Resources:

• Registration for NYC Kids PAC Parent Action Conference co-sponsored with Class Size Matters
• NYC Kids PAC website
• Information on voting in NYC with deadlines for registration etc.

Resources:

• Panel for Educational Policy agenda for May 18 meeting and contract list; instructions on how to listen or comment here.
• Daily News article on proposed closure of PS 88 in the Bronx.
• NY Times 2006 profile of Kathleen Cashin and her work as a Superintendent and Regional Superintendent.
• Regent Cashin’s op-ed on what happened in her schools when class size was reduced.

Resources:

• Danny Dromm’s activism in advocating for gay rights and on the Rainbow Curriculum
• Mayor de Blasio’s budget proposal for FY 2022
• City Council’s budget response
• Regent Kathy Cashin’s Daily News op-ed on the importance of lowering class size
• NYS Senate bill S. 6296 to require NYC to update their class size reduction plan
• Class Size Matters report on DOE over-payments for charter school rent and underpayments to NYC public schools in matching funds for facility enhancements

Resources:

• Mayor de Blasio’s agreement to fully fund schools’ Fair Student Funding (FSF) formula next year
• Local Law 17 of 2019 to create a Fair Student Funding Task Force that would release a report by Sept. 30, 2019 with recommendations on how to improve the FSF formula; which was never released
• Testimony of Shino Tanikawa, member of the FSF Taskforce, on how the FSF formula discourages smaller classes
• City Council proposal to spend $250 million on class size reduction next year
• Court decision requiring the city test charter school students and staff for Covid and city’s appeal of this decision
• For more information about the April 26 CEC 16 Community Town Hall about School Safety, go to https://www.cec16.org/  or email [email protected]
• The link to register for the webinar is: https://nycdoe.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WmP4QVh7T3mxdj5vbjBCJw . 

Resources:

• Daily News - More state foundation aid funding for the next three years
• Daily News - Parental consent required for state tests in NYC schools this year
• Gotham Gazette - NYC Dept. of Education overspending on charter school rent and underspending on matching funds to public schools
• President Biden’s proposal on increasing federal aid to schools
• Class Size Matters/NYC Kids PAC on how additional federal/state funds should be spent
• Class Size Matters' petition

Resources: 

• New Class Size Matters report on overspending on charter facilities and underspending on public school matching funds
• Daily News article; and WCBS TV segment on the lack of matching funds.
• AQE: Send a letter to Gov. Cuomo and state leaders on protecting students in the state budget by taxing the ultra-wealthy
• More on Outward Bound NYC public schools, including MS 839.
• Gothamist article on different proposals that have been made for the use of the federal funds, including reducing class size.

Resources: 

• Class Size Matters testimony on why DOE should use federal funds to lower class size, for the sake of social distancing and stronger academic/social support; also our fact sheet on the issue.
• Panel for Educational Policy webpage; you can sign in here to listen and comment tonight, March 24, starting at 5:30 PM, and also next month on April 28.
• Tom Sheppard, PEP member can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on twitter at @tomcsheppard

Resources:

• Panel for Educational Policy meetings and agendas
• Panel for Educational Policy members
• Class Size Matters’ Testimony on the Five myths of Mayoral control

• US Department of Education decision to reject states’ request for waivers from mandated standardized testing
• Leaked DOE memo from July 2020 on the gifted program.
• National polls from Morning Consult and Pew show a majority of voters believe teachers should be vaccinated before schools reopen
• My blog on why Biden should focus on getting teachers vaccinated rather than making them administer standardized tests
• Letter from CM Dromm/Treyger about making sure federal funding programs doesn’t allow states and district to cut back by same or greater amount
• Chalkbeat on Carranza’s resignation and record
• NYPD plans to hire 475 School Safety agents this year
• Districts elsewhere are moving these agents from police to school control and diverting funds to hiring more social workers and counselors
• Chalkbeat reports on struggles of families of 3rd-graders doing remote learning

• National poll showing majority of voters believe teachers should be vaccinated before schools reopen
• US Department of Education decision to reject states’ request for waivers from mandated standardized testing
• Politico - NYPD plan to hire 475 School Safety agents this year
• NY Times - Schools and districts elsewhere in the nation moving school police offers from police to school control and diverting funding towards hiring more social workers and counselors instead
• Congresswoman AOC’s tutoring program: Orientation 
• Application for homework help
• School Finance, Race, and Reparations, article co-authored by Preston Green, Bruce Baker and Joseph Oluwole