The importance of every New Yorker being counted in the 2020 Census has taken on fresh urgency in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the recession it has triggered. Funding for New York City public schools is at stake. The Census count will determine whether New York City and New York State get their fair shares of federal funding for the next decade.

When school buildings closed on March 17, school nurses were assigned to the regional education centers that opened to care for the children of first responders. When hospitals were flooded with scores of sick New Yorkers, the city turned to school nurses again to help staff municipal nursing homes experiencing staffing shortages. We’re proud of our school nurses for stepping up. They unquestionably helped save lives.

UFT members pledged to help ensure New Yorkers all are counted in the 2020 Census during six teach-ins at schools throughout District 2 in Manhattan on Feb. 11, a citywide day of action to educate New Yorkers about the Census.

The UFT Charter School's Board of Trustees voted on Feb. 28 to bring the school under the supervision of the city’s Department of Education as a regular public school. Educators at the school say they hope the move will provide greater access for their students to a variety of public school resources.

New York State continues to shortchange its students in high-needs schools. There’s no other way to read Gov. Cuomo’s Jan. 21 preliminary budget, which proposes an increase in Foundation Aid that falls far short of the $2.1 billion that the UFT, New York State United Teachers and other education advocates are calling for.

Bloomberg is spinning his record furiously, trying to make his case for 2020. It’s up to those of us who remember the truth of what happened during his mayoralty to set the record straight.

Safe staffing enables patients to get the care they deserve when hospitalized — and it must be locked in by legislation.

Imagine Schools NYC starts where it should — in the community. Educators, parents, students and the surrounding community will craft proposals about the kind of new schools they want to see built in their neighborhoods. 

The UFT invited former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden to speak at Teacher Union Day on Oct. 20. In May, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has who has since dropped out of the race, addressed the UFT Spring Education Conference.

Hector Figueroa, the president of 32BJ Service Employees International Union who died on July 11, was an exemplary partner in the critical fight for social and economic justice.