New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today pushed for investments in educational equity, student supports, language access services, and holistic school safety solutions to be included in the city's FY2024 budget. At a preliminary budget hearing of the City Council's Committee on Education, he highlighted that investment, not austerity, is the path forward for schools and services.
"After all that our students have endured during this pandemic, we should double down on investments in schools to reduce class sizes, allow a greater emphasis on social and emotional learning, and create opportunities for creative expression in arts and music classes," argued the Public Advocate. "After experiencing―and continuing to experience―the trauma of the past three years, our students need more support for their mental health, and school officials agree."
He called for allocations including:
- Hire 500 school social workers to provide support to students ($67 million)
- Hire school psychologists and family workers to address delays in the evaluation and IEP development process for students with disabilities ($10 million)
- Ensure every school has a nurse ($49 million)
- Support the expansion of school-wide restorative justice practices ($15 million)
Last year, the Public Advocate's office released Invest in Education, a report which explores how New York City public schools can better support and empower young people across the city. Read it here.
The Public Advocate also addressed the need to support asylum seekers in our schools with language-accessible programming, and highlighted the need to support holistic school safety efforts rather than relying solely on law enforcement solutions.
Reflecting on recent shootings near schools, he said "Just yesterday there were three shootings in and around schools, the day before there was a stabbing near a school. This is the type of thing that we were concerned about. I know the administration is going to be putting more police near those schools – my question is primarily ‘What other resources are going to those schools today, and to the surrounding communities, and not just police officers?’ We do know that just adding police at best is a Band-Aid, and we’ve been using that Band-Aid for many years. I believe that Band-Aid is now drenched with the blood of overuse for decades."
The Public Advocate's full comments as delivered are below.
STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS
TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
MARCH 15, 2023
Good morning,
My name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. I would like to thank Chair Joseph and the members of the Committee on Education for holding this hearing.
Last year, the administration made $370 million in cuts to our schools’ budgets. For many schools, this meant no or limited arts and music programming, larger class sizes, fewer social workers, and insufficient academic and mental health support staff. We know that Black students in our city are more likely to attend overcrowded, segregated schools in high-poverty areas.
After all that our students have endured during this pandemic, we should double down on investments in schools to reduce class sizes, allow a greater emphasis on social and emotional learning, and create opportunities for creative expression in arts and music classes. After experiencing―and continuing to experience―the trauma of the past three years, our students need more support for their mental health, and school officials agree.
While I do believe that probably, and likely, money is not spent as efficiently as it should be, there’s possibly waste, that money should be reallocated, and not cut.
There must be no cuts to school budgets this year, and the city should restore the funding and staff lost due to prior budget cuts. This includes early childhood education programming as well: there must be no cuts to 3K, and a recommitment to universal 3K. For universal 3K and pre-K to be successful, the city must also fulfill salary parity for the early childhood education workforce.
Public schools are the main youth mental health system in our city, and an audit published last year by the State Comptroller found that too many public schools are understaffed with mental health professionals, are not adequately training staff, and only a few have services readily available—and that the DOE provides little oversight to ensure students receive the required mental health instruction critical to developing their awareness and resilience. Further, the majority of schools did not meet the recommended ratio of school counselors and social workers to students. It is critical that the city hire 500 new school social workers, school psychologists, nurses, and expand restorative justice practices for $151 million, with the following spending breakdown:
- Hire 500 school social workers to provide support to students ($67 million)
- Hire school psychologists and family workers to address delays in the evaluation and IEP development process for students with disabilities ($10 million)
- Ensure every school has a nurse ($49 million)
- Support the expansion of school-wide restorative justice practices ($15 million)
In the past, the city has invested in community-led programs focused on making our schools truly healing-centered; the city paid about 650 parents and caregivers from schools in areas hit hardest by COVID-19 to participate in trauma-related training sessions over the summer and then present their own workshop to their school communities. These ambassadors are human capital that the city has already invested in but is not using, and we should prioritize programs that empower our school communities who know their needs best.
Between July 2022 and February 2023, 13,200 school-aged children of asylum-seekers enrolled in New York City public schools, many of whom do not speak English or have limited English proficiency. These children have high needs, including warm clothing, food, accessible education evaluations and services, trauma-informed counseling, and language support. English language learners (ELLs) have historically been left behind in our city’s schools and have the highest high school dropout rate of any student group. We must be intentional in our support for these students. The city should invest $11 million to expand bilingual programs to improve outcomes for ELLs, and $7 million should be allocated to the DOE’s Office of Language Access.
I look forward to working with the Department of Education, the Mayor’s Office, and the City Council to ensure our city’s students have the supports and services they need to learn and be successful.
I do want to end with just saying – a few years ago, I put forth a plan on how to deal with violence in our schools. I want to point out that it was one of the most disingenuous union leaders who spread lies about what that plan was, when really what it was saying is that we cannot just count on NYPD infrastructures already in schools, because our kids are being harmed and killed going to and from schools, as well as harming themselves – we see suicides going up.
Just yesterday there were three shootings in and around schools, the day before there was a stabbing near a school. This is the type of thing that we were concerned about. I know the administration is going to be putting more police near those schools – my question is primarily ‘What other resources are going to those schools today, and to the surrounding communities, and not just police officers?’ We do know that just adding police at best is a Band-Aid, and we’ve been using that Band-Aid for many years. I believe that Band-Aid is now drenched with the blood of overuse for decades. I’m really concerned about what it is that we are going to do, and I believe that cutting these programs would really add to the trouble we’re having with public safety, these programs do add to public safety. We can't cut everything, including education and supports that are needed, while continuing to fund our law enforcement, who are partners- but other partners need to come in as well.
Thank you.
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