Sign our letter to Assemblymember Catherine Nolan of Queens, the new chair of the State Assembly, and to other Legislators, asking them to fully fund the CFE decision but with accountability attached, so that our children can finally receive their right to a sound basic education!
Just send your name, school, district and leadership post, if any, to leonie@att.net and we'll add your signature to the below letter.
Assemblymember Catherine Nolan
Chair, NY State Assembly Education Committee
45-25 47th Street
Woodside, NY 11377
cc: members of the NY State Assembly Education Committee
and NY State Senate Education Committee
Dear Assemblymember Nolan:
We urge you to provide NYC schools with the funding that the court ordered in the CFE case, so that our children will be provided with a better chance to learn. We also urge you to amend the current bill that authorizes these funds to include stronger accountability measures. Additional resources alone will not be sufficient to ensure that NYC students receive their constitutional right to a sound basic education, unless these resources are invested wisely. As it is, the Mayor’s current plan for these funds devotes only 2% to reduce class size, which was a central element in the case, while spending more than ten times this amount on more bureaucracy, technology, and “specialists.”
Moreover, the increased accountability and transparency that Mayoral control was supposed to bring has been sorely lacking. Last year, the City Comptroller called into question widely-publicized claims by Department of Education officials that their restructuring efforts had led to cost savings that had been redirected to the classroom. Instead, the Comptroller found that the head count at the central office had increased, and that our schools had suffered a net loss of over 2,000 teachers in two years, with no improvement in the teacher-student ratio. Comptroller Thompson added that “DOE fiscal reporting practices have become markedly less transparent since the Department's restructuring. …DOE has misapplied certain units of appropriation to report expenditures, commencing with FY 2004, in a way that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to track its use of public funds.
Just recently, the Educational Priorities Panel confirmed that the percentage of education dollars spent on instruction has decreased each year since Mayoral control. Last year, there was actually a drop of $144 million in spending for instruction on general education students compared to the year before, despite a significant rise in overall spending by the Department of Education.
Class sizes have risen even higher in many schools and districts across the city, despite the awarding of almost $100 million in annual state funds to reduce class size. In grades K-3, the Independent Budget Office has found that “… the city reported a higher number of new classes formed [with state class size reduction funds] than IBO found in its analysis of the data...” The State Comptroller also reported that “New York City….generally added far fewer new classes and teachers than the expected numbers specified…” Indeed, data supplied by the IBO and other independent agencies reveals that there were over 1200 missing classes in grades K-3 last year, compared to the number the city claims to have formed with state funds supposed to be used to reduce class size. If these additional classes had been formed, average class size in grades K-3 would now be 19.4 students per class, instead of more than 21.
Moreover, parents feel they have less voice than ever before in how their children are educated. Even the NY City Council is hampered in its ability to provide proper oversight and input, since the City refuses to comply with any local legislation that relates to the administration of our schools, claiming that even under Mayoral control, the Department of Education remains a state agency.
It is thus your responsibility to see that the additional funding is not wasted, but spent on improving classroom conditions, to ensure that our children receive their right to an adequate education. Enhanced accountability and transparency will also be important to reassure citizens and taxpayers, both here in the city and the rest of the state, that the increased funding will be efficiently and appropriately invested.
We urge you, therefore, to include the following accountability provisions in any legislation that authorizes additional funding for New York City schools:
• The city’s plan for these funds should be required to conform to commonly accepted principles of planning design, including transparent and measurable goals and objectives for each of the services provided, with annual benchmarks for improvement;
• The plan should be required to achieve adequacy after four years in each of the core areas that the Court held were key to ensuring a sound basic education, that is, smaller classes in all grades, improved teacher quality, and instrumentalities of learning, including facilities, laboratories and textbooks, with adequacy defined as conditions at least equal to those that exist in the rest of the State outside New York City;
• The plan must undergo a thorough process of public input and review from the school level on up. Before submitting its final plan, DOE should submit it to the Community Education Councils and the City Council for review, and also hold hearings in all the boroughs to hear directly from parents and other stakeholders as to whether the plan needs to be revised. Then, before approving the city’s final plan after it has been revised, the NY State Education Department must hold hearings in all boroughs to hear directly from members of the community as to whether the plan should be accepted or needs to be further amended.
• There must be annual audits from the NY State Comptroller – both financial and performance -- to see whether the city is complying with its plan, and whether the plan itself or its implementation needs to be revised to achieve its annual and four year goals.
• There needs to be annual evaluations, with bottom-up reviews, as well as a system of documented complaints, to assess if problems of a systemic nature remain, and if so, allow for intervention.
We would be happy to meet with you at your earliest convenience, to discuss with you the critical need for more accountability as it relates to our schools, as well as the details of our proposals to ensure that some day soon, the children of this city finally receive their right to an adequate education.
Thank you for your consideration,
Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters
JoAnne Scichilone, Community Education Council, District 24, Queens, Chair, Special Education Committee
Mary-Powel Thomas, President of Community Education Council District15*
Abiodun Bello, President, Community Education Council District 32*
Martina E. Surrency, Community Education Council Member, District 32
Larry Wood, organizer, Goddard Riverside, co-President, CSD 3 Presidents Council
Lavinia Galatis, parent, secretary, CEC D30, Queens
Diana Marenfeld, Parent, Member of the Citywide Council for Special Education
Maria Dapontes-Dougherty, President, Presidents Council, D 30, Queens
Janet Kregler, PTA president, Academy of Finance and Enterprise, D 30, Queens
Ellen Bilofsky, Parent, Brooklyn and Freshman P.A. Representative, Stuyvesant H.S.
Kim Stowers, Co-President, A. Philip Randolph Campus H.S. at City College
Bijou Miller, recording secretary, President's Council, d2
Marcelle M. Dinnall, SLT Member, Langston Hughes School, PS 134, D 29
Randy Wagman, parent, Special Ed Committee, Wagner HS, I.S. 72, Staten Island
Elena Mora, parent, Beacon HS and Bronx New School/PS 51
David Demnitz, Parent, PS 6, Manhattan
Cecilia Blewer, ICOPE
C. Lindenberg, Co-PA president Earth School, CPAC rep, District 1
Marian Trupiano, SLT member, David A. Boody IS 228, D21, Brooklyn
Christine Schwabenbauer, Parent, PTA President PS 255, Queens, Districts 25 and 75
Karen Van Outryve: parent IS89, Manhattan
Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez, parent, Brooklyn
Valarie Bennett, parent, MS 54, District 3, Manhattan
Anthony C. Romeo: parent IS89 Manhattan
Walter Goodman, parent of D2 child and another at private special ed school due in part to very large class sizes in former school
Simone Weissman & Peter Levitt, parents, PS41 District 2
Bryna Levin, parent, Recording Secretary, P.S. 212, Midtown West, Manhattan
Marcia Annenberg-Scher, parent, P.S./I.S.187,district 6
Miles Chapin, resident, Long Island City, parent, Midtown West
Michael Hirsch, parent, Beacon HS
Lee Levin, parent, Beacon HS
Josephine Wan, parent, Lab MS for Collaborative Studies (M312), District 2, Manhattan
Cushla Naegele, Parent, District 3, Region 10, Manhattan
Charlotte Robinson, I.C.E., District 2
J. Napoli, District 30, Region 4, Teacher
Beth Servetar, parent, D3, Manhattan
Melissa Dehncke McGill, Co-President of the PS39 PTA, Brooklyn
Elisabeth Ellor, teacher; parent and PTA Exec. Comm., HS for Environmental Sciences
Neal H. Hurwitz, parent, D3, Manhattan
Joan McCabe, parent, D2
David Bloom, parent, D3
Susan Buttenwieser, PS 3 Parent, District 2
Sandra Williams, PTA President, Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School, D 28
Gail Rodgers Zecker, parent, PA rep, School of the Future, D2
Betti Altieri, parent, Bay Academy - I.S. 98 - Dist. 21 Brooklyn
Mary McGregor, PTA Treasurer, SLT member, PS165, District 23, Brooklyn
Jacqueline Brachman, Parent, PS41, District 2
Marshall Berman, Distinguished Professor City College and City University of NY
Shellie Sclan, parents, Delta Program in M.S.54 Manhattan
Pat Thompson, Grandparent/Caretaker, Dist.13and 17 Brooklyn NY
Mimi Erlich, Teacher (ret.) , PS145M Reg.10 Dist.3
Beth Bernett, parent and Chair, Multiple Assessment Committee, School of the Future
Judi Ventress, parent at PS33 Manhattan, District 2
Rea Rosno, parent, School Leadership Team member, PS 295, Brooklyn
Joan Petrere, parent – PS 144 Queens.
Robert Schwartz, Parent, PS 75, District 3
Joanne Marino, parent and Leadership Team, PS/IS 87Q, District 24, Region 4 Parent
Victoria Sando Parent/ PTA Ex. Board PS41 District 2
Penelope Duda, teacher and parent, District 6, Region 10
David Wolfson
Maja Lorkovic, parent, Midtown West, D2, Manhattan
Lisa Anderson, parent, PA Communications Secretary, P.S./I.S. 187 District 6
Anthony Mikolajczyk, Parent, PS146, Region 8
Manuel Wally, D2 parent
Nicholas Bedell, Parent, Brooklyn New School, D 15
Dilsia Pena, parent, advocate, Region 2, Bronx
Maris Bailey, parent, Queens HS of Teaching, Advisory Board Member, Queens Borough President
Linda Dalton, PTA , SLT Member, PS 95 District 21 Region 7 Brooklyn
Sandy Wavrick, Parent, PS 146, Brooklyn New School.
Debbie Fine, Teacher, SLT chair, PS 79 Q District 25
Sylvia Case, parent, D3, MS54
Rachel List, parent, Co-Pres. PTA Children's Workshop School PS 361
Ann Levine, teacher, The School at Columbia and parent of eleventh-grade student
Doris Ayala, LES resident and former ICE parent
Lisa North, PS 3 Brooklyn, District 13, Teacher
Tracey Cesareo, PTA President, Staten Island
Maureen Quinn, PA President P.S. 194, Brooklyn, SLT, District22
Don Holley, co-president, Earth School Parent Association, District 1
Corinne Goodman, Brooklyn New School, District 15, Region 8, Music Teacher
Marcia Annenberg-Scher, parent, P.S./I.S.187,district 6
Lila Deis, parent, LaGuardia High School, Manhattan
Karl F. Lauby, parent, LaGuardia High School, Manhattan
David Ruderman, Parent , PS 261 Brooklyn
Beth Windsor and Robert Durkin, parents PS 41 District 2
Lesley Halliday, Recording secretary PPAS-PTA
Mary van Valkenburg, Bard HS Early College, PTA VP
Maria Khawaja S L T .Chairperson, Grover Cleveland H.S
Richard Kaplan, parent at PS 87 & P811M, and PA Executive board PS 87
Teresa Solomita, parent, D15, Brooklyn
Rocco Rella, parent, D15, Brooklyn
Bernadette Knox, parent, PS150 Manhattan
Rebecca Lish, parent, MS54 & PS334, District 3
Aurelia Roman-Marcovicci, Parent, PS 158, District 2, Manhattan
Daniel Millstone, middle school parent, D2
Susanna Moraldi, parent and PTA Executive Board Member, PS41 District 2
Donnie Rotkin, Central Park East 1 Elementary school, UFT rep
Jacqueline Shannon, Research Scientist, New York University
Emily A. Fano, MA, parent PS 166, D3
Annette Evans, PS 41 Parent, District 2, Region 9
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*asterix for identification purposes only
