Res 0077-2014

By Council Members Williams, Mendez, Rosenthal and Reynoso Whereas, On September 23, 2011, President Obama announced an opportunity for states to apply for relief from provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), four years after NCLB was due to be rewritten by Congress; and Whereas, Currently, under the ESEA, schools that fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years must set aside a portion of their Title I funds to provide supplemental educational services (SES) to low income students; and Whereas, The dedication of these funds ensures that low-income students receive quality tutoring through the SES program, and nearly 66% of students (87,406) who are eligible for the program in New York elect to take part in the program; and Whereas, The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has applied to USDOE for a waiver to the requirements of ESEA that would, among other things, eliminate the requirement that schools that fail to make AYP for two consecutive years set aside a percentage of their Title I funds for SES; and Whereas, Under the NYSED waiver request, school districts would have the option to provide tutoring but would no longer be required by federal law and state regulation to set aside federal funds to do so; and Whereas, According to the NYSED 's recent ESEA waiver request, only 53% of students statewide met or exceeded English Language Arts (ELA) standards in 2009-10, while in math, only 63% of students met or exceeded standards; and Whereas, Further, there is a significant achievement gap for African-American and English Language Learners (ELLs) throughout the State; and Whereas, Thirty-five percent of African-American students met or exceeded the ELA proficiency standard compared to 64% of white students, and 44% met or exceeded the proficiency standard in math, compared to 73% for white students; and Whereas, Only 13 percent of ELLs met the proficiency standard in ELA and just 32% of ELLs met the math proficiency standard; and Whereas, As evidenced by these statistics, New York has a long way to go to ensure that all students meet proficiency standards in ELA and in math, while African-American and ELL students are even further behind their peers in meeting the proficiency standards; and Whereas, SES is a highly effective way to provide one-on-one or small group instruction to disadvantaged students, as studies by the USDOE have concluded that tutoring programs can lead to significant gains in reading and math; and Whereas, It is critical that failing schools be required to provide supplemental educational services to students and to set aside dedicated Title I funds to cover the costs associated with the tutoring; and Whereas, Without the requirement to set aside Title I funds for the provision of supplemental educational services, low-income students in failing schools will no longer have access to proven educational opportunities outside of the normal school day that will help them improve in ELA and math; and Whereas, A.4205, introduced by Assembly Member Karim Camara, would preserve and continue supplemental tutoring opportunities at schools that have failed to make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years by requiring that they continue to set aside a portion of their Title I funds to offer supplemental educational services to low-income students free of charge; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign, A.4205, legislation which would amend the State Education Law to require school districts to provide supplemental educational services to low-income students in failing schools. JA Res 1327/2012 LS 163/2014 2/18/14