May 8, 2008 5:35 PM
It’s hard to understand the Department of Education’s most recent example of breaking faith with the public. Despite receiving almost $153 million in state funding specifically targeted for reducing class size, the DOE not only has failed to develop and implement a comprehensive class-size reduction plan but, instead, has actually allowed class sizes to go up in one-third of the schools that received targeted funds to reduce class size.
A new study, commissioned by the UFT, found that almost half of the 390 targeted schools did not lower class size and 34 percent increased them. Details of the study are in our story on page 5 and the full study is available online at the UFT Web site, www.uft.org in the press release section of News and Issues.
This is not the first time that the DOE has failed to use class-size reduction funds. Last fall a report by the Independent Budget Office — a fiscal watchdog in the city — found that despite $200 million in state and federal funds specifically meant to reduce class size in the early grades during the 2006-07 school year, far too many of the city’s classrooms failed to meet the mark.
The latest evidence of the DOE’s continued obstinance on class size is far more telling. It has left observers of the school system dumbfounded. City Comptroller William Thompson simply could not understand why the targeted money had not been used. “What did they do with it?” he asked. “Why didn’t it go to kids?”
Why, indeed.
There is a long history on the part of the schools chancellor and Tweed to even acknowledge, much less take steps, to lower class size. When targeted funding and the Contracts for Excellence — which school districts must sign in order to receive additional education funding from the state — all but forced the city to work on reducing class size it grudgingly agreed.
And then reneged.
The DOE talks about accountability but doesn’t hold itself to the same standard. And when it comes to lowering class sizes, the DOE must be closely monitored. UFT President Randi Weingarten rightfully charged that the DOE is only paying lip service to its legal commitments. “This study shows that the DOE is not being accountable for spending resources the way they were intended,” she said. “Now, what will happen next school year? The state has kept its promise to school children and has directed more resources for lowering class size, but given the current city education cuts, will the DOE simply allow them to be used to mask the city budget cuts, thus once again shortchanging kids and flouting accountability?”
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer warned that “this could play right into the hands of state legislators” who oppose additional funding for New York City schools.
All in all, this latest failing by the DOE is terrible for a number of reasons — for misusing education funds, for jeopardizing future education funds, for betraying the public trust and, most of all, for not helping the students in those overcrowded classes, students the DOE exists to serve.