Schedule 1,300 More Teacher Hirings in Fall;
UFT, Advocates Say It Won't Cut Class Size Significantly

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Department of Education officials announced last week that they would spend $106 million of the $700 million in new state funding to hire 1,300 more Teachers, but union leaders and education advocates say the money may do little to reduce class size next year.

BETTY HOLCOMB: 'Need a down payment.'

About $228 million of the new funding must be spent on accomplishing a series of state-mandated educational goals, including pushing down class size. DOE officials touted a series of policy shifts that they said will also help to shrink classes. But advocates argued that without specific goals, timetables and budget guidelines, the impact of the new money was not guaranteed. Early childhood education advocates were also disappointed with the less-than $300,000 allocated for expanding full-day pre-kindergarten.

'Too Much to Hope For'

"There is a difference between having a mandate, versus making class-size reduction voluntary," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. "You can't do it just by a wish."

The UFT has lobbied for years for measures that would force the city to lower class size. Teachers cite it repeatedly as the reform they would most like to see enacted.

The more-than $1 billion in new money for schools next year, including $300 million from the city, came as a result of a lawsuit that proved the state had under-funded city schools.

Governor Spitzer's Contract For Excellence mandated that $228 million of the new state money be spent on five priorities: about $57 million will go to increasing student time spent on task, almost $44 million will be spent on professional development and increasing Teacher and Principal quality, $20 million will go to restructuring middle and high schools, and $295,000 will add more full-day pre-k slots. Principals were allowed to choose, within certain guidelines, how the money would be spent.

The Equity Dilemma

But that choice is part of what Ms. Weingarten said limits system-wide accountability. "Once they do that, they have a dilemma over how to ensure equity," she commented. "Whether a kid gets smaller class sizes and pre-k shouldn't be based upon whether or not an individual Principal thinks it's important."

She argued that implementing class-size reduction necessitated long-term planning in capital budgets and student placement. She noted that in the case of a longer school day, the Bloomberg administration had decided it was necessary for all students, and therefore had negotiated a 37-minute extension in the UFT contract ratified in 2005.

DOE Abhors a Vacuum

Last year when about 330 schools were given similar freedom to structure their budget, roughly 60 percent spent money on new Teachers. Some educators complained that their efforts to cut class size in some cases were undermined by DOE officials, who simply added more students to the schools that had added Teachers. DOE officials said they would make an effort this year not to impede school class-size reduction efforts. "One of the policy changes is to better honor Principals' decisions," said DOE spokeswoman Debra Wexler.

But some advocates were frustrated that there were no specifics offered about how the Teachers would be deployed or how many additional classes would be created.

"I would like to see a five-year plan," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. "This isn't a plan. It's like throwing a lot of cards in the air and seeing how they land."

Eye on 64 Schools

If the new Teachers were spread out across the system evenly, class size would shrink by 0.3 students in elementary schools, 0.8 students in grades four through eight, and 0.6 students in high schools. But DOE officials have said they are directing more of the class size reduction money towards high-need schools and districts where overcrowding has been a chronic problem.

For example, they will provide technical assistance and support to the 64 low-performing schools that have relatively high class sizes and are located in buildings that have the space to add classes.

At the same time, according to DOE statistics, more than half of failing schools with large classes are already above 100-percent capacity, which would make adding more classes inside those buildings impossible.

DOE officials said they would spend $13 million on creating new schools, but emphasized that they would try not to put new charter schools and small schools into existing schools in a way that would impede class size reduction plans. "If we got that in writing," said Ms. Haimson, "that would be an important step."

DOE officials have said that they expect schools to use funds from another pot of money to further reduce class size, although the Contract For Excellence requirements do not apply. Each school was given an average of $166,000 to spend on support services. The support organizations cost between $25,000 and $67,000. The leftover money can be spent at the Principal's discretion, including purchasing supplies, adding guidance counselors or hiring new Teachers.

Chance for More Hiring

In some cases, a school could end up with enough money for several more Teachers. Brandeis High School, for example, received $400,000 under Fair Student Funding, which must be spent on one of the Governor's five priorities. In addition, it got more than $375,000 for support services.

But other schools will have a harder time finding the extra dollars. I.S. 206 in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx did not get any extra Fair Student Funding money, and it received $118,000 for support services. After paying for support services, it could likely hire only one Teacher, depending upon his or her salary. The school's average class size is about 28 students.

Full-day pre-k was also one of the Governor's priority areas, but few schools chose to allocate their precious dollars towards expanding existing programs or establishing new ones. Schools in Manhattan's Lower East Side District 1 will spend about $16,000 for full-day pre-k, which would cover the cost of about two full-day slots or expanding four half-day slots. The only other district that will spend new money on full-day pre-k is District 8 in The Bronx, allocating more than $278,000. DOE officials said they did not know exactly how the money would be spent. Advocates say it costs more than $200,000 to fund and equip one new full classroom.

'Hoped to Do More'

"We understood there were a lot of valid competing interests and many needs to satisfy," said Betty Holcomb, policy director at Child Care, Inc., which spearheads a statewide pre-k coalition, "but we had hoped they would make a more significant down payment toward making full-day pre-k a reality." The coalition had proposed spending $20 million of the Contract For Excellence money on universal pre-k.

The city will spend $334 million of the new $700 million in state aid on staff salaries and benefits, $104 million on special education, $213 million for charter schools and existing school-based pre-k programs, and $149 million for operating systems. It is also spending about $17 million on the periodic assessments that students will have to take several times throughout the course of the year.

The DOE is holding a series of public hearings on the plan this week in each borough. Its proposal must be submitted to the state for approval by July 15.