By: Ilana Siyance
The influx of migrants has overwhelmed New York City schools.
As reported by the NY Post, on Monday, city education officials announced that public schools will receive an extra $12 million in total to help with the costs of the additional students. The funds will be distributed to schools which have at least six new students in temporary housing —indicating that migrant kids living in shelters have joined. Those schools will get $2,000 per student, as per the policy set by the Department of Education.
The announced funds came just moments before a protest, where leaders and residents were poised to rally for the education department to better accommodate the newcomers. Local politicians and advocates, including NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph were prepared to apply pressure on the DOE to add funding to the schools where asylum seekers have landed and where budgets have recently been cut.
Hearing the announced funding, the protesters were quick to say that the cash isn’t enough to cover the estimate of up to 7,200 migrant kids who have by now entered the system. In the past several months more than 19,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, including 5,500 students who entered the public school system.
These children – who have little English proficiency, varying degrees of grade level readiness, possible special education needs, and extreme trauma to overcome – need extensive academic and social emotional support.”, Lander wrote in a press release in mid-October. “In order to meet the needs of these students and schools, my office estimates that NYC Schools need at least $34 million in Fair Student Funding.”
The protesters also are concerned that the Spanish-speaking migrants should have access to enough bilingual teachers, by adding teachers or being placed in schools that already have them. NYC schools have been complaining that they don’t have the resources to hire bilingual teachers and social workers. Notably, PS 33 Chelsea Prep in Manhattan reportedly had a mom complain that there was only one Spanish speaking teacher available to help the migrants, leaving the students sitting in classrooms where they don’t understand a word.
The Education Department said in a press release, regarding the new funding, that the money can be used by schools in any way they see fit—including partnerships with community-based groups, which can help with the language barrier, add student support or extracurricular activities. “Each one of our kids, whether born in the boroughs or just arrived, deserves every resource we can provide, which is why I am thrilled to be announcing this additional funding today,” said Schools Chancellor David Banks in a statement. “Schools are the centers of our communities, and through these funds, we will ensure that our schools are fully equipped to provide the academic, emotional, and social needs of our newest New Yorkers,” Banks added. Earlier in August, the DOE had already added $25 million in funding to schools, to meet an increase in overall enrollment.
On Monday, the city was auditing final enrollment across city schools, so that their budgets can be adjusted higher or lower to serve the correct number of students. Lander added that the funding payouts should be made swiftly. “We cannot wait until the mid-year budget adjustments to begin to hire the staff needed at schools that are seeing entire classes of new students arrive,” Lander noted.
