NYC Public School Parents: Results from our Parent Action Conference: how should the eight billion dollars in state and federal funds for our schools be spent? check it out!

NYC Public School Parents: Results from our Parent Action Conference: how should the eight billion dollars in state and federal funds for our schools be spent? check it out!

Results from our Parent Action Conference: how should the eight billion dollars in state and federal funds for our schools be spent? check it out!

On Sat. May 22, 2021, we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC and Teens Take Charge, to brainstorm on how parents, educators and students would like the $8B in additional federal and state funds should be spent to meet our students' needs. Thanks to all her participated! 

 Our terrific keynote speakers were from the federal, state and local levels: former NYC principal and now US House Rep. Jamaal Bowman, State Senator Robert Jackson, who was a parent and former D6 School Board member and original CFE plaintiff, and former NYC teacher, City Councilmember Mark Treyger, now chair of the Council Education Committee.

We presented a brief power point (also below) that included more info on the resources our schools are receiving, and summarized the results of our online survey. We then broke into six different groups focused on Elementary schools, Middle and High Schools, Students with Disabilities, Multi Language Learners, Health and Safety, and a student group led by Teens Take Charge. Members of our groups wanted to emphasize the need for smaller classes, more counselors and social workers, a nurse for every building, more extracurricular activities and programs and more. 

 Here is a recording of the session with Passcode: w!vhA8LG. The Jamboard with ideas from our breakout groups is also below.   

 

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent? | Class Size Matters

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent? | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent?

On Sat. May 22, 2021, we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC and Teens Take Charge, to brainstorm on how parents, educators and students would like the $8B in additional federal and state funds should be spent to meet our students’ needs.  Thanks to all her participated!

Rep. Jamaal Bowman

Our terrific keynote speakers were from the federal, state and local levels: former NYC principal and now US House Rep. Jamaal Bowman, State Senator Robert Jackson, who was a parent and former D6 School Board member and original CFE plaintiff, and former NYC teacher, City Councilmember Mark Treyger, now chair of the Council Education Committee.

Council Member Mark Treyger

                                           

We presented a brief power point (also below) that included more info on the resources our schools are receiving, and summarized the results of our online survey.  We then broke into six different groups focused on Elementary schools, Middle and High Schools, Students with Disabilities, Multi Language Learners, Health and Safety, and a student group led by Teens Take Charge.

Members of our groups wanted to emphasize the need for smaller classes, more counselors and social workers, a nurse for every building, more extracurricular activities and programs and more.

Here is a recording of the session with Passcode: w!vhA8LG.  The Jamboard with ideas from our breakout groups is also  below.

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent? | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

2 Easy ways to help make sure NYC kids get smaller classes starting next year! | Class Size Matters

2 Easy ways to help make sure NYC kids get smaller classes starting next year! | Class Size Matters | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

2 Easy ways to help make sure NYC kids get smaller classes starting next year!

1.The Mayor released his proposed budget yesterday. Despite the crying need for smaller classes and the Council’s proposal to allocate $250 million for that purpose, instead he wants to spend $500 million for something called for “Intensive Academic Recovery for Every Student” which will cover tutoring and “universal academic assessments”, though he didn’t specify who would do the tutoring or what tests would be be used. Very disappointing.

Yet the good news is that Senator Robert Jackson, the original plaintiff in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, has just submitted a bill, S. 6296 to require that DOE update and renew its obligation to develop and implement a five-year class size reduction plan, with additional accountability and transparency provisions  to ensure that they do.  Co-sponsors so far are Senators Brad Hoylman, Brian Benjamin and Julia Salazar.

Please call your State Senator today, either in their Albany or NYC office and leave a message saying,

My name is x, my phone no. is y, and I am your constituent Please sign onto Sen. Robert Jackson’s bill, S. 6296 , to require class size reduction in our public schools, so that my child and all NYC children will finally receive their right to a sound basic education, which the state’s highest court said cannot happen without smaller classes.

You can find their names and phone numbers by filling out your address here.

And then if you haven’t already, sign our petition to the Mayor and the City Council Speaker, urging them allocate $250M in next year’s budget to fund the first step of class size reduction, which will be necessary to ensure the health, safety and academic and emotional support that NYC kids will need more than ever.  It has about 550 signatures now, and it would be good to get to 1,000 before I send it off to them.

2. There was a great piece in Gotham Gazette yesterday which outlined the need for smaller classes as well as parent input into school reopening plans next year, co-authored by CM Brad Lander, NYC Kids PAC president Naila Rosario, and teacher Liat Olenick As they put it, “Smaller classes will help address covid fears and give remote-learning families more confidence to come back to school buildings, will help teachers meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of their students, and will improve educational outcomes in the long-term. It’s a win-win-win.”

On Saturday May 23, at 11 AM-1 PM,  Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC will co-sponsor a Parent Action Conference to gather your ideas on other ways that the $8 billion dollars in additional state and federal funds over the next three years should be spent. More info on this soon.

Yours,

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
phone: 917-435-9329
info@classsizematters.org
www.classsizematters.org

2 Easy ways to help make sure NYC kids get smaller classes starting next year! | Class Size Matters | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

FAQ: Why NYC Schools should use infusion of new federal & state funds to lower class size next year | Class Size Matters

FAQ: Why NYC Schools should use infusion of new federal & state funds to lower class size next year | Class Size Matters 

FAQ: Why NYC Schools should use infusion of new federal & state funds to lower class size next year

Check out the fact sheet here or below.  If you support smaller classes, please urge your CEC or community group to support this resolution.  Please also sign our petition here.

FAQ: Why NYC Schools should use infusion of new federal & state funds to lower class size next year | Class Size Matters 

Memo in opposition to raising the cap on charters or allowing “zombie” charters | Class Size Matters

Memo in opposition to raising the cap on charters or allowing “zombie” charters | Class Size Matters 

Memo in opposition to raising the cap on charters or allowing “zombie” charters

Just heard from a connected source that raising the charter cap and/or reviving the “zombie” charters is still on the table in Albany, so CSM and NYC Kids PAC sent in the following memo in opposition.

Hope it’s not true but there have been too many unpleasant surprises in state budgets over the years, and the charter lobby has a lot of money to throw around.   I saw two TV ads  for Success charters in the space of five minutes last night on NY1.

Memo in opposition to raising the cap on charters or allowing “zombie” charters | Class Size Matters 

NYC Public School Parents: Please help us get smaller classes for NYC kids! Please sign our petition and testify on Tuesday!

NYC Public School Parents: Please help us get smaller classes for NYC kids! Please sign our petition and testify on Tuesday!

Please help us get smaller classes for NYC kids! Please sign our petition and testify on Tuesday!

Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC are advocating for one billion dollars of the approximately $2.5 billion in extra federal funds that NYC schools are due to get next year and the year after to be invested in smaller classes, for NYC students who will need them more than every before. This is a chance in a lifetime opportunity to ensure that enough funding is spent the right way to make a huge opportunity for NYC kids.   For more information, take a look at the fact sheet below.

If you agree, please sign our petition here; and sign up to speak at the Council's Committee on Education preliminary budget hearings next Tuesday March 23; public testimony via video starts at noon. You can sign up here at least 24 hours beforehand and/or send your testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov up to 72 hours after the end of the hearing. Please copy the email to your own City Council member; you can find their names and emails by filling in your address here. Feel free to copy us at info@classsizematters.org 

 Here is sample text you can use, but please add any language you like: Hello, my name is ____ and I have a child in the ___ grade in [name of public school.] Please allocate one billion dollars of the federal funds for next year to class size reduction so that students can have the benefit of both social distancing and stronger academic and social support, which they will need next year more than ever before. Please make sure that happens, for the sake of my child and the other children in the NYC public schools. Yours sincerely, Name, address, email 

 

 

NYC Public School Parents: Please help us get smaller classes for NYC kids! Please sign our petition and testify on Tuesday!

Urge the Mayor and the Council to use a big chunk of the federal funds to reduce class size next year! | Class Size | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Urge the Mayor and the Council to use a big chunk of the federal funds to reduce class size next year! | Class Size Matters Urge the Mayor and the Council to use a big chunk of the federal funds to reduce class size next year! | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Urge the Mayor and the Council to use a big chunk of the federal funds to reduce class size next year!

Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC are advocating for  one billion dollars of the approximately $2.5 billion that NYC schools are due to get next year and the year after to be invested in smaller classes,  for NYC students who will need them more than every before.

This is a chance in a lifetime opportunity to ensure that enough funding is spent the right way to make a huge opportunity for NYC kids.

If you agree, please sign our petition here; and sign up to speak at the Council’s Committee on Education preliminary budget hearings next Tuesday March 23; public testimony via video starts at noon.

You can sign up here  at least 24 hours beforehand and/or send your testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov  up to 72 hours after the end of the hearing.  Please copy the email to your own City Council member; you can find their names and emails by filling in your address here.  Feel free to copy us at info@classsizematters.org

Here is sample text you can use, but please add any language you like:

Hello, my name is ____ and I have a child in the ___ grade in [name of public school.]

Please allocate one billion dollars of the federal funds for next year to class size reduction so that students can have the benefit of both social distancing and stronger academic and social support, which they will need next year more than ever before.   Please make sure that happens,  for the sake of my child and the other children in the NYC public schools.

Yours sincerely,

Name, address, email

Thanks Leonie

Urge the Mayor and the Council to use a big chunk of the federal funds to reduce class size next year! | Class Size Matters Urge the Mayor and the Council to use a big chunk of the federal funds to reduce class size next year! | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

City Council candidate education briefing | Class Size Matters | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

City Council candidate education briefing | Class Size Matters City Council candidate education briefing | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

City Council candidate education briefing

On Dec. 9, 2020, Class Size Matter and NYC Kids PAC held an online briefing for City Council candidates and campaign staff.  About 85 or so candidates  participated.  The presentation, which covered a range of issues from the education budget, class size and school overcrowding, to charter schools, testing and Mayoral control, is available  below.  A recording of the Zoom session is here.

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