Annual Report on the State of NYC Public Schools: Independent Budget Office!

Dear Commons Community,

Schools in New York City are becoming more congested, federal and state aid has dropped, and the number of students in “temporary housing situations,” including homeless shelters, has shot up, according to a report on the state of public education by the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO). The IBO has issued a number of excellent and enlightening reports on the state of New York City’s public schools since its creation in 2009. This report is sixty plus pages and contains good information about the NYC public schools. For example:

“Nearly 450,000 students were enrolled in overcrowded buildings, defined as those at greater than 102.5 percent capacity, in the 2012-13 school year, the most recent covered by the report from the agency, the Independent Budget Office. The average class size is rising, too, particularly in the lower grades: The average elementary and middle school class had 25.5 children, up from 24.6 just two years before. This was true even as the total number of students in traditional and charter schools has hovered around 1.1 million for more than a decade, and as the city has created tens of thousands of new seats.”

Well-worth a read!

Tony

50th Anniversary of the Signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964!

Civivl Rights Act

Dear Commons Community,

On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, officially banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also ended racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and in general public facilities. It was one of the most important pieces of legislation to come out of the 1960s and one of the hallmarks of Johnson’s presidency. While this act did not resolve all of America’s racial problems (no single act of our government could), it was an important step in the right direction. America still has a number of racial issues with disparities in education, income, incarceration, etc. but I would like to think that socially we are in a better place than we were in 1964.

Tony