The boost in school spending announced Wednesday by Mayor de Blasio will pay for services that should enhance learning for thousands of children — though in some cases , too far in the future.
While hiking education dollars to pay existing teachers more has rarely proven effective in delivering higher achievement, de Blasio’s planned $186 million in annual investments would fund potentially valuable add-ons.
That’s the upside. Less appealing is that de Blasio has generally set 10-year timelines for working what would be a revolution in public education, including hitting the spectacular target of an 80% graduation rate from today’s rate of 68% today.
Even granting that school reform takes time, the mayor expects huge patience from New Yorkers while tacitly admitting that he and Chancellor Carmen Fariña will fail to deliver on the single concrete K-12 education pledge of his mayoral campaign: that he would get every third grader reading at grade level.
EXCLUSIVE: MOST KIDS IN PRE-K FROM LOW INCOME NEIGHBORHOOD
The mayor now envisions getting two-thirds of second graders up to speed within six years and 100% by 2026, a pace that is disappointing considering de Blasio’s trumpeting of universal pre-K as a game-changer.
The timetable is also a far cry from Fariña’s 2014 pledge at a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board.
“I have a higher goal than that. I want to see every second grader on grade level,” she said back then. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but I would say over the next few years.”
Which sure sounded like a commitment to pull off the feat by the end of de Blasio’s term. If the goal was unrealistic all along, they’re the ones who set it.
The key elements of de Blasio’s plan include:
Giving all children computer science classes in elementary, middle and high schools within 10 years — a step toward helping New Yorkers participate in the fast-growing tech economy.
Staffing elementary schools with dedicated reading specialists — to try to get the little ones to understand sophisticated ideas at an earlier age.
Offering at least five Advanced Placement classes in all high schools — a proven way to get more kids on track to attend and finish college.
Teaching algebra to all students by ninth grade — timely and critical exposure to one of the most important subjects.
And sharing tactics between district schools and their charter school competitor-colleagues — some of which do astoundingly good work.
All good, some very good, and yet not, in sum, wholly convincing as the catalyst for reaching educational nirvana.
For accountability’s sake, de Blasio and Fariña need to set shorter-term benchmarks by which New Yorkers can track progress. At present, 33% of third graders pass the state reading exam. What percentage does de Blasio foresee in 2017, when he’ll be up for reelection?
If things don’t move fast enough, 10 years from now children presently stuck in struggling elementary schools will be trapped in still struggling high schools, unprepared for higher education or jobs. By then, de Blasio would be long gone and so would their futures.
![In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]](https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1820955015.jpg?w=490 "In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]")
