Education

Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have set a goal of 20 students per class from kindergarten through 3rd grade. But they have failed to achieve this limited goal and largely dismissed the importance of class size, with Bloomberg calling it “an interesting number.” Class size in New York City is 10 to 60 percent higher than neighboring suburbs, and higher than anywhere else in the State. Let’s actually achieve our goal of having no more than 20 students per class, rather than focusing on statistics and minor percentage up ticks in less concrete measures of success. One way of reducing class size without extraordinary capital investment is by splitting overcrowded schools into multiple groups with staggered start and end times so that the early schedule starts and ends two hours earlier than the late schedule. All groups would have an eight hour school day with classes that need more individual attention held in these additional time blocks, when there will be more space available.

This solution would allow the Department of Education to tap into the 2,400 teachers without work assignments who remain on payroll, which is has cost the City $200 million in the past three years, to teach the increased number of classes. This model builds on private schools that provide schedules to more closely fit the schedules of parents. Likewise, this program would allow parents to chose from say, dropping their kids off at 7, 8 or 9 o'clock and picking them up at 3, 4, or 5 o'clock, providing greater flexibility, reducing unsupervised time for children and reducing crime among youth.

As your Public Advocate, we released "Lead & Kids: Why are 30,000 NYC Children Contaminated?", a detailed study of the deadly impact of lead-based paint in New York City residential housing, schools, and day care centers. While that helped to get the lead out, another contaminant has recently been identified: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) carcinogens, which can lower IQ scores and cause asthma, and which are common in window and door caulking found in 266 New York City schools built or renovated in the 1960s and 1970s. In uncovering these toxins last year, The Daily News demonstrated that schools had 4 to 4,000 times the legal threshold, with 95 percent of 377 pupils tested having low-level concentrations in their blood. The Environmental Protection Agency listed PCBs as a carcinogen in 1978, imposing a fine of $3,000 and $25,000 per day until toxic materials are removed. We must continue testing this City's schools for harmful chemicals to protect our children and support legislation that would provide funding for this expensive undertaking, including the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act on the Federal level and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal's annual requirement for PCB testing and posting of results by the Department of Education.

The 421-a tax incentive for developers who integrate affordable housing within certain exclusion zones has become a new model of success. This same model could be expanded to a 421-e, with an "e" for education, to allow developers an option to gain the same tax incentives for including space for a public school on the site of new construction that is within a school district that is certified as "overcrowded" by the Department of Education. The developer wins by attracting families that might not otherwise be interested in the new development due to overcrowding, the Department of Education wins from new class room seats at low cost in a City without much land, and parents and students win from having smaller class sizes.