UFT RESPONSE TO DECLINING ENROLLMENT SHOULD INCLUDE DEMAND FOR LOWER CLASS SIZES

Chalkbeat had a recent piece on declining enrollments in NYC public schools. They cite state data showing that 75% of schools have had a decline in their student population this year. 

Chalkbeat says the bulk of the decline is coming from low-income families.

Although some schools with more affluent students have seen significant enrollment declines during the pandemic, with families decamping to the Hamptons or enrolling in private schools, drops among low-income students were far more significant. Enrollment among low-income students fell nearly 7% this year, more than twice the decline of students who are not classified as living in poverty.

For the actual numbers:

The state figures show that overall enrollment in the city’s traditional public schools dropped 5.6% this year among students in grades K-12 to roughly 821,000 students, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. Since the pandemic hit in the 2019-2020 school year, K-12 enrollment has dropped by 9%. City officials noted the state data does not include a slew of nontraditional programs, so the figures are lower compared with the city’s own enrollment tallies.

The city counts pre-k and probably 3-k too so its student enrollment numbers are higher. 

Including pre-K, enrollment is down just 1.9% with 938,000 students in the city’s public schools, not including charter schools, according to city figures released in October.

Enrollment declines matter because the majority of a school’s funding is allocated on a per-student basis. And if a school ultimately enrolls fewer students than the city projected, they may be forced to hand funding back, a practice that generated criticism last school year, as some schools owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

City officials wound up allowing schools to keep the funding they owed, and that policy will continue this school year, officials said. Reduced funding based on lower enrollment may also be offset to some degree by a boost to school budgets spurred by federal relief money and a long-term increase in state funding.

That long-term increase in state funding is supposed to be permanent. 

Has there ever been a better time to demand lower class sizes when the UFT Contract expires in September? Michael Mulgrew won't because he will claim that the money to reduce class sizes will have to come out of our raises. United for Change rejects that argument and says we can mobilize our members and school communities to make a real push for lower class sizes in our Contract along with raises that keep up with inflation.