Newsclips about the audit results
The best stories were from the Daily News and the NY Post; the NY Times article, unfortunately, missed the point almost entirely.
The audit did not find that more facilities would be necessary to reduce class size; in fact, it found that there were many schools with additional room but which were using these funds for other purposes. The audit also concluded that by adjusting the attendance zones of adjacent schools, the city could have reduced class sizes more effectively across the board.
Even without these adjustments, if the city were only providing the same number of classes in grades K-3 that were offered four years ago, we would by now have achieved the state goal of 20 per class.
Another excuse put forward by DoE spokespeople, that they had used the funds to keep class sizes lower in other grades, is also contradicted by the evidence. To the contrary, since this administration took control of our schools, they have cut down on the number of classes provided in every grade through 6th.
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City flunks bid to shrink classes, Hevesi says
BY ERIN EINHORN
Daily News
March 17, 2006
Even as city leaders pound Albany for more school aid, the state controller charged yesterday that city educrats failed to properly use state money earmarked for reducing class sizes in the early grades.
With enrollment falling and $491 million in state aid specifically targeted for lowering kindergarten-grade 3 class sizes, Controller Alan Hevesi said schoolrooms should seat no more than 20 kids at a time. But his audit found an average of more than 21 pupils.
"At a time when lower enrollment in the lower grades should have made it easier to cut class size, it's very disappointing that the city did not achieve the goal of an average 20 students in a class," Hevesi said in a statement released with the report.
Department of Education officials faulted Hevesi's methodology while noting kindergarten-grade 3 class sizes have decreased every year since the 1998-99 school year, when the average class had 24.9 students.
Under the early grade class reduction program, the department gets $88 million a year from the state, which is to be combined with local funds to get class sizes down to 20 or less.
City schools officials said Hevesi's analysis did not consider other state laws requiring increased spending on the upper grades, where enrollment is growing.
David Cantor, a spokesman for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, said the best solution is for the state to provide more funding for new construction.
"To make further progress we need capital from the state to build new classrooms and more state "class-size" reduction money," Cantor said. "With these resources, we look forward to continuing our progress and are confident that we can reduce class size to 20-1 in the early grades."
But some DOE critics believe the controller has a point.
"The fact that they're not using available state funds to reduce class size shows that the Department of Education really doesn't care about our children," said Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group.
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CITY ACCUSED OF CHEATING IN CLA$$
By DAVID ANDREATTA
New York Post
March 17, 2006
As the Bloomberg administration steps up pressure on Albany for more money to build and operate schools, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday accused the city of using money for reducing class size for other purposes.
An audit found that while the city received roughly $89 million annually in state aid to cap classes in kindergarten through third grade at 20, the city provided 1,566 fewer classes in those grades than it could have between 2002 and 2005.
A spokesman for the comptroller said auditors did not compute how much money was diverted or for what purpose, but determined that money was shifted because only 20 new classes were created.
City education officials vehemently disputed the report, saying every penny of the state money - and additional city money - has gone toward reducing class size in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Class size in K-3 averaged 21.3 students last year - a drop of 3.6 students since 1998 thanks in part to declining enrollment - but almost 60 percent of classes are above 20 students, auditors found.
Kathleen Grimm, the deputy chancellor for finance and administration, said the Education Department actually created more K-3 classes with an average of 20 students than the funding permitted.
She said the gap cited by the comptroller is due to a drop in K-3 enrollment of roughly 50,000 students since 2000 and that the city has used its class-size funding to hold down class sizes in grades four and up as students move onward.
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Class Sizes Still Too Large in New York, Hevesi Finds
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
New York Times
March 17, 2006
New York City's classes in kindergarten through third grade have gotten smaller over the past six years, according to a state audit released yesterday. But the audit, by Alan G. Hevesi, the state comptroller, found that the classes are still larger than they should be under state policy, despite a decline in enrollment in those grades and an influx of nearly $500 million in state money earmarked for class size reduction.
The report found that the city's kindergarten through third grade classes had an average of 21.3 students during the 2004-05 school year, down from an average of 24.9 in 1998-99. While Mr. Hevesi commended the city for the change, he said it fell short of the state goal of having an average of 20 students per class in those grades; that goal was set forth in a 1997 law under which the city has received $88 million a year to reduce class sizes.
"At a time when lower enrollment in the lower grades should have made it easier to cut class size, it's very disappointing that the city did not achieve the goal," Mr. Hevesi said in a statement issued with the report.
Mr. Hevesi also found that while the state money was supposed to supplement, not substitute for, the city's own money for early class size reduction, the city was "reducing its own support for early-grade class size reduction and using it for other purposes."
The audit comes as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is locked in a bitter dispute with Albany over increased state financing for city schools, much of which would go toward new buildings.
In his report, Mr. Hevesi noted that one of the biggest obstacles to smaller classes was a lack of space in many schools.
In a statement yesterday, a city Department of Education spokeswoman, Kelly Devers, said: "To make further progress, we need capital from the state to build new classrooms and more state class-size reduction money. With these resources, we look forward to continuing our progress and are confident that we can reduce class size" to a ratio of 20 students per teacher in the early grades.
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Reduced But Too High : Hevesi Chides City Over Class Size
By HOWARD MEGDAL
The Chief-Leader
State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi has scolded the Bloomberg administration for failing to comply with a 1997 state law requiring class size in kindergarten through third grade to be 20 students or fewer, while spending much of the nearly $500 million in state funding for that purpose on other initiatives.
The city's average class size in K-3 dropped from 24.9 in the 1998-99 school year to 21.3 in 2004-2005, though that progress was aided by a drop in enrollment figures, according to an audit by Mr. Hevesi's staff.
'Very Disappointing'
"At a time when lower enrollment in the lower grades should have made it easier to cut class size, it's very disappointing that the city did not achieve the goal," Mr. Hevesi said in a statement.
The report praised the city for making progress, but noted that the city had been "reducing its own support for early-grade class size reduction and using it for other purposes."
United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten blasted the Department of Education for the redirection of funds.
"Common sense, backed by research, tells us that small classes matter - not just in the earliest grades, but in all grades," Ms. Weingarten said in a March 16 statement. "It's amazing that despite an audit from the same State Comptroller's Office three years ago that found virtually the same thing, the DOE still chooses to use money earmarked for lowering class size for other purposes. Class size reduction is the number one issue for parents and teachers. Why isn't it just as important to the DOE?"
DOE: More Aid Needed
The DOE declined to comment on the specifics, but emphasized the positive aspects of Mr. Hevesi's report, along with the need for additional state aid.
"As the Comptroller correctly recognizes, we have made 'important progress' on lowering class size in grades K-3," DOE spokeswoman Kelly Devers said in a March 21 statement. "We made that progress by investing city funds to supplement state funds even though that was not required under the law." But more state funds were needed to build new classrooms to help further reduce class sizes, she added.
Mr. Hevesi noted that a lack of space was a hindrance in meeting the class-size goal, a problem exacerbated by the Mayor cutting $1.8 billion in school construction from the city budget last month, saying that it needed additional help from the state.
Ms. Weingarten reiterated the need for added state funding.
'Need Collaboration'
"The state and city must overcome their differences in budget negotiations and address at least one area that has impeded the lowering of class sizes - the availability of space," she said. "We need that $1.8 billion in capital funding to build more schools and create more classrooms, especially for those neighborhoods where parents and students continue to suffer from school overcrowding."
The Mayor put forward his school construction plan in November 2003, asking the state to pay half of the estimated $13.1 billion tab, with additional funds provided under the existing aid formula bringing the state's total to nearly $10 billion.
There has been speculation about a deal between the Mayor and State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno for the state to provide the city with as much as $200 million to cover the cost of issuing construction bonds to cover the $1.8 billion.
