Hearings and testimony on need to reform Mayoral control from Diane Ravitch, parents, and advocates

Above is a video of the City Council hearing last week on Mayoral control, also available here.  There were incisive questions from the new Education Committee Chair, Eric Dinowitz, as well as from several other council members.  Also impressive were the oral testimonies of many parents, advocates and former students about how this governance system without any checks and balances  at the local level or community input was inherently undemocratic and had led to unjust and damaging  policies.   

Dinowitz expressed skepticism of claims of learning gains under Mayoral control, given the lagging results in the NAEPs-- the only reliable data on achievement, as opposed to the state test results which are erratically designed at best.  He also pointed out how  graduation rates can be artificially inflated through the use of credit recovery and the like.  He was also critical of HMH Reading, the most commonly used of the mandated box curriculums.

He asked about the DOE contracting process, which over the last 23 years under Mayoral control hashas wasted millions of dollars on useless or corrupt products and vendors, and whether it was true that the Panel for Educational Policy's Contract committee had been dissolved -- which in the past had provided one of the few occasions where the DOE was forced to explain the rationale for proposed contracts before the PEP meeting at which they will be voted upon.  Now PEP members are briefed privately on proposed contracts, and are told they are not to reveal what they haave been told to any member of the public.

DOE officials seemed confused as initially claimed that the Contract Committee still existed, until they conceded that indeed it had been eliminated, but refused to say that they would support such a Committee being restored and mandated in  law.   

There was also some confusion as to whether PEP members were sent resolutions by DOE that CECs had passed on relevant proposals they would be voting on, such as co-locations and school closures.  It turns out they are not, though Katie Jedrelink of DOE  said that CECs could send them directly to the PEP members if they liked. I subsequently pointed out that for years, the DOE website lacked the names of many members of the PEP, and  in even more frequently their email adddresses, making it impossible for the public to contact them.  This lack of information provided for members of the school board of the nation's large school district exists no where else in the country, to my knowledge.  After years of complaining about this matter, I was informed the day before the hearings that they had finally posted all the names and the email addresses of  PEP members, though I have heard from several that it is difficult for them to access their DOE emails, for reasons I don't understand.. 

Other Council Members also asked good questions, including former Education Chair Rita Joseph, who asked them what would be done to improve parent participation, given that only 2% of parents had voted in the recent CEC elections, and also how mistakes had been made in the process, including names of candidates omitted from the voting website.  CM Carmen de la Rosa also had particularly pointed questions related to the lack of adequate space planning by the DOE to allow schools to lower class size in compliance with the state law.  

Below are five of the written testimonies, first from  NYC school historian and education advocate Diane Ravitch, followed with my testimony for Class Size Matters , then  Jonathan Greenberg of the Educational Council Consortium, Naveed Hasan, PEP member and parent leader, and Naila Rosario, President of NYC Kids PAC.

All five of us pointed out the deep inherent flaws with what is essentially dictatorial, one-man rule, and the Mayoral majority on the Panel for Education Policy should be eliminated, to make it less of a rubberstamp.   Each of us also  proposed other reforms.  Check them out! 

 

 

In my testimony, I provide a list of major, multimillion dollars examples of waste and corruption under Mayoral control -- in the text and in the Appendix. Just two days after the hearing, yet another major scandal erupted: Kevin Taylor, the head of the School Safety division was indicted for bribery along with the CEO of the SaferWatch company, who had paid Taylor as well as Terence Banks, the brother of Chancellor Banks to promote the device to DOE, although Terence Banks has not been indicted. 

 See this story here and the indictment here. 

 

Here is the written testimony of Jonathan Greenberg of the Educational Council Consortium, which represents many leaders of Community Education Councils. 

 

Following are the views of Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan parent representative on the Panel for Educational Policy.

 

Finally, last but not least, the testimony of Naila Rosario, the President of NYC Kids PAC, who points out how Mayor Mamdani has left his supporters in the lurch, by reversing his position on mayoral control, one of his central education positions, without explaining why.

An appeal from Diane Ravitch

 

Dear friend – As a historian, I have studied reform in NYC and in cities across the nation. Reform usually means shaking up the system. Centralize, decentralize, recentralize. Reorganize the bureaucracy, put the mayor in control, change the decision-making structure. Hire consultants, hire data analysts, hire coaches. Or reform means outsource the schools to private entrepreneurs or more standardized testing. Yet more testing does not produce more learning or better grades. None of these so-called reforms barely move the needle, if at all. Class size reduction is a far more powerful reform than any of the above. Learning and behavior improves, especially for children with the greatest needs. With smaller classes, teachers have the time to do their jobs, and children get the support they need to thrive. And yet NYC students continue to suffer from the largest class sizes in the state. That’s why I am proud to sit on the board of Class Size Matters, a non-profit organization that is the “city’s leading proponent of smaller classes,” according to the NY Times. Leonie Haimson, its executive director, has been tirelessly committed to making sure that this issue remains in the forefront of policymakers and the public at large. In the last year, she was named by both City and State and Politics NY as one of the most powerful education leaders in the state. But she needs our help. That’s why I’m urging you to make a tax-deductible donation to Class Size Matters, for the future of NYC public schools and children. Please give if you can. Happy holidays and a wonderful New Year to you and your family, --Diane Ravitch

Do you know where your child's personal data is? Please fill out our survey on your school's use of digital apps -

Class Size Matters, NY Allies for Public Education, and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy would like to know which online apps or programs are being employed by schools throughout New York state, and whether they are sufficiently protective of children's privacy. We are asking parents and teachers to take our survey here, to let us know what apps or programs your schools are using.

Since the pandemic hit, districts across New York State have purchased many commercially-produced online apps and digital programs to implement remote learning. Even before last spring, schools had been using a large number of programs, many of which collect and use personal student information. In NYC alone, more than 75 commercially available online programs have been acquired for teachers to assign to their students, and "The DOE has informed schools that for SY 2020-21, they must have a shared, inclusive and digital curriculum in all core subject areas," according to the UFT.

Many of these digital apps collect and use personal student data in ways we do not understand. In some cases, the publicly available privacy policies of these vendors are NOT sufficiently protective and do not comply with the NY state student privacy law, Education Law 2D, which was passed in 2014.  

Among other things, this law and its regulations adopted in Jan. 2020 require that every contract with a vendor with access to personal student data must have a separate Parent Bill of Rights [PBOR], which specifies how the data will be protected and how parents can access the data and challenge it if necessary.

Each of these separate Parent Bill of Rights are supposed to be posted on the district website, along with other important information, including your district’s overall data privacy protection policy, and how you can contact the district data privacy officer in charge of ensuring these protections. Links to the Education Law 2D, the regulations, and a summary of some of the other most important provisions are here.

Please take a few minutes to fill out our online survey to let us know what online apps and/or digital programs are being used in your schools, and whether the district has provided the necessary information about the ways in which that data is being protected from breach and abuse.

Thanks!

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters and Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Lisa Rudley and Jeanette Deutermann, NY State Allies for Public Education

A message update on busing contracts, my birthday request, and interview with Michael Mulgrew next week

1. On Wed., the Panel for Educational Policy was scheduled to meet and vote on several huge contracts, including school busing for $200 million for March and another $200 million for April, though all buses have been idle since mid-March. The DOE had told Panel members they were legally obligated to pay 85% of the costs, though the NYC Comptroller disputed this. Shortly before the Panel meeting was due to begin, I got word that the busing contracts had been kicked off the agenda and postponed till the following month. Then when the meeting began on Adobe Connect, the technical problems were so immense with DOE officials and Panel members unable to hear one other that it was soon ended. I describe the chaos that ensued here.

That meeting has now been rescheduled for Thursday May 6 at 6 PM.   Instructions on how to join will soon be listed under the link for that date, according to the DOE.  I urge all of you to join if you can, and provide comment against the spending on busing, though that contract may now be held during the May 20 meeting, as well as on other excessive, unneeded contracts still on the agenda, whether that means millions of dollars for professional development that's not being used, nurses to be hired on staff this year when schools are closed and hundreds of DOE nurses are sitting at home at this time, and pricey consultants. So far, neither the Panel members nor DOE have answered any of the questions I posed here.

DOE has told others they have not yet decided whether to go ahead with the bus contracts for the rest of the year. What we don't know is if they have already paid for March and April -- even though the spending for these months was never approved by the PEP. The Daily News reported yesterday that the state "has stopped reimbursing the city for the 44% of school transportation costs it usually covers," which is yet another reason for the city to stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars for unused busing in this time of fiscal crisis.

2. Speaking of fiscal crisis, today is my birthday and I'm hoping that you might make a donation to our organization. Though usually I try to refrain as much as possible from making these pitches, I am very worried about Class Size Matters' funding at this time. It is unlikely that we will be able to hold our usual Skinny dinner fundraiser dinner in June; and last year, our proceeds from this dinner were stolen by our online processor, NYCharities, as you may recall.

Aside from individual donations, we are also supported by City Council discretionary grants, though now we've been told that Class Size Matters may not be reimbursed for any expenses past mid-March unless we are deemed an "essential service." Our Council funding next year is also at doubt, given the city's fiscal situation. So please, if you can afford it, consider making a tax-deductible contribution today, to help us continue our work.

3. Finally, I had a great discussion with advocate Matt Gonzales and parent leader Naomi Pena on my WBAI "Talk out of School" show on Wednesday, about the many challenges facing families with remote learning and the city's new grading system. You can download the podcast here.

Next Wednesday at 10 AM, I will be interviewing UFT President Michael Mulgrew on how he would like schools to be reconfigured next year to ensure the health and safety of his members, and maximize the academic and emotional support they provide to students who will need this help more than ever before. I will ask him if smaller classes should be part of the equation, as he suggested in a recent interview with NPR, and as several countries and other states have proposed.

If you have other questions I should ask him, please reply to this message and I will try to ask as many as I can.

--Stay safe, Leonie

New report reveals over $100 million spent last year by NYC on charter facilities

We  released our report today on NYC spending on charter school facilities – with over $100 million

spent last year on providing rent subsidies for charters or leasing buildings directly for them by DOE.  This includes nearly $15 million spent by DOE since FY 2015 for rent subsidies to charter schools whose charter management organization or affiliated foundation/LLC owns the building. 

We also found $22 million missing from the matching funds that co-located public schools are supposed the receive for facility upgrades.  

Check out the list of 175 public schools in Appendix B to see if your school is among them.  last year.  The press release is below and the full report is posted here.

____

For immediate release: October 21, 2019

Contact: Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leoniehaimson@gmail.com

New report reveals over $100 million spent last year by NYC on charter facilities

Includes payments to help charter schools rent space in buildings owned by their CMOs or related parties

Also: 175 public schools co-located with charters lack $22M in matching funds for facility upgrades

On Monday, October 21, Class Size Matters released a new report revealing how the NYC Department of Education spent more than $377 million on charter school facility costs from FY 2014 to FY 2019.  This amount includes both matching funds for facility upgrades for public schools, co-located with charter schools that spent more than $5000 for this purpose, and on paying the rent for new and expanding charter schools in private space.  Nearly $15 million of this total since FY 2015 was expended  by DOE to help charter schools pay for their space in buildings owned by their Charter Management Organization, affiliated foundation or LLC.

In FY 2019, DOE spent about $25 million on matching funds to public schools co-located with charter schools.  Yet between FY 2014 and FY 2019, more than $22 million in charter school expenditures on facility upgrades were not matched in 175 public schools that shared their buildings, in apparent contradiction to a state law passed in 2010, according to spreadsheets provided by DOE.  In FY 2019, only one third of co-located public schools received their full complement of matching funds. 

The two schools which experienced the largest shortfalls were both District 75 schools that serve students with serious disabilities: Mickey Mantle School (M811), located in two sites in Harlem, which lacked $1.5 million in matching funds, and P.S 368 (K368), located  in two sites in Brooklyn, which lacked $1.2 million. All four sites are co-located with different branches of Success Academy Charter schools.

Mindy Rosier is the UFT chapter delegate from Mickey Mantle School, which enrolls students with multiple disabilities, including autism, emotional/behavioral difficulties and/or significant language and communication disorders.  As Mindy pointed out, “The $1.5 million in matching funds for facility upgrades would have been incredibly helpful to our school.  Our District 3 site needs new wiring, since the internet is very slow and much of our curriculum is online. Our site in District 4 needs new bathrooms and water fountains, and nine classrooms out of ten badly need repainting.” 

The DOE currently holds leases for 12 private buildings that house 15 charter schools, with a cost to the city of $17.1 million in FY 2019 alone.  In addition, there are 88 charter schools that receive a per student “lease subsidy” from the city to help pay for their own private space, which has increased by 72 percent since FY 2017. In 2019, DOE was projected to spend about $83.6 million in lease subsidies for charter schools, with an estimated $50 million of that total reimbursed by the state.

By analyzing audited financial statements, charter school annual reports, and property records, the authors found that the lease payments made by DOE included $14.8 million to eight charter schools housed in buildings owned by related parties of these schools, that is, their own Charter Management Organizations or an affiliated LLC or foundation. 

For example, DOE provided lease subsidies of $2.2 million in FY 2019 for two Success Academy charter schools, even though the Success CMO owns the space in the Hudson Yards complex on the west side of Manhattan. In another case, the city paid $461,965 in lease subsidies in FY 2019 towards the rental costs of Beginning with Children II charter school, despite the fact that the Beginning with Children Foundation bought the Brooklyn building for only ten dollars in 2017. More examples are provided in the report.

Carol Burris, Executive Director of the Network for Public Education said: "It is outrageous that the taxpayers of New York City and the state are required to pay $2.2 million a year to house two Success Academy charter schools located in a building that their Charter Management Organization owns. And Success is not alone. This report documents eight charter schools for which taxpayers are footing the bill that are in buildings owned by the charters themselves or affiliated organizations. The Network for Public Education has studied all of the various charter laws and their loopholes.  I have never seen any other that requires the district to cover the costs of private facilities like this one does. One wonders whether this is about educating children or building a real estate empire at taxpayer expense." 

“New York City has more than 500,000 students in overcrowded public-school buildings, as well as class sizes far higher than those in the rest of the state.  Yet we are also the only district obligated to cover the cost of private space for charter schools, or offer them space in public school buildings,”  said Leonie Haimson, one of the co-authors of the report. “The cost to the city of providing space for charter schools has risen sharply over the last five years.  If the current trend continues, the amount spent annually may soon exceed the cost of the payments to finance the construction of new public schools.” 

“This is unconscionable! While public schools across the city and state have been fighting for more than $4 billion in funding owed under the Foundation Aid formula, we are handing over public dollars to charters such as Success Academy on a silver platter. Rectifying this budgetary fiasco would help ease overcrowded schools and bring much needed funding to our under-resourced schools and districts," expressed Senator Robert Jackson from Manhattan and lead plaintiff for Campaign for Fiscal Equity. 

Concluded Diane Ravitch, celebrated education historian, “The findings of this report should shock the conscience of the Governor and Legislature.  They should amend the law as soon as possible so that the city is no longer forced to subsidize the acquisition of private space by charter schools, even as our public schools are badly underfunded and overcrowded."

The report, entitled “Spending by NYC on Charter School Facilities: Diverted Resources, Inequities and Anomalies” is posted here: https://www.classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Charter-School-Facility-Costs-10.21.19.pdf

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