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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Nancy Bedard, Senior Staff Attorney in the Education Project at Brooklyn Legal Services, Legal Services NYC
4:36:16
ยท
3 min
Nancy Bedard, a senior staff attorney from Brooklyn Legal Services, testified on the importance of arts education in public schools, particularly for low-income and minority students. She emphasized the positive impact of arts education on academic performance, behavior, and future career prospects, while also highlighting the current inequities in access to arts education in New York City schools.
- Presented statistics showing that arts education decreases school suspensions and improves various aspects of student life, especially for low-income students
- Highlighted the disproportionate rate of suspensions for Black students and students with disabilities in NYC public schools
- Called for closing the gap in arts education access, particularly in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color
Nancy Bedard
4:36:16
name is Nancy Bedard and I'm a senior staff attorney in the education project at Brooklyn Legal Services, Legal Services NYC.
4:36:24
Thank you for this opportunity to testify at this hearing and all your efforts to support students in public school.
4:36:32
We also deeply appreciate city council's support of LISNY which we know provides legal representation to low income communities throughout New York City and our mission is to fight and seek racial, social and economic justice for low income New Yorkers.
4:36:52
For decades, studies have shown that education in arts decreases the odds of school suspension, improves students' academic, their behavior, and their occupational aspirations.
4:37:05
While all students benefit from an arts education, students with low socioeconomic status make the most significant gains.
4:37:13
Studies have found that low income students with experience in the arts stay in school longer than their peers are three times more likely to earn a bachelor's degree and much more likely to work in a professional career.
4:37:28
Access in the arts improves academic performance for low income students and can serve as a potential means to educational reform.
4:37:37
Some statistics unfortunately about suspensions in New York public schools in twenty three-twenty four, '20 '7 thousand '7 hundred and '20 '4 total suspensions with thirty eight percent of all those suspensions went to black students.
4:37:51
Thirty eight percent of them went to students with disability, although these student groups only make up twenty and twenty two percent of the entire school population.
4:38:02
When students are suspended, they're more likely to struggle academically, engage in risky behavior, drop out of school, and end up, ultimately, with lower paying jobs.
4:38:12
New York City is a global cultural capital and one of the most diverse cities in the world.
4:38:18
Historically though, neighborhoods have been segregated based on income and race.
4:38:23
And our public education system, unfortunately, has failed to provide arts education in an equitable and sufficient way.
4:38:32
As a result, access to arts education in schools unfortunately are even more limited to low income and black and brown students and communities in a disproportionate way.
4:38:48
In 02/2007, the New York City Department for Education aimed to address these inequities, but in practice the gap has only widened.
4:38:56
In 2014, the comptroller released indicating that schools in the poorest neighborhoods, including South Bronx and Central Brooklyn, consistently fell shorter in compliance with these requirements.
4:39:13
We so what I'd like to say in closing is that we cannot continue discrimination in arts education in New York City, and we ask that we close that gap.
4:39:24
Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify.