QUESTION
What discrepancies exist between the IBO and DOE's estimates for teacher staffing and costs, and how does this impact class sizes?
3:11:35
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3 min
The Executive Director of Class Size Matters discusses discrepancies between the Independent Budget Office (IBO) and the Department of Education (DOE) on teacher staffing and cost estimates, criticizing the DOE's plan to shrink the teaching force.
- The IBO's cost estimate for required staffing is significantly lower than the DOE's estimate.
- DOE plans to reduce the teaching force, which contradicts its claim of complying with legal staffing requirements.
- Over 4,000 teaching positions have been cut since 2019, a strategy aimed at saving money.
- This planned reduction in the teaching force complicates future efforts to meet staffing needs, particularly in years 3 to 5.
- The DOE's lack of transparency and reluctance to invest in teacher pipelines or budgets for class size reduction are highlighted.
Rita C. Joseph
3:11:35
So it's a 9 the numbers from IBO for the numb amount of teachers that would be needed.
3:11:42
What is your take on that?
Leonie Haimson
3:11:44
Yeah.
3:11:44
I asked the IBO way.
3:11:45
Their estimate differs so much from DOE's, and the IBO said they reached out to DOE, but DOE wouldn't talk to them about it.
3:11:53
What's interesting is the cost estimate that DOE is putting forward is much higher than the IBO's cost estimate, which in their recent Their recent release of the plan said that they needed 214,000,000 26 $427,000,000 in $427,000,000 in 2028.
3:12:15
So that's the sum of that is lower than what the DOE is now estimating for the cost of staffing.
3:12:22
What I really think is disingenuous on the part of the DOE is the the fact that they are planning to shrink the teaching force at the same time as they are claiming to be to to comply with this with the law.
3:12:37
It is very obvious if you look at the financial plan of the city and the way they've already shrunk the teaching force for k 12 by over 4000 teachers since 2019.
3:12:50
And these these numbers come right out of the DOE's submission to the to the city council that this is a planned shrinkage.
3:12:58
They're doing it to save money.
3:13:00
They continue to to shrink the teaching force.
3:13:02
They wanted to continue into the future, and they are making it so much more difficult than to ramp up the staffing that will be needed is starting in years 3 to 5.
3:13:13
And it is so disheartening to hear how they have not made a single decision about strengthening the teacher type pipeline or or even allowing schools that have the space now to lower class size to have the budgets that would be necessary for them to do so.
3:13:33
So I think it is confusing the way the IPO has very different numbers from the DOE usually.
3:13:39
The IPO has lower numbers in terms of staffing.
3:13:42
But in any case, This is part of the problem that we face.
3:13:45
There's so little transparency with the DOE in the way they do things, in the way they calculate things, and even on the class size working group.
3:13:54
They they did not divulge all the information that we were really asking for.
3:13:59
For example, how many new schools would have to be built if you did adjust enrollment between nearby schools.
3:14:05
One of the things that I think was very important in our report is it showed that the kids and overcrowded schools really suffer from this system because not only do they have very large classes, sometimes they have to eat early in the morning or late in the afternoon, often in elementary school.
3:14:21
The kids can't even have time in the playground.
3:14:24
The kids in the underutilized schools, as you know, well, also some because they simply do not have the budget for a full program, arts, clubs, and all the rest.
3:14:34
And so it isn't as simply an irrational them.
3:14:37
Now the DOE claims that somehow it would be anti family to lower enrollment in overcrowded schools.
3:14:44
I think it's anti family and anti student not to do that, not to give all kids the the both the full services, the wraparound services, the arts, music, and the smaller class is that kids in the in the suburbs get by right every single day.
3:15:02
And it's it's inherently an irrational system that was created by Michael Bloomberg and Joe Klein continues to this day.
3:15:10
It makes no sense, and it also costs a lot more money.
3:15:13
We would get cost savings if they wanted if they would just consider making a more rational enrollment system.
Rita C. Joseph
3:15:21
That's exactly what my colleagues were saying.