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Q&A
Council Member Louis inquires about class size compliance and Title I funding
1:15:33
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4 min
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Council Member Farah Louis poses questions about class size compliance in low-need schools and potential cuts to Title I funding for high-need schools. Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos and her team, including Emma Vadehra and Seritta Scott, respond with details on the DOE's approach to class size reduction and the current status of Title I funding.
- The DOE is taking a school-specific approach to class size compliance, allowing schools to submit proposals for their needs.
- Class size compliance is currently higher in high-need communities (up to 80%) compared to lower-need areas (around 25%).
- Title I funding remains stable for now, but the DOE is monitoring potential changes at the federal level.
Farah Louis
1:15:33
You guys came ready for war.
1:15:35
I'm very happy to see the seeds in the middle students that were with us today, two of them being from my district.
1:15:42
Two quick questions on class size and one on Title I.
1:15:46
How much funding is being allocated specifically to improve class size compliance in the lowest need of schools where compliance remains critically low at just 25% and how does this compare to investments made in the highest needs goals where compliance has reached 62% or more and what target steps is the DOE taking to accelerate class size compliance and under resourced communities including hiring initiatives, classroom construction or expansion and administrative support for scheduling and how is this being tracked and reported publicly?
1:16:22
And my last question is on title one.
1:16:25
Many schools in my district, PS three sixty one, three twenty six, two fifty one, two forty four, one ninety three, Andreas Huddy and so many others are title one eligible which is crucial for supporting schools in low income communities.
1:16:39
I wanted to know have there been any updates or warnings from the from the DOE regarding cuts to title one funding or other federal education grants that would affect our highest need schools and district like minds?
1:16:55
And I know that in your testimony you mentioned that the administration put some funds in to baseline some of that, but I wanted to know was there additional updates or warnings that you all can share with us today about title one schools?
Melissa Aviles-Ramos
1:17:08
Thank you so much for your questions council member and I'm so glad that you got to see students from your district or as I like to refer to them as future council members.
Sandra Mitchell
1:17:15
Oh, yes.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos
1:17:18
Of course, our team is here and will answer your questions very specifically, but I want to start by saying that one of the biggest things that I'm most proud of when it comes to class size is that we recognize that a top down approach, a one size fits all approach does not work when complying with such an important mandate, and so that's precisely why we gave schools an opportunity to submit proposals telling us what it is that they need from teachers to extra administrators to converting office space into class size space, all these things that they would need to do in order to comply at the school level before the district steps in.
1:17:57
And you asked some very important targeted questions and we're gonna pass
Seritta Scott
1:18:01
it over to the team so they can respond.
1:18:03
Thank you.
Emma Vadehra
1:18:06
Good morning.
1:18:07
So we are happy to supply sort of all the specifics on your district or others if helpful.
1:18:14
I think what you're referring to is the fact that currently our class size compliance in our higher need communities by ENI is far higher than our class size compliance in our lower need communities in terms of economic need.
1:18:27
And so in District 25 And 26, it's more like 25%.
1:18:32
And when you look in Central Brooklyn, it's closer to 80% already.
1:18:36
Correct.
1:18:36
And as as the chancellor said, we did try and create a class size proposal this year that lets schools ask for what they need to meet their compliance without us requiring it.
1:18:48
We did see more applications for more teachers from schools in our comparatively better off communities than we did from schools in our higher ENI communities that sort of tracked what you'd think based on compliance rates.
1:19:02
That also means in terms of funding we are providing for new teachers and those 3,700 new teachers we're providing funding for, they trend the same way.
1:19:12
Those are tending to go more to Outer Queens, South Brooklyn, Staten Island where schools are farther from compliance than to some of those higher need communities.
1:19:22
So that is also, by the way, in part because all of our other funding streams really are highly equitable and do target additional funding to our higher need communities.
1:19:33
Like fair student funding provides a lot of additional funding to our higher need communities, but this is flipping a little bit the other way in terms of teacher hiring.
1:19:40
We are prioritizing our high need schools where we can.
1:19:43
The law requires that.
1:19:45
We're also working to be responsive to what the law requires in terms of improving compliance and happy to share the specifics.
1:19:53
Title I was the other one.
1:19:57
Yes, so Title I as I shared earlier is the largest funding stream we receive from the federal government from the US Department of Education.
1:20:05
It actually goes to all of our schools to support students in temporary housing, and then over 80% to support school communities because because in terms of the students we serve.
1:20:15
At this point, we haven't seen any reductions to that, but we are keeping a close eye on what's going on at the federal level because it obviously would have a broad impact, and we would need to work together in terms of what the plan is there.
Seritta Scott
1:20:28
Thank you so much.
1:20:29
Thanks, Janssen.