City seeking public input for funding
Chancellor Klein announced yesterday that public input will help direct the allocation of this year’s Contracts for Excellence funding. This should be a heads-up for parents and educators who have long been frustrated with the city’s educational spending decisions.
The Contracts for Excellence funds support programs aimed at students in greatest need: English Language Learners, students in poverty, students with disabilities and those with low academic achievement. These funds are to be spent in six specific program areas: class size reduction, time on task, teacher and principal quality initiatives, school restructuring, full day pre-K ,and ELL programs.
Class size reduction has been a consistently hot topic in the educational funding debate with Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters, one of the fiercest advocates. “If you believe that your child is not receiving the education he or she deserves because of overly large classes, you should attend these hearings, speak out, and demand that the State Education Department provide stronger oversight so that NYC complies with the law,” Haimson says in a press release this week.
Comptroller William Thompson voiced his frustration with class size, releasing an audit this week alleging that $48 million of the nearly $180 million set aside for Early Grade Class Size Reduction under the Contracts for Excellence plan has not been used for this purpose. The Department of Education holds that Thompson has misinterpreted the legislation. DOE Auditor General, Brian Fleischer, explained to GothamSchools, “We were free to spend it however we chose.”
The DOE released a preliminary plan for the disbursal of these funds. But each of the city’s 32 Community Education Councils will be holding hearings this month for the public to share their views on where they think the money should go. No time to attend a meeting? Send your input to ContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov.
Let us know your thoughts on how the funds should be allocated. Are classes overcrowded in your school?
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Yes, classes are overcrowded at my son’s school because the principal encourages out of zone failing students so she can show progress and make more money for herself. Classes are above 30 at every grade level except kindegarten. I am sick and tired of the school system focusing on the most needy, which naturally does not include my son or any other middle class, english speaking child who can earn a three on the state tests. It would be nice if the school system focused for once on these children, which surprise does include many different nationalities. Perhaps then they could learn something and live up to their potential. Instead, mostly these children are ignored. My vote is to spend money on all those level three children and withhold all extra money to principals until all these average middle class english speaking children earn 4s on their state tests.
Comment by parent — September 10, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
Brian Fleischer’s admission that he believed ‘we were free to spend it however we chose’ translates to ‘everyone got a $10K makeover to their offices’. That $48Mil could easily have been spent putting the more than 3,500 excessed teachers back to work in actual classrooms, AND acquiring another 3,500 sorely needed teachers in all subject areas to mitigate the overcrowding problem. Make our voices heard so that the rest of the $180Million doesn’t get entirely misappropriated.
Comment by BDL — September 11, 2009 @ 3:05 pm