Q&A
Planning for upcoming school year three-k seats and equitable distribution
2:03:00
ยท
69 sec
Council Member Shahana K. Hanif inquires about the Department of Education's plans for three-k seats in the upcoming school year and efforts to ensure equitable distribution.
- DOE anticipates around 50,000 three-k seats for the upcoming school year, similar to the previous year
- DOE commits to providing an offer to all families who apply by the deadline
- Deputy Chancellor Hawkins notes a significant difference between offer data and actual enrollments
- DOE is investigating why families are not enrolling in three-k even when given offers based on their preferences
- Hawkins acknowledges that some offers were for locations far from families' preferred locations
- DOE is working on reconfiguring placements to better meet the needs of families
Shahana K. Hanif
2:03:00
And then how many total seats is the DOE planning for the upcoming school year and what adjustments are being made to ensure equitable accurate distribution of seats so that every child that applies to a three ks seat has access to one.
Simone Hawkins
2:03:15
And so we are anticipating I believe around the same number of seats as last year which I think is around 50,003 ks seats specifically.
2:03:25
We are committed to the same option for families who apply by the deadline that they will get an offer and so we are continuing forward in those efforts.
2:03:34
It's important to note though that when we do look at offer data versus actual enrollments, it's significantly less.
2:03:41
And so although families are applying for three ks, families are not necessarily enrolling in three ks even when they are given an offer, even when they are given an offer based on their preferences.
2:03:52
And so we are diving into that data now to best understand the kind of the causal factors of that.
2:03:58
We are aware that some of the offers were a distance away from the family's preferred location and again that's at the crux of why we're trying to write reconfigure placements so we can better meet the needs of families.