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In September, city schools are going to get a lot more state money, after Albany agreed it's been shortchanging city schools for a long time, but agreement's in short supply when it comes to how the Department of Education should spend the new cash.NY1 Education reporter Michael Meenan filed the following story.
Monday night in the Bronx was the first in a series of town hall meetings to get the public’s input on how the city should spend up to a billion new public education dollars – $700 million from the state and $300 million from the city.
"Smaller classes very important,” said public school parent Jennifer Fray. “I think, 30, 30-something kids in a classroom is ridiculous."
Class size reduction is at the heart of a political tug of war on how to spend this new billion dollars. The money is the result of a 14-year legal battle, called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, or CFE, that forces the state to make up for decades shortchanging city schools.
"Ultimately, ultimately after teacher quality, lowering class size is the second most important factor in helping children,” said United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
The state law, which allowed this new city school money, requires the DOE to come up with a five-year plan to reduce class sizes. Robert Jackson, who helped spearhead the original lawsuit, now chairs the City Council Education Committee. He says the DOE plan he was briefed on gives principals too much choice about whether or not to reduce class sizes at their schools.
"We're not saying, ‘do it all in one year.’ Five years is a long time in a child's education,” said Jackson.
But the Department of Education says it does have a good plan to spend the new money and class size reduction is at the heart of it.
In fact, one DOE official said high schools on average have 25 students per teacher.
"We're building buildings that will bring the class size down, working with schools with larger classes to lower class sizes,” said Garth Harries of the DOE.
The DOE says its first priority is getting competent teachers in classrooms before ordering smaller classes.
"We want to be sure we do this in a smart way, that's aligned with the priorities,” said Martine Guerrier of the DOE.
