New York City Comptroller Brad Lander surveyed over 600 school principals, revealing that the City’s afterschool programs left out students with disabilities. The report finds that schools serving students with the most intensive needs—especially District 75 schools—lack access to core afterschool funding, appropriate vendors, and basic bus transportation.
With 62,000 students relying on IEP-mandated busing, the report raises major red flags about the equity of Mayor Adams’s proposed “universal” afterschool expansion—and outlines a clear roadmap for fixing it, including rebidding the City’s school bus contracts to secure reliable, inclusive transportation. With the State legislative session wrapping up and the City’s school bus contracts set to expire on June 30th, the report calls on both City and State leaders to take urgent action to finally address this long-standing gap in afterschool access as the City designs and rolls out its universal afterschool program.
“Afterschool programs are essential for student success and support working families” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “The Mayor’s promise of universal afterschool rings hollow while his administration fails to meet the needs of students with disabilities who make up more than one-in-five of all New York City public school children. For the City’s ‘Afterschool for All’ initiative to live up to its name, City Hall must treat the inclusion of students with disabilities as a core commitment, not an afterthought.”
Comptroller Lander released the report on Thursday morning ahead of the All Means ALL rally in front of City Hall, joined by leaders from Advocates for Children of New York, Alliance for Quality Education, Arise Coalition, Center for Independence of the Disabled (NY), the Citywide Council for District 75, Include NYC, Inter Agency Council, New York Appleseed, Parents to Improve School Transportation, and others. The rally highlighted the systemic barriers students with disabilities face including afterschool access, inaccessible school buildings and a shortage of special education preschool seats—within a chronically under-resourced school system that often falls short of their legally mandated needs.
Mayor Adams’ recently announced $331 million investment to expand afterschool programming, which was billed as a response to growing demand amid the City’s growing affordability crisis. However, the Mayor’s proposal overlooks students with disabilities, ignores the chronic systemic issues with funding and transportation, and still falls short of meeting the citywide need. Twenty-two percent of public school students with disabilities—including the 60,000 students with Individual Education Plan (IEP) mandated school bus transportation—face acute afterschool needs. According to the Comptroller’s survey of over 600 school principals, only 74% of District 75 respondents reported having any afterschool programming at all, compared to 93% of other schools. 100% of District 75 respondents cited lack of bus transportation as a major barrier to participation. The City’s 46-year-old bus contracts exclude afterschool service entirely, effectively locking out thousands of students.
At the same time, the City’s primary source for after school funding is through the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), which partners with community-based organizations that often lack the capacity to serve students with complex needs, however DYCD excludes District 75 programs and leaves schools to cover afterschool programming out of their own limited budgets to pay their own staff per session to provide afterschool programming. As a result, the Mayor’s planned expansion of DYCD funding through his Afterschool for All program fails to address the specific needs of students with disabilities and will leaves tens of thousands of students without access to the very programs it promises to expand.
Key Findings
To better understand the City’s existing afterschool ecosystem, the Comptroller’s Office surveyed more than 600 public school principals and analyzed historical school bus performance data released publicly by the Department of Education (DOE) data:
- Twenty-six percent of District 75 schools lack after-school programs, compared to just 7% of schools elsewhere.
- Nearly a third of all survey respondents and 100% of District 75 respondents named the lack of school bus transportation as a barrier to student afterschool participation.
- DOE provides contracted school bus service to 145,000 students, including an estimated 60,000 students with disabilities who have IEP mandated transportation—this number grew 9% over the last three school years.
- The Mayor’s plan expects to increase the total number of publicly funded afterschool seats to 220,351 students, however, the Comptroller’s office estimates schools will need 392,000 additional afterschool seats. Given the number of students with IEPs that rely on bus service, and estimated 15% of these unfunded seats represent students with disabilities.
Transportation remains a key barrier to access. Unfortunately, DOE’s outdated bus contracts, many virtually untouched since 1979, fail to provide adequate service and do not cover afterschool, weekend programs, or Summer Rising. A 2011 State Cout of Appeals decision blocks DOE from rebidding these contracts and including critical labor protections. The report underscores that the passage of Senate bill S1018/Assembly bill A8440 at the state level, would empower DOE to competitively rebid and modernize its contracts.
Key Recommendations
Comptroller Lander urges the City and State to build toward a truly universal system of afterschool that includes all students with disabilities.
- Create dedicated afterschool funding for District 75 programs
- Survey schools annually on afterschool needs
- Increase City Council investment in the Cultural Afterschool Adventures (CASA) arts program, with a focus on District 75 programs.
- Pilot a specialized Multiple Task Award Contract (MTAC) to help District 75 schools access appropriate afterschool vendors
- Collaborate with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to offer afterschool per session bonuses for special education staff
Rebid Bus Contracts:
- Pass New York State Legislative bill S1018/A8440, to allow DOE to use employee protection provisions in new bus contracts.
- Until this legislation is passed, the NYC DOE should avoid long-term extensions when the school bus contracts expire in June 2025 to keep the door open for a rebid that includes stronger worker protections and afterschool service.
- Competitively rebid school bus contracts with updated terms, including afterschool, Summer Rising, and Saturday service
Students with disabilities face systemic barriers far beyond after-school access—from inaccessible buildings to a shortage of special education preschool seats—within a chronically under-resourced school system that often fails to meet their legally mandated needs. For the Mayor’s universal afterschool plan to live up to its name, the City must fix the unresolved funding and transportation issues that prevent students with disabilities from participating in afterschool programs.
Read the Comptroller’s report: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/stranded-after-school/
No comments:
Post a Comment