MORE BREAKING NEWS: State restores money to NYC schools

Posted by Philissa at 6:16 PM

After months of bad budget news from both the state and the city, here's a big piece of excellent news: the State Assembly just passed a budget that restores all of the cuts the state had made to the city's schools!

The city's schools are now set to receive a $643 million budget increase as part of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement; previously, Governor Spitzer announced he would reduce that increase by $350 million. The restoration of aid, which comes after months of intense lobbying and protest, should let principals who are deciding which services to eliminate breathe a little easier. But Mayor Bloomberg's cuts, which could amount to as much as 8 percent of next year's budget, still stand.

The Money Mom: City budget restoration could reap double benefits

Posted by Jennifer Freeman at 4:45 PM

At a recent Legislative Breakfast in District 3, a member of the state legislature explained that the city's representatives in Albany face challenges as they seek to restore education money to the state budget because of Mayor Bloomberg’s cuts to the city's education budget. The money in question at the moment is $193 million in education funding increases promised for next school year by Governor Eliot Spitzer as part of the settlement of the long-running Campaign for Fiscal Equity legal case.

Education funding comes from both city and state. Because of the way the city budget works, it was possible in the past for the city to use state education funding to close city budget gaps and not pass the education dollars on to schools. State legislators have tried to ensure that if they increase state education funds, the city will maintain its part of the funding; this is called “maintenance of effort.”

State legislators from other parts of New York may well ask why they should vote to restore funds for New York City schools when the mayor, far from showing “maintenance of effort,” is slashing hundreds of millions from the city’s education contribution.

What should parents do? Keep up pressure on Mayor Bloomberg to restore the $340 million he plans to slash from next year’s school budget. If pressure on the mayor is successful, our schools may reap a double bonus: restoration of state funds as well.

New coalition asks state and mayor to keep their promises to NYC's schools

Posted by Philissa at 5:19 PM

Photo by Philissa Cramer/Insideschools

Everyone who's anyone in the fight to improve the city's schools stood on the steps of City Hall this afternoon for a press conference announcing the creation of the "Keep the Promises" Coalition. The coalition of teachers, principals, advocates, elected officials, and community groups, formed during an emergency meeting held Thursday in response to the mayor's mid-year budget cuts, is calling for state lawmakers as well as the mayor to follow through on their promises to fund the city's public schools at the level agreed to in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit.

CFE Executive Director Geri Palast explained today how the state agreed to pay $2.35 billion to the city's schools in four years and how the mayor committed $2.2 billion to match. Now that times are tough in Albany, however, the state reduced the amount it plans to pay the city in the first year of the deal, and the mayor not only reduced schools' budgets for next year but took money back from them for this year as well, forcing principals to cut after school programs, tutoring, and other services.

"This is ridiculous," said the UFT's Randi Weingarten today. "At the drop of the Dow, kids become the last priority again." The coalition plans to hold a larger rally sometime in the near future.

Student Thought: Depression Cheese

Posted by Seth Pearce at 8:14 AM

I've been a bit depressed lately. After learning about the new budget cuts, I had to begin talking about how to work around the cuts with my school's School Leadership Team. It's a scary situation for principals, teachers, students and just about everyone else in our school communities.

Last Monday, Bloomberg proposed a cut of of $324 million from NYC's education budget. He claimed that he was doing this as a healthy management exercise. He believes that it will force principals to examine the effectiveness of their programs and cut out the ones that aren't succeeding. Unfortunately because of the cuts, many principals are being forced to cut programs that work.

This comes on the heels of a cut by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who said he was giving city schools $100 million less than planned because of the economic problems we have been facing and will continue to face in the coming months.

As much as the Bloomberg-Klein Complex has been proven guilty of some shady motives, I think this decision might make some (albeit terrifying) sense. Combine the Spitzer cuts and the threat of recession and you have yourself a sizable cut.

As I've been learning in economics class, recession is somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy and by not admitting that that is the real reason for the cuts, Bloomberg is fighting the recession. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but if the man knows anything, it's money. In addition, his statement about the cuts struck me to be a little phony, like he's hiding something.

This leads me to believe that an important part of of the edu-activist's work in the troubling times ahead is to look for solutions that are non-fiscal and maybe even non-political. We need a change in how we look at education issues, as I discussed in my post about the student's role in society, and how we can further improve relationships between the different constituent groups of our education system.

A good place to start is Queens student Ashu Kapoor's post on how her biology teacher effectively dealt with preparing students for the Regents. Check it out.

Cross-posted on the NYC Students Blog

Chancellor to principals: "Money isn't everything"

Posted by Philissa at 4:51 PM

Chancellor Klein understands that principals are furious about the mid-year budget cuts. That's why he emailed them on Monday to tell them how much he wants to help them (through their Integrated Service Centers, of course) and to explain that the city has shielded schools from budget cuts for years and is making cuts now reluctantly and "in such a way that respects principals' decisions." He wrote:

More money is always welcome in education. Everyone in our City -- from principals to parents to the Mayor and me -- always wants to see budgets increase. But we also know that money isn't everything. Some schools in our City are literally doing more with less. They were shortchanged in the past -- but [are now] achieving better results for kids.

No excuses, right? View the whole letter on the Class Size Matters' yahoo message board.

School budgets slashed; CEO principals not given much say

Posted by Philissa at 6:23 AM

You must be living under a rock if you haven't heard about the significant school budget cuts that the DOE made last week. In addition to the $324 million that schools will need to cut from their budgets next year, principals were also lost 1.75 percent of this year's budget — before they could even stop to think about where to find the money.

As of early last week, the DOE hadn't actually told principals that they would each have to cut a total of $180 million from their budgets; principals had to learn about the plan from the newspapers. I spoke to a principal on Friday who said she received an email at night informing her that she would have to cut $125,000; when she woke up in the morning, the money was already gone.

While the DOE will be making some cuts centrally, most of the reductions are being passed down to individual schools. The Times reported that the cuts will range from $9,000 to $447,587; for many schools, it's possible that the cuts will undo the Fair Student Funding gains they might have seen earlier this year.

As the mayor suggested earlier this week, Klein told the Times that principals will "have to tighten some programs." He suggested that principals might eliminate after-school activities or Saturday tutoring programs. But even if principals were okay with making those cuts, it looks like the losses might go deeper; Steven Satin, principal at Norman Thomas High School, told the Times that he has to cut the equivalent of "six teachers' salaries for the rest of the term" from his budget. The Daily News reports that schools in Queens have already canceled dance classes, disbanded a class taught by a long-term substitute, and cut tutoring programs. Also on the chopping block centrally: two of the 10 planned citywide standardized tests (NY Times); some ESL teaching positions (NY Times); and the Lead Teacher program (last Monday's PEP meeting).

Principals disagree with the DOE's ideas about what ought to be cut, and they've been circulating emails with sarcastic (and yet eminently reasonable) suggestions for the DOE. From the Times on Friday:

The principals in their e-mail chain of complaints wondered whether their evaluations would take into account constraints because of budget cuts, and also spoke disparagingly of the city’s contracts with I.B.M., which developed the $80 million computer system, and as one principal put it, “a whole host of other private, for-profit corporations that have entered into our world.”

The DOE considers principals the CEOs of their schools, but it sounds like many principals continue to put their students, not the notion of business efficiency, first. Chancellor Klein is testifying at a legislative budget hearing this morning in Albany. For which philosophy will he advocate?

Slashing schools budget, Bloomberg shows he doesn't get it

Posted by Philissa at 7:09 AM

The Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling this summer raised our hopes that the city's schools would finally receive equitable and more adequate funding, but it's turning out not to be quite the banner year for school funding that some had hoped. First, Governor Spitzer reduced the amount of new money flowing to the city's schools. Now, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a $324 million reduction in the city's education budget, representing a 1.3 percent cut.

According to the Post, Bloomberg sees the cuts as an inducement for principals to spend more efficiently. Speaking as the business leader who amassed a fortune of nearly $12 billion (or $324 million, 37 times), Bloomberg said,

"I'm sorry. You can always cut 1.3 percent. In fact, it's healthy to go and say let's cut a little bit and force the principals and the teachers and the administrators to say, 'Is this program worth it?'"

Bloomberg's sentiment is, of course, offensive to principals and teachers and administrators who are struggling to provide high-quality educations under difficult circumstances and who certainly don't think anything they're doing is worthless (except maybe confiscating cell phones and administering standardized tests under DOE orders). And more than that, it's offensive to children for whom every art class, field trip, and ounce of enrichment means something, even if those expenditures don't always immediately translate into improved "performance."

Elected leaders often have to make difficult decisions that adversely affect their constituents. We understand. But they don't have to sound happy about it.

State reducing amount of new money to city's schools

Posted by Philissa at 12:02 PM

Speaking of scaling down big plans, it looks like the state will be giving the city's schools $100 million less this year than originally planned in new money. Citing budget constraints, the state is backing down on the amount of money, secured as a result of the 13-year Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, awarded to the city's schools. Yesterday at the middle school equity rally, CFE Director Geri Palast said, "Committed funding increases for education must be immunized from claims of tight budgets and economic downturns." Unfortunately for kids in New York City and other communities around the state, that immunity doesn't exist.

The Money Mom: The challenge of spending

Posted by Jennifer Freeman at 10:33 AM

It’s nearly halfway through the year. Have you spent at least half the money that your PTA has raised?

Raising money is not easy, but spending money well can be at least as big a challenge. You have to decide and then research exactly what you want to buy, work with teachers and principals to choose the purchases that work for them --whether new white boards or science books-- and then actually make the purchase. Sometimes you even have to lay out your own money and save the receipts to get reimbursed later. Spending takes follow-through and commitment. It's sometimes especially challenging, to get spending all the way into the classroom to improve a child’s learning experience. This money, whether spent on grow lights and plants, digital cameras, visiting poets, or field trips, is the most important money parents can raise.

Do you have a solid budget, a spending plan, or a spending committee to help with the legwork? Does your PTA have a working process for deciding how to spend your money? One source for ideas on how to spend money (and how to raise it) is PTO Today, a national organization that supports parent organizations in schools.

When you do spend money, document it. Tell parents in a newsletter what the PTA has accomplished. Post a photo of on your school's website, for example, of kids performing in a holiday show wearing PTA-funded costumes, and write a caption letting the community know who funded the show. There is a direct connection between spending money well and being able to raise more money. Donors --whether they are parents contributing to an annual fund or foundations supporting a special arts program-- will be impressed to know that you’ve been able to spend money in ways that really made a difference for your kids.

The Money Mom: Want to brighten a kid's day? Try DonorsChoose.org

Posted by Jennifer Freeman at 8:47 AM

Do your teachers have great little ideas for projects and supplies that will improve their classroom? DonorsChoose.org makes it easy for teachers to ask for the little things that help brighten a kid's day: books, puzzles, digital cameras, art supplies. Anyone with just a little money to give can help children in a very concrete way, by going to the website and picking a specific project to fund. DonorsChoose.org started as a young Bronx high school teacher’s idea in 2000. In the last seven years, over 29,000 student projects have been funded with over $14 million in contributions, $4 million so far in 2007 alone, according to the organization's website. ABC News did a nice story recently and the New York Times published an article as well.

So encourage your teachers to list a project-- cooking, math, literacy, art, gardening, music--on Donorschoose.org. It’s easy! All they have to do is sign in and describe something they need that will directly benefit children. Check out the projects that need funding. It’s inspiring just to see the ideas of so many creative teachers. You can fund a project in somebody’s honor (holiday gift idea!), or even give a gift certificate that allows the recipient to choose which project to fund.

Report: Vocational schools funding lagging

Posted by Philissa at 11:38 AM

At the request of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, the city's Independent Budget Office took a look at the state of the city's vocational schools -- and found that despite receiving lower per-pupil funding than "general academic schools," vocational schools actually graduate their students at higher rates. The IBO notes correctly that vocational schools have been largely under the radar in the last few years, as the DOE's ongoing reorganizations have focused squarely on improving test scores, not alternate paths to post-graduation success.

The report also points out that while the DOE's new Fair Student Funding formula assigns extra weight for students in vocational programs, the number of seats in vocational programs may be threatened by local and federal accountability programs. More than half of all vocational schools in the city are considered failing according to No Child Left Behind, and the DOE seems eager to restructure these failing schools, as it has with Harry Van Arsdale High School, which closed this year. The smalls schools now in the Van Arsdale building do not offer vocational instruction.

More private money powering NYC schools

Posted by Philissa at 1:29 PM

The city's schools received about $80 million in private donations last year, the Post reported this weekend. That's up from less than $3 million seven years ago. This shift tells us a couple of things: More private groups see the city's schools as worth investing in, and the DOE is working hard to bring private money to the public schools -- something we know from its partnerships with the Gates Foundation and other major foundations. Nationally, school systems have seen an uptick in their reliance on private donations, usually to fund "extras" like arts and technology programs, the Detroit Free Press reported earlier this month.

Spitzer's office sheds light on NYC funding plan

Posted by Unknown at 10:26 AM

More on Contracts for Excellence: Yesterday Manuel Rivera, the Deputy Secretary of Education for New York State, spoke during the CPAC meeting at Tweed. Unsurprisingly, many of the questions from committee members focused on New York City's plan to meet the state's Contracts for Excellence requirements.

Ultimately, education policy in New York State is governed by the Board of Regents, whose members are elected by the State Assembly. The Regents select and hire a Commissioner of Education to oversee the State Education Department (currently Richard Mills). The governor's office, however, has substantial influence over education policy and control over the resources going to education. The Deputy Secretary of Education (Rivera) heads up education in Governor Spitzer's administration.

What this means for New York City's Contracts for Excellence plan is that, while Rivera will not decide whether or not the complies with the law-- that job lies with the Regents and Mills-- he will be in a position to offer input on the matter at the state level.

Because the City's plan will not be formally submitted until July 15, and the Regents enforcement criteria won't be decided until well after that, Rivera refrained from saying outright whether he felt the plan complies with the law.

Rivera did, however, shed light on why the period of public comment-- and the notice for it-- was so short. New York's Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling that the state had to increase funding for New York City last November, and Spitzer proposed his Contracts for Excellence plan in January. That plan was not passed by Congress until April, leaving very little time to implement it for the coming year's budget. Rather than delay the funding for an additional year-- as some members of congress wanted-- Rivera said the Governor's office preferred to implement the law immediately to get more money flowing into New York City's schools as soon as possible. This did not leave affected districts enough time to gather sufficient public input and devise a full plan for compliance, so the law allowed for temporary emergency regulations this year, with the understanding that those regulations would change before next year's budgets are submitted.

So the bad news is that there is little parents can do this year to influence the City's Contracts for Excellence spending plan. However, by getting involved at the state level as the Regents decide how the Contracts for Excellence plan will be enforced in the future, constituents can have a greater say over how the public input process will work in the future.

Parents urged to write Regents about funding by Friday

Posted by Insideschools Staff at 9:44 AM

Do you want to make sure that additional funds for New York City schools are being well spent? You can send a letter to the State Board of Regents telling them to require that the upcoming historic increase in education funding be used for the purposes it was intended, including small class size and full-day universal pre-kindergarten.

Two advocacy organizations have created an open letter to the Regents, which must be submitted by this Friday, June 22, before the Regents meet in Albany next week. The letter asks the Regents to put specific accountability requirements into state regulations.

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