Karen Sprowal, Class Size MattersFeb. 24, 2015

HOW DOE’S PROPOSED CAPITAL PLAN WILL LEAD TO WORSE OVERCROWDING & LARGER

CLASSES IN D17

D17 building utilization rates are below the citywide average

*Calculated by dividing building enrollment by the target capacity

Source: 2013-2014 DOE Blue Book

District 17 Elemen-tary Schools

Citywide Elementary Schools

District 17 Middle Schools

Citywide Middle Schools

Brooklyn High Schools

Citywide High Schools

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

81.2%

97.5%

75.8%81.1%

86.1%92.5%

These estimates Do NOT include the following:

• Do not include need to address neighborhood overcrowding;

• Do not include need to eliminate Kindergarten wait lists;

• Do not include expanded preK or reduced class size;

• Do not include need to eliminate trailers;

• Do not include schools regaining lost cluster rooms and/or space for students with disabilities to receive their mandated services.

9 ES buildings above 100% in D17926 seats needed to reduce building utilization to 100%

Source: 2013-2014 DOE Blue Book

P.S. 399 P.S. 189 MINISCHOOL

P.S. 397 P.S. 241 MINISCHOOL

P.S. 249 P.S. 92 P.S. 6 P.S. 22 P.S. 1890

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

179

160

141 140128

122113 109

101

One D17 struggling school on “renewal” list• 94 schools on DOE’s renewal list of struggling schools threatened

with closure if not improved.

• In D17 MS 352 Ebbets Field Middle School has class sizes as large as 33 in all subjects.

• 7 Brooklyn renewal HS have at least 2 classes of 30 students or more: Academy of Urban Planning (41 for ICT social studies) Brooklyn Collegiate (37 for English), Multicultural HS (36 for social science) and Cypress Hill College Prep School (34 for math & English).

• DOE claims in Dec. 2014 online “public comment summary” that its C4E class size reduction plan “will now focus on the 94 schools in the Renewal Program” but don’t see class size mentioned anywhere else.

Brooklyn HS Enrollment Projections of 5,569 but NO seats in Capital Plan to address need

*Does not include 4,900 seat as yet unsited and undetermined location and/or grade level seats**Estimated Total Added Enrollment= Averaged DOE Enrollment Projections + Housing Starts Estimated Growth

Brookly

n HS N

ew S

eats

from C

apita

l Plan

FY 2015

-2019

*

Enrollm

ent P

rojec

tions

, Stat

istica

l Fore

casti

ng 20

11-20

21

Enrollm

ent P

rojec

tions

, Grie

r Part

nersh

ip 20

11-20

21

Housin

g Star

ts, E

stimate

d Grow

th 20

12-20

21

Estimate

d Tota

l Add

ed E

nrollm

ent 2

012-2

021**

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

0478

1548

4556.16

5569.16

Citywide capital plan has 1/3 seats just to address projected K-8 enrollment increases of more than 84,000 students

*Statistical Forecasting does not include D75 students; K-8 Seats in Capital Plan are categorized as Small PS and PS/IS and includes 4,900 seats for class size reduction if Bond issue passes.

Source for Housing Starts: NYSCA Projected New Housing Starts 2012-2021, http://www.nycsca.org/Community/CapitalPlanManagementReportsData/Housing/2012-21HousingWebChart.pdf; Projected public school ratio, https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Education/Projected-Public-School-Ratio/n7ta-pz8k

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

29,482

40,589

51,954

38,244

84,516

*Does not include 4,900 seat as yet unsited and undetermined location and/or grade level seats**Estimated Total Added Enrollment= Averaged DOE Enrollment Projections + Housing Starts Estimated Growth

Citywide capital plan has one tenth of seats needed just to address projected HS enrollment increases of more than 32,000 students

*Statistical Forecasting does not include D75 students; HS Seats in Capital Plan are categorized as IS/HS and does not include seats for class size reduction

Source for Housing Starts: NYSCA Projected New Housing Starts 2012-2021, http://www.nycsca.org/Community/CapitalPlanManagementReportsData/Housing/2012-21HousingWebChart.pdf; Projected public school ratio, https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Education/Projected-Public-School-Ratio/n7ta-pz8k

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

3,147

19,461 18,387

13,483

32,407

*Does not include 4,900 seat as yet unsited and undetermined location and/or grade level seats**Estimated Total Added Enrollment= Averaged DOE Enrollment Projections + Housing Starts Estimated Growth

This doesn’t include at least 32,000 seats currently needed to bring down to 100% in districts averaging over 100%

*These figures are the difference between capacity & enrollment in the organizational target # in 2013-2014 Blue Book

Source: 2013-2014 DOE “Blue Book”

D8 D10 D11 D15 D20 D22 D24 D25 D26 D27 D28 D30 D310

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

131

3,124

1,9661,970

4,553

464

5,277

1,9691,678

1,307864

6101,114

# of Seats Needed in all districts with ES building utilization rates

higher than 100%

Queens HS Staten Island HS0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,0006274

761

# of Seats Needed in all dis-tricts with building utiliza-tion rates higher than 100%

at HS level

18 Brooklyn High Schools Above 100% 8,732 HS seats needed to reduce building utilization rate to 100%

Source: 2013-2014 DOE Blue Book

BKLYN C

OLL A

CAD (AT B

KLYN C

OLL)

MIDDLE

COLL

EGE HS

EAST NY FAMILY

ACADEMY

FORT HAMILT

ON HS

MIDWOOD H

S

NEW UTRECHT H

S

JAMES M

ADISON H

S

LEON G

OLDSTEIN

HS

EDWARD R. M

URROW HS

BROOKLYN TECH H

S

BEDFORD ACADEMY

FRANKLIN D

. ROOSEVELT

HS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

HS

BROOKLYN S

TUDIO (T

ANDEM K12

8)

TELECOM. A

RTS & TECH.

ADAMS STREET E

DUCATIONAL C

AMPUS

SUNSET PARK H

S

CESIAH TORO M

ULLANE S

CHOOL0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

214

172 164 159 159 152134 130 123 121 120 119 118 112 108 104 103 103

Reducing class size #1 priority of parents citywide and #2 in D17

Smaller class size

More preparation for state tests

More hands-on learning

Stronger enrichment programs

More effective teaching

Stronger arts programs

More effective school leadership

More rigorous curriculum

Better communication with parents

Less preparation for state tests

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

23%

17%

15%

12%

9%

8%

5%

4%

4%

2%

17%

18%

18%

14%

8%

11%

7%

5%

5%

3%

Top parent responses for school improvement in District 17 compared to Citywide results

D17Citywide

Data Source: 2014 NYC School Survey Results

Citywide class size trends this fall• This fall, citywide class sizes increased an average one tenth of a

student per class, according to the DOE.

• In K-3, our calculations show class sizes decreased slightly from 24.9 to 24.7 but at this rate would take 24 years to reach C4E goals of 20 students per class.

• In 4-8th, average dropped slightly from 26/8 to 26.7 & would take 30 years to reach C4E goals of 23 students per class.

• In HS, average class size increased from 26.7 to 26.8 students – it trend continues, would never reach C4E goals of 25.

Data sources: DOE Class Size Reports 2006-2014, 2008 DOE Contracts for Excellence Approved Plan

Class sizes in D17 in K-3 dipped but have increased by 14.9% since 2007

Baseli

ne

2007

-8

2008

-9

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

2012

-13

2013

-14

2014

-1519

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

2120.7

20.520.3

20.119.9 19.9 19.9 19.9

21 20.9

21.4

22.1

22.9

23.9

24.524.924.7029350468913

21.020.8

21.4

22.0

22.7

23.3

24.124.9

23.9

C4E goalsCitywide actualD17

Stud

ents

per

sec

tion

Data sources: DOE Class Size Reports 2006-2014, 2008 DOE Contracts for Excellence Approved Plan

Class sizes in D17 in grades 4-8 dipped even morebut have increased by 4.2% since 2007

Baseli

ne

2007

-8

2008

-9

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

2012

-13

2013

-14

2014

-1522

23

24

25

26

27

28

25.6

24.824.6

23.8

23.322.9 22.9 22.9 22.9

25.6

25.125.3

25.8

26.326.6 26.7 26.826.6626233896604

25.1

23.7 23.8

24.925.3

25.726.0

25.024.7

C4E targetCitywide actualD17

Stud

ents

per

Sec

tion

Class sizes city-wide increased in core HS classes this year and up 2.6% since 2007

*DOE’s class size data is unreliable & their methodology for calculating HS averages have changed year to year

Data sources: DOE Class Size Reports 2006-2014, 2008 DOE Contracts for Excellence Approved Plan

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-1524.0

24.5

25.0

25.5

26.0

26.5

27.0

26.126.2

26.626.5

26.426.3

26.726.8

26

25.7

25.2

24.8

24.5 24.5 24.5 24.5

Citywide ActualC4E Target

Examples of schools in D17 with large class sizes, K-3

Data source: November 2014 DOE Class Size Report

01020

3033 31 30

26 25.5 25.5 25 25

D17 Kindergarten

0

1020

3032 31 30 29 27 27 26 26 26 26 25.5

D17 1st Grade

2224262830

30 30 29 29 29 28 28 28 27 27 27 2725 25

D17 2nd Grade

0102030

31 31 30 30 29 29 29 28 28 28 27 27 26 25 25 25

D17 3rd Grade

FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY 13

79,109 79,021

76,795

74,958

72,787

73,844

Instead of hiring new teachers, the number has dropped by more than

5,000 since 2007-8 citywidedata source: Mayor's Management Report

Other ways city has encouraged class size increases

• In 2010, the DOE eliminated the early grade class size reduction funding for K-3, despite promising to keep it as part of its C4E plan.

• In 2011, the DOE refused to comply with a side agreement with the UFT to cap class sizes at 28 in grades 1-3, leading to sharp increases in these grades to 30 or more.

• Co-locations have made overcrowding worse, and taken space that instead could have been used to reduce class size.

• When principals try to lower class size, particularly in middle or high schools, DOE often sends them more students.

More ways DOE has worked to increase class size in its C4E plan• DOE has cut school budgets by 14% since 2007.

• DOE failed to allocate ANY funds specifically towards class size reduction in its targeted or citywide C4E allocations.

• DOE allows principals to use C4E funds to “Minimize growth of class size,” which is not lowering class size

• DOE has never aligned its capital plan to smaller classes, as required by state C4E regs.

• The current “Blue Book” formula would tend to force class sizes higher especially in grades 4-12.

Bill de Blasio promised to reduce class size while running for Mayor

• During his campaign, Mayor de Blasio promised if elected to abide by the city’s original class size plan approved by the state in 2007.

• The Mayor needs to deliver on his promise and provide what NYC parents want and their children need.

• He also needs to expand the capital plan to alleviate school overcrowding, end ALL co-locations, and build more schools!

What can you do?• Urge Chancellor and your City Councilmembers to

expand capital plan and reduce class size.

• City Council votes on capital plan every June;

• This year they should refuse to approve the capital plan until it is significantly improved.

• Will you help us urge them to do so by sending a letter to the Mayor?

• Please sign up for our newsletter to be kept up to date on this issue.

Comparison of class sizes in Blue book compared to current averages & Contract for excellence goals

Grade levelsUFT Contract

class size limits

Target class sizes in "blue

book"

Current average

class sizes

C4E class Size goals

How many students allowed in 500 Sq ft

classroom according to NYC building code

Kindergarten 25 20 23 19.9 141st-3rd 32 20 25.5 19.9 254th-5th 32 28 26 22.9 25

6th-8th

30 (Title I)

33 (non-Title I)

28 27.4 22.9 25

HS (core classes) 34 30 26.7* 24.5 25

*DOE reported HS class sizes unreliable