Mayor promises $10 million for struggling students

Cara Metz

UFT President Michael Mulgrew comments on the agreement to set aside extra funding to help targeted students make the grade, while (from left) Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Cathie Black and Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott look on.

At the urging of the UFT and parent advocates, Mayor Bloomberg agreed on Jan. 18 to add $10 million to this year’s schools budget to help struggling students.

Some 100,000 city students in grades 3-8 fell below proficiency on the tougher 2010 tests after passing in 2009. This year’s additional funds will go to 48,000 students in 532 schools — including schools that the city wants to close or phase out — where two-thirds or more of students fell below the bar. The schools can use the funding for tutoring during the day, small group lessons after school, Saturday academies or remediation materials and web-based programs, the mayor said, in preparation for what are expected to be even harder 2011 tests.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew joined the mayor, Chancellor Cathleen Black, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Coalition for Educational Justice leader Zakiyah Ansari in announcing the new funding.

“As an at-risk teacher my entire career,” Mulgrew said, “I am telling you this will make a difference in thousands of children’s lives so they can get back on grade level.”

Ansari added, “If we are raising the bar, we need to raise the supports to help them get there.”

The Coalition for Educational Justice and the UFT have been urging the city since the start of the school year to provide additional help for those students who scored below state standards on the most recent state exams in reading and math. Mulgrew called the mayor’s announcement today “a first step in the right direction.”

The mayor said schools will receive from $6,000 to $65,000 each, based on a formula that calculates the number of students that need tutoring in each school.