Leonie was joined by State Senator Robert Jackson who began the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit more than 20 years ago as a member of the school board in District 6 in Upper Manhattan, and his chief of staff and parent activist Johanna Garcia. They discussed the tremendous victory this year in finally including full foundation aid for NYC and other high-needs districts in the state budget, to be phased in over three years. They discussed how parents and community members must organize to ensure the City spends the funds as the Court intended in the decision in the CFE case – to lower class size and provide other critical programs and services that NYC children need for a truly equitable chance to learn. Johanna discussed the DOE's approach to state testing this year, which allows parents to opt in, rather opt out, of these tests, and why parents should refrain from sending their children to school just to take these exams. They also discussed the system of Mayoral control over our schools which will be continued or reformed by the State Legislature in 2022. Finally, they discussed how NYC has overspent by millions of dollars on charter school rent while underspending on the matching funds legally due co-located public schools for facility upgrades.
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