Back to School in a Recession
by Norm Fruchter
The 2011-12 school year will be a wrenching experience for most students and their families served by the city school system. The recession generated by the 2008 fiscal crisis is not abating. From the raft of statistics detailing the recession’s toll on the city’s most vulnerable children, consider one stark example. The number of city students from homeless families has quadrupled in the past year, from approximately 10,000 in 2008 to more than 40,000 in 2010. Yet because of state and city budget cuts, the school year is beginning with several thousand fewer teachers, school aides and the auxiliary workers who assist these families. As a result, the city’s teaching force faces higher class sizes, fewer resources available for classroom materials, and the termination of critical after-school and student support programs.