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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This policy brief highlights disparities in school attendance during the pandemic and calls on the City to invest in an ambitious Education Recovery Plan that ensures all students can receive the academic and social-emotional support they need as they return to school.
Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the City’s announcement of summer programming for 2021.
More than 100 organizations sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio making the point that 3-K and Pre-K will never be “for all” until the City addresses the continuing shortage of seats in preschool special education classes—a shortage that has left young children with disabilities who have a legal right to such a class sitting at home or in settings that cannot provide the support they need.
Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) issued the following response to Mayor de Blasio’s announcement that New York City plans to use federal COVID-19 education relief funding to expand 3-K citywide.
AFC and the ARISE Coalition (coordinated by AFC) testified before the City Council Committee on Education on the preliminary budget for Fiscal Year 2022, outlining our priorities for an ambitious education initiative to direct the largest one-time federal investment in education in our nation’s history.
AFC testified before the New York City Council Committee on Public Safety at a hearing on the Mayor’s New York City Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Draft Plan.
With the federal government having approved the largest one-time investment in education in our nation’s history, NYC needs an ambitious education initiative to pave the way to hope and opportunity for this generation of students. Such a plan must invest resources in academic support, mental health support, and outreach and engagement. It must be targeted to assist students disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, including the provision of specialized instruction and support where needed. This plan outlines our recommendations for steps the City should take.
More than 100 education and advocacy organizations sent a letter urging the New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department to once again give 21-year-olds who would otherwise be aging out of school this year the opportunity to return to high school for the 2021-22 school year.
AFC submitted comments on proposed changes to Chancellor’s Regulation A-701 regarding school health services.
Advocates for Children of New York joined more than 75 organizations to call on Governor Cuomo to ensure that schools get their full COVID-19 federal relief funding and that federal funding supplements, and does not supplant, state funding.