action in response.

Sen. John Liu was especially biting in his questions, and pointed out that it would be impossible to find the billions of dollars required unless the Governor Cuomo softened his opposition to allowing the state budget to increase by more than two percent in any year, even if more revenue is raised through a tax increase for the super wealthy.

Liu asked Michael Mulgrew, President of the UFT and Andy Pallotta of the state teacher's union NYSUT, “Will you stand with us and demand that he throw this ridiculously arbitrary 2 percent spending increase cap out the window?”  They nodded yes.

Sen. Shelley Mayer, the Committee chair, seemed most concerned with accountability compared with other legislators, and asked Michael Mulgrew how we could be sure that the additional funding would be well-spent.  He replied rather incongruously that NYC teachers needed new curriculum and training to properly implement the new standards.

I focused on the need to strengthen the accountability, enforcement and maintenance of effort provisions of the Contract for Excellence law, so that we could ensure that a significant portion of these funds be spent on lowering class size, especially in NYC. 

Class size was a central focus of the original lawsuit and the court decision that concluded that class sizes were too large to provide NYC students with their constitutional right to a sound, basic education.  And yet class sizes have risen even higher since that decision was rendered, especially in the early grades.  I included charts with the latest class size data from this fall.

I also pointed out that $2.1 billion was being diverted out of the DOE budget to charter schools, and while every other district in the district receives "transitional aid" to make up for some of the funding lost to charters, NYC does not.

My testimony is posted here and below.

The march to Albany begins! Fighting for the rights of NYC students to receive a fair equitable education

Robert Jackson, lead plaintiff for the CFE lawsuit (credit: Richard Fife)

Today the Alliance for Quality Education, parents and advocates are walking to Albany to demand equitable education state aid for NYC schools and other underfunded districts.   At the kick-off rally at Tweed this morning hundreds of elected officials, advocates, and parents joined them, to give them support.

NYC Kids say to Cuomo: Pay your bills!

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision of the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, which concluded that NYC students were denied their constitutional right to a sound basic education by an inequitable school aid formula.

 In 2007, the state began to comply with the court order with a more equitable foundation aid formula, but when the recession hit in 2009, the funding was frozen, ending the four-year phase-in.  The  promises to fully fund NYC and other districts have never been fulfilled, and we are still owed billions in additional aid, in a range estimated from three to five billion dollars more.

Even earlier, in 2003, Robert Jackson, then lead plaintiff of the CFE lawsuit, along with others, walked 150 miles to Albany for the Court of Appeals hearings.  Robert Jackson was there again today and is walking to Albany again.

Tish James, "A dream deferred is a dream denied"

This morning, he insisted that it was no time to give up, and pointed out that two out of the three city's highest officials were at the rally to show their support: Public Advocate Tish James and City Comptroller Scott Stringer.  But Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Farina were missing; in fact I saw no one there from NYC DOE.

As usual, many of the public officials were very eloquent. Public Advocate Tish James pointed out the justice delayed is justice denied.

Cathy Nolan speaks of overcrowded classrooms and schools.

Zakiyah Ansari of AQE

Comptroller Stringer prepares to march

Cathy Nolan, chair of the NY State Assembly Education Committee,  and Danny Dromm, chair of the NYC Council Education Committee,  denounced the overcrowded conditions and excessive class sizes in our schools that unfairly disadvantage NYC students, and Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman described how too many kids are still crammed into classes of 35.

A high school student from Make the Road by Walking spoke about insufficient counselors and extracurricular programs.   Zakiyah Ansari of AQE explained why the fight for our kids must continue.

If you'd like to join them, it's not too late!  This afternoon, on their way to Albany, Robert Jackson and AQE will join with other parents and allies at 3:30 PM at Juan Pablo Duarte School, PS 132, 185 Wadsworth Ave., in Washington Heights, where the CFE lawsuit began,  in 1993 -- more than 20 years ago.

The march for CFE funds begins from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Send a letter to DOE urging them to follow the C4E law and reduce class size now!

Dear Folks,

It is that time of year again -- when DOE submits a totally inadequate Contracts for Excellence plan, which does little or nothing to reduce class size or move our schools forward.

For the first time since the C4E law passed in 2007, I am not urging parents to attend the borough hearings, since there is no evidence that DOE takes the comments of those who show up in person any more seriously than those who submit comments through email. If you really want to attend a borough hearing, there is one remaining in Brooklyn on August 1, 2016 at the Wingate Campus at 7 PM; more info here.

I instead urge you to send a letter to the DOE, the Commissioner, and the Regents about the fact that NYC students are still being denied their constitutional right to smaller classes and the myriad ways DOE is defying the law.  A handy letter you can send, edit and/or add details of your own children’s experience is posted on the Action Network site here, you can also find the letter posted below.

The deadline for comment is August 19^th and comments can also be submitted by sending e-mails to ContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov. More information from the DOE about the C4E program is here.

Thanks, Leonie

___________________________________________________________________________

Dear Chancellor Fariña:

I write to object to DOE’s proposed Contract for Excellence plan for 2016-2017.  Again, not a dollar of the city’s targeted or districtwide expenditures is being spent on reducing class size. While as before, principals are being allowed to spend their discretionary C4E funds under the category of class size reduction, DOE provides no oversight to ensure that they actually do lower class size. 

Indeed, many schools are merely filling budget cuts made by DOE in previous years rather than hiring new teachers to reduce class size, violating the prohibition in the law that C4E funds must “supplement, not supplant” district funding.  In addition, DOE allows principals to openly use these funds not to lower class size but to “Minimize Class Size Growth.”  Even worse, when principals do attempt to reduce class size, the DOE often sends them more students, undermining their efforts.

The result is predictable:  class sizes continue to grow, as pointed out in this recent report from the Education Law Center.  Classes are now significantly larger than when the C4E law was originally passed, especially in the early grades, and larger than when the state’s highest court ruled that NYC class sizes violated students’ constitutional right to a sound basic education.

The one commitment in the current DOE plan, repeated from last year, is that they will focus their class size reduction efforts on the Renewal schools.  Yet even in the case of that limited commitment, DOE has not followed through. An analysis by Class Size Matters reveals that 40 percent of the 94 Renewal schools did not lower class size compared to the year before, 60 percent of these schools continued to have classes as large as 30 students or more, and only seven percent capped class sizes at the more appropriate C4E goals of 20 students per class in grades K-3, 23 per class in grades 4-8, and 25 in core high school classes. This year as last, no class size goals or targets are cited for these schools, and none of the “key elements” of their Renewal plan, according to DOE, even mention smaller classes.    As a result, many of the Renewal schools are still struggling.

Only one significant change has been made from last year’s plan.  DOE now explicitly claims that its original citywide class size reduction plan, approved by the state in 2007 and put on hiatus in 2009 by ex-Commissioner Steiner because of what he called the "current economic climate" is now officially "expired." Yet DOE has offered nothing in its place, despite the fact that the recession is long over, and both the state and the city currently enjoy billion dollar surpluses. 

As a parent, I urge DOE to introduce a real class size reduction plan that will yield positive results for NYC children, and to stop ignoring its legal and ethical obligations.  As the authors of the Education Law Center report conclude,

“DOE needs to issue a five-year class size reduction plan with specific annual class size targets along with sufficient funding to achieve those goals. The plan should first focus on lower grades, and schools with the greatest number of low-income children. In the longer term, the DOE should extend this plan to schools citywide, and for all grades, as the law requires, while adopting a school construction plan to ensure there is sufficient space.

The New York State Education Department should refuse to approve any city plan unless it includes specific targets in specific schools a long with sufficient funding to achieve them. The State should also maintain strict oversight to ensure that it achieves these goals.

According to the CFE decision, it is as much the State’s responsibility as the DOE’s to ensure proper class sizes in NYC public schools. If the DOE fails to achieve its annual targets and overall goals, the State should require the implementation of a corrective action plan, and consider withholding C4E funds if the DOE fails to improve its compliance.”

Yours sincerely,

Name and address

Send the DOE and the Mayor a message today -- so that class sizes don't grow even larger next year

On Saturday, the NY Post reported on the rapid expansion of class sizes in the NYC public schools.  Not only have class size averages increased to their highest level in 15 in grades K-3, and the highest levels in grades 4-8 since 2002, but last year more than 330,000 students were sitting in classes of 30 or larger – substantially more than the year before.  

Sadly, there is nothing in your child’s school budget or nearly any NYC school budget that will likely reverse this trend.  Except for major increases in spending for preK, afterschool, and charter schools, school budgets are flat at best, and given increased teacher salaries and student enrollment, class sizes will likely rise to even greater levels next year.  

This is unless the mayor and the Chancellor make special efforts to reverse course – and revise their deeply flawed Contracts for Excellence plan which includes more than $500 million in spending, but includes no targeted or district-wide allocations for smaller classes, nor any realistic plan to reduce class size, though this is required by the C4E law, passed by the State Legislature in 2007:

In a city school district in a city having a population of one million or more inhabitants such contract shall also include a plan to reduce average class sizes, as defined by the commissioner, within five years for the following grade ranges: (A) pre-kindergarten-third grade; (B) fourth-eighth grade; and (C) high school.

Please email the DOE at ContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov and let them know if you think they should be reducing class size – the deadline for public comments is July 19 -- and copy the mayor at bdeblasio@cityhall.nyc.gov.   Please also copy us at info@classsizematters.org

Urge them to live up to their promises to NYC children and create a real class size reduction plan instead of the fundamentally defective proposal they have put forward.  If you like, you can copy us at info@classsizematters.org   A sample message is below. 

When running for mayor, Bill de Blasio made repeated promises to reduce class size if elected, including that he would abide by the plan submitted by the city in 2007 that called for class sizes on average of no larger than 20 in grades K-3, 23 in 4^th-8^th grades and 25 in HS – and if necessary, to raise revenue to do so.   (See for example, p. 4 of this NYC KidsPAC candidate survey, and p.2  of this document de Blasio personally filled out and signed at a mayoral forum on June 14, 2013.)

Yet the C4E proposal the DOE has posted for next year would allot no specific dollars to reduce class size, and would instead allow schools to use these funds six different ways, including minimizing class size INCREASES, which no rational person can interpret as a commitment to lower class size.  

Their proposed plan is a continuation of the dismal Bloomberg era, in which the DOE has used these dollars for the last seven years as a slush fund to finance its own priorities – and then gave whatever was left over for schools to fill in whatever budget gaps they had.  We have seen the deplorable consequences: class sizes growing out of control. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. 

To make things worse, the DOE ended the early grade class size funding program in 2010 which they had promised to keep, and stopped capping class sizes at 28 in the early grades in 2011.  None of these policy choices have been reversed by the new administration. 

The city’s posted plan appears to subvert the law in at least two ways:  A) It provides no evidence that it will lead to smaller classes.  2) It admits that the funds are being used to supplant (or substitute) for its own budget cuts to schools. 

Please submit your comments to today – the deadline is July 19 – by emailing them at ContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov and copy the Mayor at bdeblasio@cityhall.nyc.gov

A sample message is below – but if you can, please personalize this message by including details of your child’s situation and explain why this issue is important to you.

To: ContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov  and bdeblasio@cityhall.nyc.gov

 

Class sizes are now larger than any time in 15 years in the early grades, and this year, more than 330,000 children were squeezed into classes of 30 or more.  If enacted, your Contracts for Excellence proposal would allow this unacceptable situation to worsen.  It contains no specific funding to reduce class size, even though a plan to lower class size is a required part of the law, and instead allows schools to use these funds to increase class size.

If this proposal is not substantially revised, under your watch, class sizes will be even larger next year.  I urge you to revise this proposal by taking the following steps, at minimum: 

1- Invest a substantial share of the C4E funds as part of a targeted initiative towards lowering class size and make sure that these dollars are spent accordingly; 2- Restore the early grade class size reduction program that the DOE eliminated in 2010; and 3- Return to capping class sizes in grades 1-3 at 28.    

NYC children deserve a quality education and this cannot happen without providing them with smaller classes.

Yours,  name and address.