AFC works to change education policy so that the public school system serves all children effectively. We publish policy reports and data analyses, testify at the City and State levels, speak out in the press to bring attention to the challenges facing the students and families we serve, and join with other advocates, parents, youth, and educators to call for change.
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According to monthly attendance data released by the New York City Department of Education (DOE), students living in homeless shelters had significantly more difficulty accessing an education than their permanently housed peers in winter and spring 2021.
AFC testified before the New York State Senate Education Committee on the DOE’s use of increased state and federal education funding; specifically, how the funding is being used to meet the needs of students with disabilities, English Language Learners, and students experiencing homelessness—students who were hit particularly hard by the closure of schools.
AFC testified before the City Council Committee on Public Safety, joining the call from students, parents, and educators for police-free schools and urging the City to eliminate the reliance on the New York City Police Department to address the needs of students in our schools.
AFC testified before the New York City Council Committee on Education on the City’s plan to hire 250 new School Safety Agents (SSAs), rather than invest in the social-emotional and mental health supports our students need so profoundly at this point in time.
AFC joined more than 100 organizations in sending a letter urging the Governor to sign into law A. 8013 (Benedetto) / S. 6516-A (Mannion), a bill passed unanimously by the Senate and Assembly to ensure that preschool special education programs, as well as state-approved non-public schools for school-age students with significant disabilities, receive the same increase in payment rates as school districts.
AFC submitted comments on the DOE’s proposed changes to Chancellor’s Regulation A-710 about Section 504 accommodations for students with disabilities.
AFC submitted public comments to the U.S. Department of Education on the exclusionary, punitive school discipline and police policies and practices faced by New York City public school students, the disproportionate impact these policies and practices have on Black and Brown students and students with disabilities, and promising alternative practices.
Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the NYC Department of Education’s release of its plan for using its historic influx of funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the announcement of the Fiscal Year 2022 city budget agreement.
Advocates for Children of New York joined 25 organizations to urge the DOE to hire 150 shelter-based Community Coordinators to help students living in shelter reconnect with school and participate in supplemental programming offered by the DOE.