Families are leaving New York City public schools in droves and seeking alternatives. As the education budget rises, results are not being matched City Journal reported in their analysis.
While there has been an increase of 48,000 immigrant students since 2022, the New York City public school system has lost 8% of its student population, or roughly 70,000 students, the NYC Public Schools Demographic Snapshot report from August showed.
Schools have also seen a decline in academic achievement, as many struggle with basic math and literacy, even with the lowered benchmarks. Over 40% of students failed to show proficiency in math and reading from the third to eighth grades. In addition, the Manhattan Institute found that almost 35% of students have been reported to be chronically absent, missing more than 10% of school days.
Even in light of modest academic achievements and increased absence, the Department of Education had its budget increased from $34.5 billion to $41.2 billion between fiscal years 2020 and 2025, with education now comprising 35.8% of the city’s budget. Which means the city now spends more than $36,000 per student.
This is the largest budget of any district in the U.S.
Despite the increased spending, families are continuing to avoid the public school system. More than 15,000 kids are homeschooled in NYC, a jump from 9,000 students in 2020.
Another Manhattan Institute study found that Black families have been pulling their kids out of NYC’s public schools for the past 20 years, which combined with the city’s demographic changes, represents a 54% drop in the number of Black students enrolled in public schools during that time.
While Mayor Eric Adams has revamped a literacy curriculum with former Schools Chancellor David C. Banks, New York City mayoral candidates have stayed largely quiet on this issue.
Chalkbeat NY did report, however, that Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani said that he planned to pay close attention to funding.
“One of the first fights that I was a part of in Albany was the fight to fulfill the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and to actually start to fully fund our public schools, which was a fight that had the opposition of then Gov. Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani said.
Like this:
Like Loading…
Related