Good evening everybody. It is Thursday, March 20th, 6:31 p.m. We are now going to start our citywide council on special education's monthly calendar and business meetings. So, if we could first start off with the interpretation services,
Spanish interpreters, could you please introduce your service, please? telephone. says end of uh Spanish interpretation announcement. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Rose, can we start roll call,
please? Dr. Carolyn Castro, Heather Daly, Mark Gonzalez, Lupe Hernandez, Domain Keenan here.
Sam Reed, Moises Rosario, present. Maggie Sanchez here and Esases. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. All right. At this point, um we are not at forum in person. So we we will move on to our fair student funding formula. Johanna, would you like to introduce our presenters tonight,
please? Sure. Hi everyone. My name is Johanna Rodriguez. I'm the central parent advocate at in our special education office, our central special education office. And I am um I'm excited to be here tonight and to introduce uh my
colleague Peter Schmidt um who will be discussing our fair student funding. Take it away, Peter. Uh good evening. Uh I am Peter Schmidt, the senior instructional adviser for school planning and strategic instruction within the division of
inclusive and accessible learning special education office. Um I'm happy to be here tonight uh and uh to discuss uh fair and funding and matters uh related to budget. And uh I'm going to go ahead and share my screen and
present. So, every spring, the panel on education policy or PEP votes on the New York City public schools school budget allocation formula for the following school year, which is known as fair student funding or FSF. In preparation for this event, superintendent and burrow-based support
staff present the New York City public schools proposed fair student funding allocations for fiscal year 2025 to all community and citywide education councils. The purpose of today's presentation is to review New York City public schools budget and allocation formula, review fair student funding and
the weights for fiscal year 2026, which aligns with the 2025 2026 school year. This presentation reflects our continued approach to how New York City public schools is conducting community engagement around our school budgets as it relates to the fair student funding
formula. Our goal is to increase our transparency in ensuring that you as critical community stakeholders are made aware of how schools are funded and made aware of the resources available to you to better understand your school budgets. I appreciate joining your meeting today and we'll dive into this
presentation. Now onto the agenda. Today I'm going to be discussing three main topics. An overview of this year's overall New York City public schools budget and the specific budget for our district for the the city. Uh detailed explanation of the fair student funding
formula and a walk through the new web pages created to increase budget transparency. If you have any questions during the presentation, please direct them to the chat. If in person, please hold your questions until the end. We will have team members ready to respond to these
questions. Questions that we are not able to answer during the presentation will be collected and shared with the New York City public schools team who will then respond and I'll share back with this group. Additionally, the intention of this session is to collect public comments on the formula for the upcoming school year. We ask that if you
have specific feedback on the weights for fair funding formula that you please feel free to share that feedback with budgetpublic comments all one word at schoolsnyc.gov. budget public comments at schools.nyc.gov. Our New York City public schools team will take public
comments received at excuse me received at this email and address to into consideration in the coming weeks. I'm going to provide an overview of our overall budget, where the funding comes from, how our budget is spent, and
review New York City public schools budget and directions for where you can find school specific budget information. I'm now going to provide an overview of our overall budget and where the budget the funding comes from. This data is based on the most recent budget included in the mayor's January plan.
Our total budget for the 2425 school year was $40.8 billion or around $32,284 per student in our system. New York City provides most of our funding for the 2425 school year. The city will
contribute 23 billion or 58% of our total budget. Most of our city funding comes from what we call city tax levy dollars. City tax levy funds are drawn from local taxes, including property taxes, sales taxes, and personal income taxes. Every year, the mayor proposes
the amount of city tax levy funding we get, and the city council must pass the budget into law before the new fiscal year begins on July 1st. $15 billion or 36% of the comes from New York State funding. New York State is our second largest source of funding. Every year
the governor proposes the amount state excuse me the amount of state funding that will we will get mainly based on the number of types number and types of students enrolled in our schools and then the state legislature must pass the budget into law before the new fiscal year begins on May 1st. Funding
generally comes from income and corporate taxes as well as property and sales tax. Federal funding comprises a total of $2 billion or 6% of our budget for this school year. The federal government is our third source, third largest source of funding. Every year,
Congress proposes a budget and the president must sign the budget into law in advance of the new fiscal year, which begins on October 1st. The Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA provides the rules for allocating most of the federal funding we receive. In the previous slide, we covered an
overview of where the New York City public schools receive its funding from and now we will shift into how that funding is spent in our schools and across our system. Within our budget, we have ma mandated costs that must be covered annually, including employee benefits, pension, and debts, as well as
statemandated payments to charter schools, non-public and contract schools. This pie chart represents the major costs. I will provide a brief explanation of each section. Let's begin with the early childhood located toward the bottom right hand side of the pie chart and we will move
clockwise. First two items cover employee benefits, pension and debt. This 11.4 billion pays for health care and other employee benefits, pension payments for staff, debt payments on loans for school construction and
upgrades. Next, charters. We allocate 8% or $3.3 billion for charter schools as mandated by state law. Next, non-public and contract schools. Non-public and contract school payments cover schools and programs that educate New York City
students, but are not directly run by the New York City DOE. The $2.5 billion includes students with disabilities attending specialized schools and supplemental services to students attending non-public schools. Superintendent and field offices and
central offices combined comprise less than 2% of our overall budget. School operations. The school operations section pays for non-instructional services that students receive. The $5.1 billion is used to pay for the costs including free breakfast
and lunch available to all students. Bus routes, loan payments on buildings, new construction and renovation. This is similar to mortgage payments. Next, we allocate $2.1 billion to support early childhood, for example, birth to five education across the city.
Lastly, the largest portion of our budget is allocated toward K through2 schools and instruction. We allocate $15.7 billion or 38% of our overall budget annually to support our schools, including general education teachers, guidance counselors, deans, health and school climate initiatives such as gym
teachers, respect for all week and climate action days, special education, after school activities, summer school, and other operating expenses. This also includes funding for textbooks, computers, materials, and supplies. We have reviewed our overall New York City public schools budget and our
district budget. During this presentation, I will not excuse me, I will not be reviewing individual school budgets. Those are available on our public website. This slide shows you the steps to find the school budgets from our homepage. I will give you a minute to use this information to load your
school specific budget if you are interested. I'm going to go ahead and drop a URL into the chat as well. I'll just give one more minute if you'd like to use that to load information for a school
specific budget. Once this funding is in place within schools, excuse me, within school budgets, principles are responsible for funds allocated to schools and have a great deal of flexibility in how they spend the funding. These choices are made in partnership with the school leadership team or
SLT. As principles and SLTs create the school's comprehensive education plan or C, they identify school specific instructional needs and priorities and align the school budget to this plan. Principles work with their SLTs to create the school's budget in alignment
to the goals and instructional priorities outlined in the C. Superintendent supervise all principles in the district through the this process and must approve all school budgets and their alignment with the school's C. We will now go into more depth around
what fair student funding is, how it works, and the proposed formula for the 2025 2026 school year. Fair student funding or FSF is the largest funding stream that we provide to schools. In fact, it accounts for nearly twothirds of most K through2 New
York City public school budgets. The allocation of fair student funding provided to schools is based on the number of students enrolled at each school and the specific needs of those students. We make these calculations based on our fair student funding formula which calculates how we distribute this overall pot of money to
schools. Within the formula, students with needs that require more support receive more funding in alignment with those needs. In many cases, schools also receive funding from other funding streams, including federal funding streams like title one, title three, idea, which is funding focused on
special education or other targeted allocations for specific initiatives. These pots make up the remaining funding within the overall school budgets. As a note, charter schools, 3K, and preK and D75 programs are funded outside the fair student funding pro uh formula.
Additionally, mandated IEP related services including speech teachers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists as well as onetoone pair professionals are also funded outside the fair student funding formula. Again, the money provided to schools from the fair student funding
allocation provides principles with significant flexibility, working in partnership with their SLTs to utilize the funding to design instructional programs tailored to the needs of their students within their school community. Funding from the FSF allocation provides for each school's basic instructional
program and classroom services. This funding can be used to pay for classroom teachers, including arts, gym, and cluster teachers at the elementary level, as well as school leadership, guidance counselors, social workers, and administrative and pupil support staff. Additionally, the FSF allocation can pay
for afterchool programs, tutoring and intervention programs, as well as teacher absence coverages and classroom resources and materials. I want to now use this opportunity to further clarify some of what we have already discussed today. Throughout this presentation, we have been talking about fair student funding
and the fair student funding formula. When we say fair student funding, we are talking about the money that is allocated to K through2's. Yes, Peter. I'm sorry to interrupt. Um, the translators need you to slow down just a little bit if you could, please. Absolutely. I'll go back to the beginning of uh slide 10.
Thank you. I want to now use this opportunity to further clarify some of what we have already discussed today. Throughout this presentation, we have been talking about fair student funding and fair a fair student funding formula.
When we say fair student funding, we are talking about the money that is allocated to K through2 schools from this large pot, not including preK centers or district 75 programs. This year, FSF is approximately $7.4
billion. The fair student funding formula is the method by which we decide how to allocate the funding to schools. This slide outlines the formula and how we utilize the formula to calculate the total amount of fair student funding
that each school receives. Now, I am going to walk you through how we utilize the formula to determine how to determine how much fair student funding each school receives and how we determine that specific dollar amount. Each school receives found a
foundational amount which is provided to every school regardless of the number of students that school serves. This covers per school overhead costs such as the principal and school secretary but can be used for any purpose. We then fully fund the cost of
the collectively bargained salary increases for staff and other personnel costs. We then add funding to the formula for collectively bargain contractual pay increases for school staff. Given the new set of collective
bargaining agreements, we are looking at ways to update the formula for collective bargaining. Then we calculate the remainder of the FSF funding by allocating a base amount for each student per
capita and then allocating additional funding based on each student's identified educational needs and instructional programs. It is in this part of the formula that we take into account the weights that we have been referring to
throughout the presentation. On the next slide, we dive more deeply into the weights that we utilize to determine the specific dollar amount that we allocate per student so that you have a clear understanding of what goes into this part of the formula. I also want to pause here to
reiterate that with this formula, we take the time to examine the individual needs of each student student to determine funding allocations. We make these individualized calculations for each student aligned to their individual and specific needs and educational
program to determine how much funding would be provided to that school for each student. This chart shows the proposed weights for next school year. That means if approved by the panel for educational policy in April, these weights will be used to calculate the school's fair
student funding allocation for the 2025 2026 school year. This slide displays the fair student funding weights for the current school year 2024 2025 which we are which are proposed to be maintained for the
2025 2026 school year. Here you can see the different types of weights that students could be eligible to receive based on their instructional needs or academic programs. Now to more deeply understand the weights that we use to calculate that that last part of the formula from
the previous slide. The number of students per FSF category and their SF fsf weights weighted needs. Each student's weighted need is determined by the FSF formula. Now I will explain the different weights on this
slide. For the 2024 2025 for 2024 2025 the base weight of one was equal to approximately $4,254 per capita. This per capita is adjusted annually to reflect changes to
the citywide average teacher salary. The basic grade weight is allocated to schools for all students on their audited October 31st register and is calculated by considering instructional programming requirements by student grade level with distinct weights for K
through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12. Funding for academic intervention, AIS, is determined by student academic performance when a student enters a school using test scores from their prior year. For schools where students
do not have incoming test scores in the lower grades, such as before students begin taking tests or if they do not have prior test scores, we provide funding based on a student's poverty level. Funding for special education is determined by the percentage of time
students spend receiving special education services. For example, we have one weight for students receiving services for less than 20% of their week. Funding low intensity of service, another weight funding students receiving part-time services up to 59%
of their week, moderate intensity of service. and final weight. And a final weight for students receiving more than 60% of their time receiving special education services distinguished by the majority of time less inclusive for special class or more inclusive for
integrated co-eing. These special education weights are then also broken out by student grade level with specific waiting value again determined based on the cost of providing the instructional program. We also provide supplemental funding that supports students who have been
declassified as special education students. This funding supports students in their first year transitioning out of the special education services through the post IEP transitional support weight. Funding for English language learners is allocated based on student
grade level reflecting mandated instructional services including bilingual and ENL instructional programming. Additionally, we have weights for former L's who have achieved proficiency within the past two years indicated using the state designated
term commanding. We also provide funding for L's with with students with interrupted formal education or SCY status. Students with this classification receive their respective L weight in addition to the
SCE weight. We also have another category of weights for portfolio high schools. These weights are provided to schools based on the number of students who are involved in these academic programs within each high school. Career and technical weights have different tiers based on the type of career
preparation program. Programs that require more research resources such as nursing, agriculture and veterinary, aviation technology, automotive, culinary, etc. require industry specific equipment, higher level of consumable supplies and
materials. Student internship requirements that are integral to the program of study and highly specialized and ongoing industry training for teachers have higher weights to support that instructional programming. There are also separate weights for students in specialized academic or specialized
audition schools and for students attending transfer schools. The transfer school weight is broken out into two tiers based on students age and credit accumulation. Transfer school students who are further behind in credits at the time of admission receive a higher weight. Only
students attending high schools are eligible for these portfolio weights. Funding for students in temporary housing provides additional support to schools enrolling students in temporary housing. This has an impact on our asylum seeking families who are living in temporary housing, providing
additional resources to the schools enrolling ST the STH population. Funding for the concentration of needs weight provides additional funding to schools with high populations of students with signi significant needs. Research shows that
schools that serve higher concentrations of students with high needs require additional resources to provide robust education and appropriate resources and supports to their students. The concentration weights include factors for the proportion of students who are
in poverty, students with disability, students who are in temporary housing, students residing in foster care, English language learners, and students with low performance as key indicators of concentration need. The 2025 2026 proposed fair student
funding weights are unchanged from the current school year. We just took a look at all of the weights that students could be eligible to receive within the fair student funding formula allocation. I also shared that as we are calculating the formula for each school, we take into
account the instructional needs of each student within the school as we determine school's overall budget allocations. In this slide, we will take a look at how each student's calculation is determined. The different types of weights are indicated by the by color on
the right side of the slide. In order to determine the weight for each student, we evaluate the eligibility for the weight based on the data in New York City public school systems that store key information about students. Now, we are going to walk you through the process of how fair student
funding would be allocated for two students, Ava and Miles, through the fair student funding formula. Ava, Miles, and Sophia are students who attend our schools schools in our district. Ava is a second grader. Miles
is sixth grader and Sophia is in 10th grade. The orange section shows the grade weight that is their that that they first receive. Because Ava is a second grade student, she is entitled to the K through five grade weight of one
again shown on the left graph in orange. Since Miles a sixth grader, he is entitled to the grade weight of 1.08. As a 10th grader, Sophia receives the high school grade weight of 1.03. The navy blue section shows the
special education weight. All three students are students with disabilities requiring special education classroom instructional services of special education teacher support services or sets, special class or integrated co-eing or ICT.
Ava's individualized education program or IEP states that 60% or more of AVA's instructional program is to be spent in an ICT classroom. Therefore, AVA is entitled to the fulltime more inclusive
special education weight of 1.74 shown in navy blue on the left. Miles individual education program requires less than 20% of Miles instructional program to be in an IEP setting. Therefore, Miles is entitled to
less than 20% low inensity special education weight of.56 shown in blue. Sophia's IEP requires more than 20% but less than 60% of her instruction. Therefore, Sophia gets the special education weight of
1.25 25 or moderate intensity of services. All three students are classified as English language learners shown in yellow. Ava is an elementary school former multilingual learner who tested out of L status within the last 2
years. Because New York State requires two additional years of English as a new language services former L's. Ava is entitled to the K through 5 ENL weight of.13. Miles is also a multilingual learner.
Miles is enrolled at a bilingual program at his middle school. The school is appropriately coded Miles as enrolled in a bilingual program in the New York City public schools scheduling system stars. As such, Miles is entitled to the 6 through8 bilingual weight of
0.55. Sophia is enrolled in a bilingual program. Also the high school weight for bilingual education is 0.5 shown in yellow on the right. All three students are entitled to acade academic intervention services
or AIS weight shown in red. Ava is a student in poverty and therefore they she is entitled to to the fair student funding academic intervention weight of 0.12 shown in red on the left. Miles is a student who entered the
school in sixth grade with a fifth grade test score that was below proficiency. As a result, he's entitled to the AIS weight of.35, shown in red in the middle. Sophia is also a student who entered her high school in the 9th grade
with an eighth grade score below proficiency standards. Therefore, she receives the AIS weight of 0.25 shown in red on the right. Both Ava and Miles are students in temporary housing shown in green. As such, they both receive STH
weight of 1.12. Ava attends a school with a high concentration of student needs shown in pink. Ava attends a tier three school, the highest concentration of need, and is entitled to the weight of 0.12.
Miles attends a school with lower concentration of need which does not receive the weight. The concentration of needs is shown in pink in a pink bar at the bottom for Ava. When you add all the pieces together, Ava's allocation through the Ferst funding formula would
total a weight of 3.23 while Miles's allocation would total 2.66, while Sophia's total is 3.03. Using the example from the same three students, Miles, Ava, and Sophia, with
the same student needs from the previous slide, we now look at a more realistic example where the weight of one is equal to $4,254. Ava's weight is 3.23 and equal to
$13,742. Miles weight of 2.66 66 is equal to approximately $11,317. And Sophia's weight of 3.03 equals $12,894 under the Ferst funding
formula. You can find the following online on the New York City Public Schools info hub under reports, financial data and reports. Detailed information about each and every school budget allocation in the form of a school allucation memoranda or
SAMS, a summary of each school's total and fair student funding budget along with student and staff counts. A programmatic guide to fair student funding as well as how the fair student funding allocation is calculated for each student.
You can find the following online on each individual school web page under reports, budget, and finances. See directions on slide three. Previously, detailed information of the school's budget based on different types of funding schools receive and detailed
information as to how the principal has budgeted for the current year, including the number of staff positions, and other planned spending. There is a new look and feel to the fair student school web pages. Fair student funding school web pages. A more streamlined look and feel. Dollars up
top with register and associated dollars down below. Beginning the of the in the beginning of the year, midyear change and final amounts for the school year all on one page. In addition to the current school current web pages detailing each
school's galaxy allocations and budget summary, the new school budget at a g glance brings together data on student enrollment, demographics, budget allocations, and the use of funds. The new look also compares school demographic information to citywide
averages. Under K through2 funding for this school, you can see the school budget allocations rolled up into major funding categories. You can also see how each of these is a share of the school's budget. For this school, fair funding makes up 74% of their budget. Under K
through 12 spending for this school, you can see the budget summary rolled up into spending categories. Classroom teachers, other salaries, employee benefits, and non salaries known as OTPS, general generally supplies,
materials, books, books, etc. All public comments will be reviewed by the New York City public schools teams. Public questions and comments related to the fair student funding formula will be posted on a panel for education policy website. Analysis and response to of
each relevant question and comment will be available for review on the fair student funding web page in advance of the April 23rd vote. Comments and questions may be directed to the following email address or phone number by April 22nd,
2025. Going to go ahead and drop that email address and phone number in the chat. You may send public comments to budget public comments at schools.ny. nyc.gov or by phone to 212374-6754. I thank you tremendously
for your time and attention today. Thank you for sharing your questions throughout the presentation in the chat. We'll be gathering any unanswered questions and sharing back responses within a few days. If you have any additional questions that I can support in answering, please reach out to me and
my team and uh at special education schools.nyc.gov. Thank you, Peter. We do have some questions for you. So, Caroline, you want to start? Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for the
presentation. Um, before I ask my question, I wanted to I saw a lot of comments in the chat section for people asking for the presentation to be sent over. Could you please provide that so we could share it with the audience members? I believe so. Let me share it after the
presentation. Thank you. Um the the information in the presentation is valuable, but it's extremely dense. So I I would need more time to really go through it to understand it. But what stood out to me immediately was when you
were describing the three uh sets of children and and how you break down their needs. you there was a section called um concentration of needs. Can you define what concentration of needs are so that we have a better understanding
of how these funds are being properly allocated? Yes, to the best of my ability and if if I can't answer fully then uh we'll take your question and and get back to you. Um so tiered funding for a high concentration of of students with
increased needs. So the goal is to maximize equity. The methodology is designed to target schools that serve very high high proportions of students in foster care, students in shelter, students temporary housing, students who are English language learners, newcomers and long-term els students with
interrupted and inconsistent formal education. That's siphes. students with disabilities, students with economic need, and students with low incoming test scores. Um, excuse me. As I noted, research shows that the high concentration of student needs within
the school can have a compounding effects beyond each student individual student's needs, requiring additional resources to provide high quality educational opportunities for students. Um, this concentration of needs weight identifies schools serving the highest proportion of students with needs with
the needs I mentioned. um every student in the school receives the weight. These weights are different at each school and are based on the concentration of needs found at the school. Um so for example, a school with 55% of students with economic needs and 36% English language
learners will receive a weight of 1.55 for each student with economic need and 1.36 for each student English language learner. Then all schools are ranked in each category. the schools with the highest proportion of students with that category of need is ranked highest and
so on. Schools at the highest rankings when averaging all six category ranks will be assigned a tier and will receive the concentration weight for all students at the funding level of that tier. The top 100 schools as determined
by the average across all six categories of need will receive an allocation for all of their students based on the tier three per capita. The next 100 schools will be tier 2 and the next 100 schools will be tier one. Schools ranked below
300 will not receive the allocation. Again, this will be that explanation will also be part of a fair uh uh frequently asked questions document I believe will be posted. Okay, we have a question from the public and then I'll have a question a couple questions at the end. Um public uh
questions. Jen, I know you had a question. Would you like to ask it? Hi. Uh hope you can hear me and uh thank you so much. Um Mark, I sent a little slide. I I hope it's okay if you want
can share it. I don't know if it's um possible. Um I frequently send this graphic to the New York City Council. Um uh the last time I presented this
slide was at the special education oversight hearing. I also presented this slide in a slightly revised um format um to the um to the city council hearing
prior to um this slide was created with the um advice of a top level New York City special education official who had advised me after one of these
presentations. um on um how the fair student funding formula works. And um because when students with disabilities and their families go to
open houses for high schools, they hear things that are very common um in the same way which models how the fair student funding formula works. So I'll give you an example. The fair student
funding formula has this thing called more inclusive which is greater to greater than 60%. Um and um it that doesn't sound like
words that we use. Parents parents use the words ICT and in the um and in um the room in the IEP room um you know the table we say the words class you know ICT for C core
subjects but that is 57% close to 60%. And so those are core subjects. Um so core subjects like you know five periods social studies, five periods math, five periods science, five periods ELA. So that's like almost 60%. So maybe for
kids who get ICT, we get that 60% but anytime we try to get over the 60% we have a really hard time getting it. And so now that we see the presentation
here, just like we saw last year, we we go to these open houses for high school and maybe even middle school because the the formula is the same. And we we often hear that ICT any any special education
teacher service because we're talking about teachers, not related service. That's a fair student funding formula. we cannot get anything past that. So there is no, you know, no, we don't really give sets and ICT together.
That's what we hear as parents. Um, and no, you can't get ICT for CTE class because everybody's assuming that you get ICT for the four core classes because that's above the 60%. No, you
can't have ICT for ICT for LOOT even though that's a graduation requirement because that's 60% plus five. So that would be another I can't do math but like let's call it 70% or 75%. So, you
know, even though we always hear the terms like the IIP is made for your students individual needs, there's a pattern that exists that mirrors the fair student funding formula. Anything
over 60% that the students need will never happen. Never. Which then means that it's no longer individual. It just means that anybody who needs anything more than
60% will never get it, which is anybody who needs it. And pretty much if you are a student with dyslexia, which many of us stu many of our students are, it's probably the most popular reason to have
a disability, an IEP. and you have ICT for um ELA, ICT for science, ICT for math, ICT for social studies because you have dyslexia during those times, you're probably going to have dyslexia when you
take French or Mandarin or German, Spanish, and but you go to these schools and they say, "No, we don't have ICT for LOT." And every time I go to these ICT I I I these city council
hearings I give them the proof. I say look at the emails that I got. They all say this. You cannot have this. You cannot have ICT with CTE. You cannot have ICT and LOT. So Mark, if you could
just show that slide one more time. So remember this is what they said. So, here's Amanda. She has ICT for this is a pretend situation, but remember I ran this by and I'm not going to name the person who helped me through this. Um,
but like, you know, Amanda has four subjects: social studies, ELA, math, and but then, you know, she got lucky. She has sets in a group of up to eight, which a lot of students do. And that's four periods a week. And this is according to the fair student funding
formula. She's also in a a CTE school, so she's got the.17. And Ruth, she's got ICT, but she even has, for some reason, her school gave her ICT for French. That's the world language language other than
English. And she got CTE. And and then look, did her, you know, she got ICT for CTE. And on top of that, her school gave her sets in a group of one because she really needed it. Can any of us imagine that there's a
situation like this? Of course we can because that is what an IEP is for. But does the school ever does does the school but like if you look at the two Ruth school gets not a penny more than Amanda? And so, like, you know, us
parents, we understand this because we know that no school is ever going to welcome an IEP of like Ruth's. And no school even wants to make an IEP like Ruth's. And if there's a parent that
needs an IEP like Ruths and they can afford a lawyer, they will. And the ones who can't, they'll just suffer. So my question to you is am I right? Is is this correct? Can
you verify that this is true? If you have sets in a group of one to in a group of one, does the school get any more money than it sets in a group of eight? And can a school get I more money
if they need ICT it, you know, for a fifth subject or a sixth subject or a seventh subject, will they ever get any more money? So there's a there's a lot to unpack there and it's a a complex question and so I think this is a question we have to
get back to you on um because based on just a quick look at this the slide I I'm not able to answer that question right here and we'd have to discuss the details a little further. So we that is a question we'll get back to you on a math question though. Can the school
receive more money for ICT over 60%. So we describe what the weights are which is 60% or over um provide certain weights based on need. But beyond that with this hypothetical situation I I wouldn't be able to answer that right
now without looking to further and making sure my math would be correct. um and and on the spot. I I'm I'm not going to attempt the math uh right now, but we will get back to you on that question and follow up. Thank you, Peter. Thank you, Jenny. We have another question
from the audience here. Effie, thank you Mark and Peter. Thank you for your presentation. I'm going to just follow up a little bit regarding what Jen Choy just said. Um very simple question, straightforward. um we had 60% you know need and we had
two categories there we had more inclusive and less inclusive. Can you please define what does less inclusive mean and what does more inclusive mean? Thank you. Yes. Um so more
inclusive apologies. Um the reason the labels are more or less inclusive rather than naming a particular service is because the weights are based predominantly on the percentage of time a student is recommended on their IEP for integrated co-eing special class
sets. um 60% more inclusive is when that 67 6 pardon me that's 60% uh line is exceeded or and the majority of the recommendation is ICT not special class
um and in some cases and this is spelled out in the fairstream funding guide that's posted on the info hub there is the 57% exception where it is rounded up when it is solely ICT less inclusive would be a recommendation that is 60% or
greater and predominantly special class. So the inclusivity of the recommendation is tied to whether it is the predominant services ICT or special class. So so just to I just want to make sure I didn't misunderstand. So more inclusive basically means ICT class nothing else.
So is there other categories in addition to ICT that are considered inclusive? So, as I noted, those weights are not tied directly to a single service. Fair student funding uh weights for special education allow for a mixed
recommendation of any combination of ICT, special class, or sets. And for more inclusive uh versus less inclusive, the the key factor is that the IEP recommends 60% or more of the students
program for those services and that ICT outweighs special class if they both are on the IEP for more inclusive or special class outweighs uh ICT. There could also be a student recommended for ICT and sets or ICT
special class special class sets. So it is a combination of services where whether the ICT is just the greater amount or special class is the greater amount but it can be more than one service recommended. Are there any more
questions before I have my questions? Hey Mark, sorry. Is there another question please? Yeah Mark, this is Suzanne Sanchez. I'm not able to be on camera. Uh so I apologize for that. But I did want to
just acknowledge uh that this is a a certainly a complex formula and subsequently can be a complex process and want to uh make sure that we all know here because we are all advocating for the exact same things uh that uh
schools chancellor Melissa Aas Ramos along with first deputy chancellor Weissberg uh and Emma Chief Emma Vera were very present and vocal in Albany uh some recently advocating for changes to some
of these different funding models. Uh and um I think that's important just for us to know all here because we are all seeking the same things. Thank you Mark. Thank you Suzanne. So, and to go on that,
um, as Suzanne was saying, there was a lot of lobbying by DOE leadership to change the state funding formula and there's still ongoing because April 1st is right around the corner for Senate assembly to pass the budget and the governor to sign it. But the change will
wait to add funding for students with disabilities. At this time, the governor's budget nor the one house budgets in the assembly and senate do include uh they do not include weights for students with disabilities is a major problem. But that's where we stand
with those three groups. So obviously if you're concerned about there not being additional funding at state level going to the city, then please reach out to your elected officials. And with that, so Peter, one of the challenges we we heard and Jen
articulated it very well is that there's breakage going on. The funding formula is broken. It doesn't work. The Fair Student Funding Working Group back in 22 made a recommendation to change the funding formula when it came to students with disabilities. It was denied by the
chancellor at that time as he had other priorities he and the mayor cared about. Because of that, we have significant breakage that happens all the time. I'll give you an example. Just from this week, we had a parent who was in desperate need of a parah for their
student, but the principal did not have the funds to do it. And so, they were the parent, it was explained, could not get a para because they don't have the money. We heard last month at the chancellor's town hall though, that we can no parent should be denied for a
lack of money because that's not idea. That's not the federal law, state law, or local law. What is the appeals process that a principal should be doing? And how can a parent help the principal do their job for them? What should be the process? Obviously, it's
the district budget director, then the burough budget director, and then central budget. But how should a parent go forward with that to help the principles align? Sure, Mark. This is uh Suzanne again. Uh and that's first of
all absolutely unacceptable and no parent should be told that their child cannot have a par professional because of lack of funding. So that is completely unacceptable and actually erroneous in the sense that we will
always provide the resources necessary to fund pay for obtain a pair of professionals. So uh and I don't know if my colleague Andy Corso and in in any case like that Mark or andor everyone else on this call uh
we implore you to tell a family and we will certainly do the same that they should reach out to either their district superintendent team certainly the special education inbox on which they will receive an answer within 24 to
48 hours at max. Um, and we will work to resolve that issue because it's that is completely an unacceptable response. Andy, is there anything you would add there? Oh, thank you so uh thank you. I needed help with the microphone. Um, thanks so
much, Chief Sanchez. And I'm I'm going to have Peter talk through the the budget appeal process. And one thing I'm just recognizing sitting here at the table, it's not okay. And I know it happens. And so I just want to hold both of those truths at the same time. Um, this is we do have funding to pay for it
and you want to help the principal do the right thing. So, Peter, I'm going to turn to you to walk through the process. Um, and who should the principal call? What are the steps to take? And of course, there should absolutely not be on families to do that, but we want to make sure you have the information on
what the process is. Yeah. And I do want to clarify because in in this example given it was a pair professional an IEP assigned pair professional which is not covered as as noted in the in the presentation is not funded through fair student funding. So I do I do for the
purpose of this presentation want to separate that fair student funding is not the source of funding for pair professionals. There is a school allocation memorandum 17 on the info hub that spells out the criteria for how that money is issued to schools based on IEP recommendations. But again, the
appeals process to obtain additional funds is largely the same. How a principal when they identify a need, if within their their budget they do not have the funds, they can, as Mark noted, reach out to their budget director who will work with, excuse me, their their
burough finance director and central finance team to obtain those funds. If it is specifically for special education, our office uh leazes on those requests as well. um and and either seeks to obtain the additional funding
for a school or work with the school to see what their existing resources are in terms of staffing and budget to make sure that students are fully served. But as Andy noted that if a school does not have the funds and does not have the staff necessary currently to cover all
needs, the funding is allocated to the school to to hire that staff. Thank you, Peter, and thank you for correcting me on that with the parah. That being said, it still works with Jen's example of the foreign language ICT teacher. That's an addition and that
type of thing, but thank you. I appreciate that. Any other questions for Peter and the and the fair student funding? I have one, please. Can you hear me? Okay, Mark. Yes, Tam, we can hear you. Go ahead. And then
Esther's up next. I threw my back out, you guys. So, I'm dialing in from my bed and not turning on the camera right now. Um, I just wanted to to say that I appreciate whoever just mentioned, I'm sorry I'm spacing out on names right now, that it's not on the parent to
secure a parent. It's the principal's responsibility, but that parents and family members often don't know their rights when it comes to a parish. So, they've been told they they can't request one that they that that's only the principal's job, which is only half
the truth. A parent can request one and can open a meeting and talk about the need for a para, right? I think that the problem is some principles, not all, obviously, some principles mismanage their budget. They use sped funds towards other school related things,
right, that have nothing to do with special education services. If they were to ask for more money to hire a para for instance, do you think that it's because they would then need to show their budget and where the why they don't have the money to pay for it that some of
them are just telling parents flat out that it's a no-go. You can't have one. We don't have the money or you don't get one. So I I don't know that we can speak to the motivations of a a principal only to reiterate that again funds are available for all of these services and can be
requested and and if if if the school does not have them and will be made available to cover those services. Additionally, there's there's layers of district accountability. Every district has a a district administrator of special education who reviews accountability data for every school to
ensure that students recommended for pair professionals or ICT special class sets related services that those are being delivered and are working with superintendent to make sure that we're in holding schools accountable for providing those services. But do you ever ask to see their budget if they if
if the situation was where they told a a parent, a student that they didn't have the money for a parent and that they weren't going to ask or whatever the case is. If they if that was the rationale, would you then ask to see their budget and why they don't have the
money to cover the parrot or do you just give them the money? Well, certainly part of the appeals process uh when a school is asking for additional funds is to review their budget to ensure that Awesome. indeed they do not have the funds available before finding
additional funds. Thank you. Thank you, Tam. The next question is going to be from Council Member Esther. It is going to be in Spanish, so interpretation, if you can please do the interpretation. Thank you. Yes, thank you for the presentation. So,
I understand that um some of the uh the funds do not cover 3K and D75. Could you clarify that? So 3K and D75 are funded through different sources. Um then fair student
funding and uh D75 for instance has its own school allocation memorandum again available on the infohub that funds that um it is not the same per capita funding through Ferris funding. Great. Thank you.
All right, any last questions? Hi, just to follow up on Esther's question, you mentioned that it's a different funding stream, but could you provide a little more detail as to um figures for example, what is the criteria and how is it broken down for the D75 model? I'm not prepared for that
information this evening. So, that would be a question we'll have to follow up with. But I I can speak to in in district 75 for instance, it is a class-based model rather than per capita model again spelled out in the SAM. But we we can follow up with more detail.
Thank you, Peter. Thank you for the presentation. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we are before we go to public comment, um want to introduce some of our our megie
Yeah. So, we are at forum and want to want to recognize um our members. We actually have a new member here. Daniel. Daniel is our new student member. So, welcome Daniel. Would you like to introduce yourself? Yeah. Hi.
Yeah. So, uh I'm Daniel Zachary and uh I'm a senior at Townson Harris High School. So the reason as to why I joined the CCSC is because, you know, as a student with an IEP, I've seen the difficulties
that schools have with accommodate making accommodations for those students in time because I've had it take as long as 2 weeks to get the para that I need. But this was back in like 11th
grade. No, sorry, that was in ninth grade. Anyways, but I'm just saying I've also seen other students have a hard time getting the testing accommodations, complain that the teachers give them a very difficult time even though legally they're supposed to follow the I the
students IEP. So, I don't know how the schools allow it to even happen when there could be legal consequences for disobeying it. But really, I just want the students to get more help with their accommodations and having the
requirements for their IEPs be realized because I feel like schools have allowed the really the department to slack off like the people in charge of making sure that the students get every single part of their IEP fully
realized. like they've been slacking off and we can't allow it to keep happening because especially my school I just see how slow it's been and how many of my peers who also have IEPs have been complaining. So I just hope that we're able to make a change and have students
in with IEPs have an easier time. Thank you Daniel for that powerful message. We appreciate that and we really appreciate you being here and being a member of the council. Welcome. Okay, we will now open it up for public comment. If you have public
comment, please raise your virtual hand and we'll call on you. Okay, I do not see any public comment. Do we have a motion to adjourn the calendar meeting? I apologize. Tam, go ahead. I'm sorry I missed our new student member's
name. What's your name again? It's Daniel. Daniel, I just want to say thank you for what you said. Like, it's really hard to be in this space with, you know, all these adults and grown-ups and what you said about, you know, ICT, sorry, IEP
compliance and how you're seeing it on the ground. Like, I'm just I'm thankful that you put yourself in this spot and I I feel like you're really you're really touching on some subjects that are very real for a lot of students. So, kudos. Thank you for joining us. You Thank you very much.
Okay, we have a motion to adjourn the calendar meeting. I motion to adjourn the calendar meeting. Any seconds? All in favor? I opposed abstensions. All right.
Calendar meeting is adjourned. It is 7:35. We will start the business meeting at 7:40. Thank you everybody. Back. All right. Sorry for that little delay. We really appreciate you staying around. Um it is again Thursday, March
20th now. 7:48 p.m. we are going to start the business meeting for the citywide council on special education. Rose, could you please do roll call? Dr. Sai, Carolyn Castro, present. Mark Gonzalez,
present. Lupe Hernandez, Shmaine Kenan here. I couldn't unmute. I'm sorry. That's all right. Oh, here. Moises Rosarios. Yeah. Maggie
Sanchez here. And Esa Vases presented. and Daniel Zack Green [Music] present. Heather Dailyaly
have a quorum. We have quorum and we have Heather. Thank you, Heather. And thank you for all council members online and in person. And Daniel, welcome again. New business meeting, your first one of this. All right. Um, so first thing is the approval of the minutes for
February 13th. The minutes have been distributed. Um, if you have any amendments, adjustments to the minutes, please let us know. Otherwise, we will accept them as they are. So, give a moment and then
uh if you have a question or concern about the minutes, please let us know. Okay, the mains are accepted. Thank you everybody. Um, we'll now move on to the co-president's reports. Carolyn, do you have anything tonight? I am not prepared this evening. I
apologize. I'll send them an email. All right. I've got a couple of things. Um, apologize, but uh, today President Trump did sign an executive order to dismantle the federal department of education. That being said, it there is a federal law from
1979, so he cannot officially cease it, but he can certainly cut funding in in the multitude of ways the president is able to. So, we'll see how that plays out over the next few days, months, and years. Um, citywide council on special
education cabinet forums are coming up. The elections are in April. Um, and again, this will be for the term that starts on July 1, 2025. The current council ends on June 30th. So, the new council will be having the elections
again in April. First uh candidate forum is on March 26th at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom. There'll be additional meetings April 2nd, April 10th, April 15th, and there are four more scheduled if they need it. So again, we'd encourage you to attend
the candidate forums and please, please, please vote for whoever you choose to, but we need votes because we need people to represent our students. Next up, uh, state budget is due on April 1st. Governor's executive
budget that presented about a month and a half ago um would be cutting New York City DOE's budget by about $347 million from what it would receive under a prior funding formula. It is critical that we
do receive the money to be able to support our students. Both the Senate and Assembly did come out with their one house budgets last week. both of them would fund at a much higher rate to the city and so we are looking forward to seeing the Senate assembly
fight for our students. Um if you are concerned please reach out to the governor or your state senator or assembly member. All right. And that and I just want to acknowledge uh Maggie and myself were up in Albany last Monday um lobbying on be
on behalf of our students to get funding for our schools. So Maggie, thank you for attending. All right. Um now members reports. Anyone want the member report for tonight? Maggie, go ahead. So I attended the um Arise Coalition's
um meeting uh with the chancellor and um it was just a halfhour quick meeting but she talked to um uh advocates um parent leaders um you know just
families of students with disabilities and Um we we she just uh emphasized and oh and um Christina F was also there. Um so just emphasized um the you know the hurdles with the
families face in terms of education. Um she did emphasize also that educators are you know they they they're also um feeling burnt out and so that was also
highlighted. Um the approach will be that um sort of coming to educating parents on what their rights are, what their um the to be more in depth on or
more knowledgeable on what the um you know the rights and the and what the special education um encompasses. So that was kind of like her approach. Um and she'll be planning
more on that. So what she said is like it's more more of that to come. Um yeah, and and so the the the me the we went to Albany um to advocate um with
uft um to be able to um have that emphasis and emphasis with the legislators on um on funding and just things that can help um
educators overall. Um, I put some stuff in the chat. Um, I would highly recommend um just families and anyone that cares
about education to contact your legislators because um this is critical. um the the funding that comes from like the the US uh DOE is very very critical
for um what we receive here in the city and the state and so um we really must push back against um the dismantling of this department. Um thank you. Thank you Maggie. Any other member uh
reports for tonight? Okay, we'll move on. Um, face is not here tonight, so we will skip over the face updates. Um, again, I think Anthony was going to talk about the candidate forums coming up and again the elections
starting in April for all CC's. So, that includes all the four citywides along with the individual 32 districts for community education councils. All right, we are now up to the councelor town hall recap.
So, it's really a chance to talk about the town hall. Um, we did have our town hall to chancellor on Monday, February 24th. Um, you know, thank you for all all of our our members, including Daniel, um, for attending. Um, it was I
I think, you know, chancellor was rushed. She was a little bit late getting there because she has the packed schedule that night and then she had to leave right there after. But it was good to to have her and her leadership team at the town hall. Um, I won't say we got
all the answers we were looking for, but um, you know, we certainly got some answers and there'll be certainly more answers coming as they finish filling out the the individual or responding to the individual questions. Once we get
those individual questions back from DOE central, we will get them to Rose to get put on our website for everyone to see the questions and responses for all the other questions that we did not get to. And there were well over 70 questions. Unfortunately, we got to 14 by my
account um during the meeting, which is, you know, basically as the math says we should have gotten. So, but want to open it up. Any feedback, comments on the town hall from anyone? Tam, you got your hand up. Go ahead, please. Yeah, I was just asking about
what's the timeline for them to get to get back and get those answers to the families and post them. But I think some of those questions are also personal. So, I'm wondering how they're going to address like the more sort of personal ones that they can't probably put on the
website. um but just a time frame because I know some folks are asking about that already who were disappointed that they didn't get to ask a question um at the actual town hall. But outside of that, I think that the feedback I got from people who watched um online and
went back and watched the recording um or who were there or who have served on a CAC or a citywide before were not surprised but like definitely took note of how defensive
um the tone was not on our side but on the other side um that there was just like this defensiveness and maybe it's I mean like maybe it's the history of those town halls with the CCSE. Um but that was the feedback that I got like are they more defensive than normal
because it feels that way. Um I think that there some of our time got wasted by long responses um from the DOE and from you know people you know not the chancellor. I wish she would have talked more but people on her team sometimes
went over a little bit but other than that I you know it was it was okay. I mean you guys did a great job facilitating. Thank you. So quickly um the individual if there's an individual question on an individual
student or situation the deal we respond directly to that individual and we will not see it as it should be because of HIPPA and all that. So, we are only going to see I'll call it the generic questions, the ones that are broadreaching and do not target an
individual student, school or situation. And so, those are the ones we will get uh published. In terms of timing, I will have to double check with them. They were certainly working on it the very next day. Um, we did get feedback on that Tuesday that they had started
working on the process, but it was a lot of questions, Tam. It was over 70. And so, you know, it's going to take some time to get them all all written up. And they're not they historically have not peacemeal it and done one to one at a time unless it's an individual
situation. They do give it back as a group. And so, you know, we got to give a little bit of patience, but I will follow up with them. No, it's not like an impatience thing. It's just not knowing what to tell families that are asking like at time frame. It could be like, you know, a week to a year. Like
that's what I'm talking about. like just a general time frame. My expectation is it's probably another month away, but it's certainly going to be before the school year is over and this term is over. Perfect. No doubt about that. But my guess is sometime in
April. Great. Thank you. Uh just to point out the the amount of questions we got out, I was surprised that you know we only got to 15. So, it just made me think we really need to focus at least next year on the the
first 20 questions and and printing them out and having them there. Sometimes the using the computer or an iPad would kind of get feedback from the equipment used. So, I had to turn mine off. So, we should definitely print out the
questions and um really focus on the top 20. So, um, Tam, I think just to level set, I don't know if you're hearing if you're there, Tam, but, um, when we did the count when we did the town hall in 2023, [Music]
um, it took about six months to get the responses from face and I don't recall there being as many as there were this time. So what you can tell families who may have personal examples that they provided student information if they
don't hear back from face or a member of dial, they can certainly reach out to us to push for responses because those are individualized responses. But in terms of the overall um generalized questions to be placed on the website, I would
hope that we would have it by the end of the school year. But but history is an indicator of how this has performed and there's less face staff now than there was then. I would say six months is a more realistic time frame.
Um what else was I going to say? Overall the town hall, you know, it's hard to look at it when you're the person who's running it with the team. I think that overall it was a success, but I think that part of my frustration in interacting with New York City's public
schools is yes, there I think there was a bit of push back and tension on certain individuals from DOE, but there is also a lack of realness in some of the responses. I was appreciative that I
heard in some specific questions where there was they admitted like yes, this is a problem. Yes, we see this as a problem, but then it's also usually followed up with, you know, our team is doing so great and this is so important to us and we're with you, but you don't
actually see um you don't see results come after that. And I think that is where I currently hold frustration with DOE is that it's nice that you can recognize how I'm feeling about this, but I'm not here in a town hall to share my feelings with you. I want to see
actions followed with the information that we advocate for and bring to your attention. One of the things that I noticed um is that we actually got more responses from our town hall than from
the event that that Arise held uh with the chancellor and the chancellor was there. she had the opportunity to answer, but again, you know, she she um directed most of the questions of course to to Chancellor Fod and you know,
Chancellor um I'm sorry, um Christina Fod, sorry about that, to Christina FOD and you know, she's Christina has been is very knowledgeable and she is very um responsive. Uh but we it if if where
we're meeting with the chancellor, if the chancellor is there, the frustration for me is that it it's more directed to others and it's and she's not, you know, answering. Um I I I did feel like she
was filibustering a little bit. Um but you know just just as as a FYI. Thank you. Any other questions, comments, feedback regarding the town hall? Dr. Canton,
please. So I mean for me I think overall we did the best we could given the situation. One of the concerns is I had a few phone calls after Um, I guess people had some issues with me stopping the person from speaking in the middle
of uh completing their answer. Um, and part of that is because a lot of times when we have these town halls, they kind of generalize, talk around or um don't answer the question you ask. And so part
of if people had an issue with me um interrupting the chancellor as it was brought to my attention um I just felt like when we have these persons in the room is important to get them to try as much as possible to stay on task. Um and if it doesn't always give people the
comfortability or the etiquette that they feel the objective here is not that you can empathize with how I feel or you understand you're not doing enough. it is you get paid six figures to be in that position to do the job and it is our job to hold them accountable to do
it. Um, and so if we have some sort of etiquette that we want to have and having a conversation with people we're trying to hold accountable, then maybe we need to have that conversation in advance. Because my job is to make sure as I sit in that seat that the children
and families that I represent across the city are getting their needs met at whatever level we're trying. And to have a person in the room to show face, to feel good or look good in a conversation is not what I'm concerned about. My concern is you answer the question um
and not dance around it. And if they're not answering it, how do we hold them accountable to answer it? Um and so if I offended any of the council members by any chance, I apologize. That was never my intention. It's just kids need
answers. Families need answers. And I'm I'm about sick of DOE coming in the room, whether it's at this town hall or the previous, and say, "Oh, I get it. We're not doing enough." Right. Well, if you know you're not doing enough, what are you doing to do better? Right? And I
think it's important that we keep that in context. Um, etiquette and and feeling good about a situation that's harming our kids is never way is no good way to do that. So um for me the town hall while it was um a very pleasant
space to be in I don't feel that it was successful successful in getting parents the answers they needed to better serve their children or or the communities that we're trying to help and maybe in the near future when they give us responses if we're going to take
those responses from those questions um maybe having whether it be Christina Foley or whoever the person's um there to kind of go in depth because a lot of things weren't answered. I felt um at least to not some of the questions I asked. Some of the answers were kind of
danced around and kind of um said, "Well, yeah, we we're not doing good, but you've had two or three years. What have you done?" And I didn't feel like I got a full answer for certain things. Um but I do appreciate the council and the way you ran it. It was great.
So, thank you, Sai. I agree 100% with everything you said. Um, the only thing I will say is I'm not aware of anybody um commenting on you interrupting because what I think sets this council apart from a lot of other councils is that we recognize that we're advocates
first and we don't necessarily play the politics of being on a council. So, no, I personally have not heard anything. I think that the way it was conducted is how we discussed it should be conducted because we're not interested in uh
formalities or filibustering results. So that that's where I'm at with that. Great. I just wanted to make sure I didn't offend any of you guys. Um because I did get a few phone calls from other council members who I I just I'm here to serve kids and families. I know
I'm not always the most tactful. Um, but I'm very passionate about the work I do for kids and I'm very unapologetic about it. And so, um, if I ever offend, I just want to make sure people know it's never personal. It is just business. No, it's it's never personal.
It's personal for our million students uh between you know almost two million students with IEPs um you know that that are in the state and and our nearly a million students
with IEPs that we service within the DOE and the five burrows for people in charters students in in homeschooling students with IESPs that's who we serve. It's it's not personal for a DOE, but it's personal for each and every
student. It's personal for each and every family member and friend of those students. And we are here to serve all of them and not to serve the political ways and and and the wind. So, thank you. Tam, you have a a question, comment, feedback, please. I just want
to say that I wasn't offended personally. like I'm glad you know I was sitting next to you and and it was really hard to sit there and to hear non-answers. It was offensive, you know,
like it was just offensive. And I think that when we have limited time like that and they're taking up the time, giving you a BS answer and not answering your question and being snarky about it when you push on it, that you definitely did your work as an advocate on this council
to tell them, hey, no, stop. This is what I'm asking and you're not answering the question. We all have a different way of doing things, right? And no one way is the best way. So, it wasn't offensive to me personally, and I'm glad that you you pushed because it was really
frustrating. Yeah, I really appreciate everyone who Oh, pardon me, Heather. I want to piggy back on what Tam was saying and also Sai. Um, I I was disappointed in the
chancellor at the town hall and I know that special education isn't her niche. I get that and we can't all be experts in everything. However, I feel like she could have come more prepared to talk
about special education and make it a priority to learn more about how the special education works rather than bringing her team in to speak for her. And so I was I was just frustrated. didn't feel like any effort was really made on her part to really understand
um what we advocate for, what our kids go through, how the special education system works in our in our schools. Um because she has this great team led by Christina Fod to kind of do it all for her. Um and so I was disappointed. So
that was that's my opinion. Thank you. Um, I will say one thing. The the chancellor um has mentioned oh in her five burough tour she did she mentioned at a couple of those events that she was going to set up I won't call them focus groups. I don't remember
her exact language but it was effectively smaller groups to discuss certain topics at multiple burough um meeting whatever she officially called them. They effectively meet and greet town halls. she mentioned that she would have one for special education, so a
smaller group to discuss special education. So, we need to hold her um accountable and make sure she does have those um meetings that she promised to families. And so, we will we will reach out to her and her staff on that.
Can I just quickly say pro you're all probably not going to like this response but I don't hold the chancellor accountable because at the end of the day while she is the head she is not the expert and who I am holding accountable
are those who are the experts who either you know have done this for so many years that they understand they have a good understanding of the issues we're bringing to them but they're still they're still not pushing things
in the direction that the quote unquote advocates who they invite into spaces through um you know I'm forgetting the word but through these meetings that we have like the the advisory councils where they're inviting us in to provide
feedback to provide our knowledge as parents of students with disabilities in specific subject matter they're sort of taking what we're we're providing to them and then they're ingesting it and creating a solution in their way that
doesn't quite necessarily fix the issue that we're bringing to them. And the the greatest example that I can give to that is New York City Reads currently because New York City reads came about through the mayor. But but there
was an advisory group that was devised that I am a part of and it was discussed and discussed and discussed about what needs were were needed to be provided for the public for parents for students. creating an environment in the classroom that is not just for students with
dyslexia but for all students. And then it got internalized all of the feedback and now it's this program that's being rolled out now which many of the people on the advisory board didn't necessarily agree with. So I I can't hold the ch the
chancellor accountable for that. I can hold the people who were there before the coun before the chair the c I'm losing my language before the chancellor who are still in their positions who are allowing this to be rolled out the way it's being rolled out and it's not representing students who have dyslexia
and significant reading disorders. Okay. Any other feedback on the town hall? Okay. Next we have committee reports. Is there anyone who has a committee report? Okay. Um, one thing we do have is the annual report. We do need to get
in before the end of June. So, I will be contacting each of you to see if you have any topics you want to work on for the annual report. Otherwise, we will we will definitely get one together. will be a two-year report for our two year
our two-year term, but uh just want to give you a heads up. I will be reaching out to each of you individually. Carolyn, I just wanted to remind that for the annual report, we did discuss previously and agree to reissuing the prior annual report because it has never
been responded to. So what we discussed was reissuing the prior report with additions if anybody wanted to volunteer to write additions. But if if New York City public schools has not properly responded to our prior, we should not be issuing a new annual report because the
issues are the same. Any other committee reports? Yeah, I was trying to remember the committee. Um so for the district support committee uh meeting um I had we
had before the um elections uh started um the only thing that I can say about the last one the last meeting that we had um it was in collaboration with uh
CCD75 as well um we were getting good feedback on um uh what do you call that? Um oh my god, I'm blanking out. Um the the my school's account. Um and so the parents
that at least came um they had the account, they were able to um be a you know post to be a candidate or you know had access to it. So that was that was good. Um we were hearing
that there was a little bit of a discrepancy in the outreach that was being done between um some districts versus other districts. Um some districts were getting more of the information they
were getting events um around election the election process around getting Nixa and um others weren't. They just had the the pamphlets, I think it was. Um and and
that's it. And and you know, some didn't have um they did have the banner. Um so we did hear that a lot more schools were having the banners, which is good. Um but yeah, there's still a concern around
at least Well, that's that's the committee report. I'll just bring um at the end of the meeting talking about the the concern about the elections in the um candidate forums. But that's the end of
the Okay. Thank you. All right. We are now on to the unfinished business. So we have the meeting schedule to discuss for April, May, and June. The next meeting is Thursday, April 17th. that just
everyone's aware that is in the middle of the DOE spring break. That being said, we have it scheduled. The topic is transitions. And so transitions for students with IEP start at 12 years old or they can start at 12 years old. They
are mandated to start at 14 years old for everybody and then it goes until they graduate or leave the DOE. So it can be up to 22 years old um where the transition process occurs. And so
significant um change for students lives and their famil family's lives. And so we're going to have uh Rachel Rippy. Um she is of Dial. She is now the strategic advisor for transitions. Rachel had been
um chief of staff um prior, but she moved over to the transitions team because she felt it was such an important topic and we're we're glad to have her presenting on that at the April 17th meeting. Um May 15th and June 12th,
there are a couple things at play. Just want everyone to be aware. May 15th right now is is scheduled to be contracts for excellence. Um, Rose, do you want to say anything about that?
I have an email out to Anthony whether or not that is for CCSC or Citywise in general because it came up again. It came up last year. I had the same question. No one ever responded to me and we never had the workshop and again this year it came up and I'm still
waiting for them to and I also requested the date for May 15th and I still have not heard back from them. So I'm waiting for Anthony to get back to me on whether or not um C4E is for citywides. Other than that we can bump them if you need to put somebody in that in that um space
date. So Carolyn and I did have a discussion yesterday um with Johanna about some of the upcoming topics. One of the topics that was discussed yesterday is literacy in general. Um certainly certainly it's
one of the biggest issues that we've had the last x number of years and it's been years unfortunately. Um RX has stated that she will come she will be coming with um Deputy G uh
Chancellor Fod as well. So we will see Danica Rx and FOD coming with their staff for a meeting. Now the date is a little TBD. We may have to do a special meeting or it may be in June. Unfortunately they are tied up for a
chancellor town hall in May 15th. So, we'll see if the June 12th date works. If it does not work, then we will have to schedule a special meeting um with the focus on literacy and chief chancellor, Deputy Chancellor Fod, Deputy Chancellor Rucks and their team
to talk about that. So, that will either be in June or a date in I don't know, April, May, June. We will let the council know what we're hearing from them. They're they're trying to get us possible dates knowing that a June 12th
is is the ideal slot, but we'll see how that plays out. The other topic we did talk about um is dealing with the specialized um autism programs, and that's something that Esther had brought
up earlier today as well. Um so, you know, Esther, if you want to comment about your two your two points today. Um translation will need some help uh translating. Esther, please. Yes. Yes. I wanted to propose for the
DOE or uh an agency to come to do the evaluations um by the state of New York and also for the access program. Okay. So, you know, those would be two different topics. So, we can find a way to we may be able to find a way to fit
two in one meeting. Um, the other option is splitting them up. And I think part of it depends if the June 12th is on the literacy or if we're doing a special meeting. I think part of that would play into that. But Caroline, you want to
comment? I just and I I want to first raise that I I see Sai and Tam's hand. So after I guess I'm done, please let's recognize them. Um with the dyslexia schools, I
also want to say that we did receive an email from Naomi Pena who is former CC1 president also very much involved in the LAC schools. Um, if we are to secure dyslexia through NYC reads, I think that
it is only the correct thing to do to break it into having LAC be at this meeting as well because you have New York City Reads and then you have LAC which are two components under um NYC reads. very different operations, very
different how it's rolled out and the needs, but it is unified through literacy and providing literacy to students. So I that is a recommendation that I am making. If we do secure Danica Rucks and Christina FOD in dial, we should also be inviting Naomi Pena and
the LAC team to to present as well. And then Tam, you are next and then Dr. Kenton after. Yeah. ish um sorry why did we schedule our meeting in the middle of spring break and do we have to stick with that date or can we
change it seems really like I don't even know the we did discuss it when we when we set the schedule I mean so everyone talked about the schedule I don't remember that conversation but I'm just saying is there anything we can do it at I mean we have a student member here who's going
to be on spring break all of our kids are going to be on spring break the goals are going to be on spring break. I just don't know why we're having a meeting during spring break. I mean, if we can change it, can we or is it is it too late? We could we could vote today. The
problem is we may not have a presenter then. So, you know, you got to be careful what you ask for. I just I care more about the community than I care about the presenter. I mean, everyone's on break. I just think it's I just don't know why we chose that. I can't remember to why we did that at all, but it just
looking at the student in the room even, I just think it's we should be respectful of like everyone's break, you know? I I'm sorry, Tam. I have to push back just a little bit because we did have this conversation in a council meeting and we went through the schedule as a
council and this is what we came up with. Now, I agree with you that it's probably not ideal, but we've discussed it. So, I I know we've discussed it. I get I get that. I don't remember that conversation because I wouldn't have I wouldn't have been like, "Yeah, spring break's a great time for us to have a
council meeting." You know, I'm just asking if if you vote on something, can you revisit it? I mean, look, we we can revisit it. The question is, are you prepared to have a meeting with no topic if we can't find a presenter? And then, are we ready to have special meetings then to fit in
the presenters that we do want? So, if everyone's ready to to guarantee they'll come for to make quorum for a special meeting, you know, I I'm fine. Open it. Well, anyone can open it up if they want to discuss it. If you want to have a motion to change this the the meeting date, you can certainly um have a
motion. That being said, I am concerned that we are going to have to then set a special meeting. So, you know, we all agreed on this date or well, majority agreed on this date when we set the schedule. I'm comfortable with the
schedule. I know it's not ideal, but that's where we're at. So, I'm I'm opening it up for anyone else discussion wise. Dr. Kent, you want to you have a feedback comment and then we'll we can open up for further discussion. I just had a comment on uh the comment
that estimate about the the new programs that have been placed across the city for um autism and things like that. In my district, they they wrote they were supposed to roll out, I think either six to eight
programs within schools. The problem is a lot of our parents who have children with autism who are trying to get into these programs either the programs have not ca have not actually come to fruition yet or you have you don't have the
support that the kids need. So parents are not feeling comfortable sending their kids there. So if we have a topic whether it's now or at another time maybe seeing how those programs actually I believe this is the first year at least in my district is the
first year to to hold them accountable to see how these programs are actually being rolled out and are and is the families getting the services that they need. Similar to what Carolyn said about the dyslexic programs and schools,
it was it was envisualized to be one way and I think how it rolled out, if I'm not correct, is not exactly that way. Um, and so the kids who really need the services are still not getting the services around that disability.
So, just wanted to bring that up that if we're still looking for topics, if that's something we can make sure we address at some point. Thank you. Um, and just everyone's aware the DOE with the and
and Dr. Kenton's part of um the group that that works on the that worked on the reimag bold fully reimagining special education. So thank you Dr. Kenton for working on that. Um the work that they did is what started the three
districts where they did roll out the nest, the Ames and Horizon and guaranteed I'll say quote unquote but it sounds like for all intents and purposes they did were able to get all kindergarteners who are eligible for one of those three programs a seat in those
three districts. the budget ask from I'll say the office management and budget because it wasn't necessarily dial um who had that same number but they're asking for four more districts in the budget for next year.
So flight 26 the city budget would roll out an additional four districts on top of the three. So, we'd have seven of the 32 districts that would then have for kindergarten the specialized programs rolling out. It's safe to say that's not
necessarily a number that DA would want of only four, but they are being told you're getting four if the budget is passed by council. So, I just want everyone to be aware of that there is pressure from the mayor's office to
limit the number. So, just FYI. So to take it back to scheduling and since it is based sorry my microphone doesn't seem to be working since it is based on budgeting and proposals of budgeting could we possibly schedule a meeting for
the alternative assessments conversation we can schedule just a question of what time I mean there's no there's no budget implications from the alternative assessment right I mean that's state funded. So, I mean, I I think the
alternative assessment we certainly could have. I think it's, you know, the timing is it's actually starting really soon, the assessments um for this school year. Same thing with regents. The state um starts conducting those tests very soon. Um so, certainly we can have that. I
think we could have an autism um specialized program discussion and then the literacy. Um the question is going to be when we can slot that those three into two meetings and how that would two additional meetings and how that would work.
So, completely on the other side of things, um what if we didn't have a DOE or public schools present presenter, what if we invited community members and advocates that are working um and doing other projects to support our kids come
and present like what they're doing and workshops that families could get involved in, things like that. So more um have the people come to the people instead of having DOE people come and talk about the same things they talk
about all the time. I'm just saying if we had to switch a date and we couldn't find a a speaker because there's a lot of smaller groups of folks in neighborhoods and things doing really great work um to
support families and it would be great to highlight for them to be able to come and highlight what they're doing. So Caroline said that's kind of like a plan B and and Heather acknowledged that. So So it, you know, I think the question is going to be timing. I think
Carol and I need to go back to to dial and see what the scheduling looks like. The key for the council then is are we comfortable saying we want to have three topics over two meetings with possibly needing a
special meeting depending on FOD and RX's schedules. Are we comfortable with that as a council? I don't think we need to I don't think it's there's no motion at this point but that's basically what
would be happening. So, just want just want people to be aware, but let's we'll reach out um to dial and see about those topics as long as there's no objection to those topics for for upcoming meetings or is there
any other topics anyone wants to discuss? Okay. So, Carol and I are going to reach out to Dial um on the the autism programs, on the literacy programs, and on the alternative
assessments. So, the program that I would really like to see addressed is um the uh alternate assessment programs about students with intellectual disabilities and also I would really like to see the um alternative assessments um which are of
the city of New York. So I don't know if we have uh space for those uh two topics um in the few days that we have left. Esther is saying she has preference for alternative assessments as a topic. So in place of the
autism Yeah. I think also how they how how parents can address disciplinary actions taken on their students. Yeah. So, so Heather's comment on on council member Tamara's comments that
you know, student safety, cyable cyber bullying, overview of the FBA and BIP process. Um, those are other topics that are certainly possible. Um, you know, the the challenge is ultimately we're at the end of our term coming up. We have
three meetings left. if we want to have special meetings to do more. I am completely open to it and welcome to it. But, you know, that's something we're going to have to figure out is if we want to have special meetings to have on these topics or other topics, but I am
I'm certainly open to special meetings. Um because there's a lot of good topics out there that we have not fully covered. Although we've covered a lot of stuff, but there's a lot to go over. I I like the idea of a special meeting. at it. I don't think crowling them in
will be a good idea. And don't forget, you can also plan some of these for the next year. You know, just we may have a hard time having quorum for a special meeting though as it is. You can still have a presentation
without quorum. So that part and a special meaning you know unless we were going to have a business um part of the mean attached to the special mean if the special means just a presentation then we would be fine even without quorum.
So what I will say is we are already in conversation with dial and uh Rox's office curriculum for dyslexia. So, it seems that that one is going to happen when we reach out tomorrow. We can talk about alternative assessments. We can
bring up FBA and autism and see we did Oh, I'm sorry. We did bring that up. We can So, Joanna is aware and she will champion that and see what she comes back with. So, right now I see four topics. Is that what you have Mark? Four topics.
more. So we have literacy, we have autism, we have the alternative assessments, we have cyber bullying, student safety, FBA, BIP, FBA, FBA and BIP are one session. So you know we're talking six different topics.
Rose, this is working. Brooks and um Bod are going to come on June 12th, correct? Is that the date that his name is Daniel? Is his name Daniel? Who? Right. I think they may be looking at the 12th
since that's a I know. Right. Definitely didn't want 15th because of the conflict. The scheduling office for the DOE is is trying to see if they can do June 12th for the literacy. They have not confirmed. They also said if that's not
an option, they will come back with other dates that both of them are available to present. Um, and so then if it's one of the alternate dates, we'd have to do a special meeting, which you know, we'll deal with if we need to. At that time, we can reach out to Naomi and
the literacy academy as well and see if they're available on the date that uh FOD and RX are available. But uh we will reach out to dial tomorrow. We'll see about the other topics, see what the possibilities are,
and then get back to everybody in the email form. Can I ask a question? Go ahead. Um I'm Can you tell me? So there's I'm trying to remember all the topics. What's the autism? It's just called autism. Like
what is it? It's the specialized programs. Um, that was one of the topics that Esther had brought up and it's something that Carolyn and I had brought up with Dial yesterday in the meeting. Oh, Nest, right? Okay. So, all of those. It's Nest. It's Yeah, it's Nest, it's Horizon, it's
AS. So, so special programs. Okay. Yes. I'm wondering if you could fold the FBI and the BIP into another topic since it's kind of like a subtopic. That's just what I was trying to figure out. No, I think that would be a I mean, could you do two topics in one day if
it's a special mean? Of course you could. Um, but I think the F FBA and BIP are certainly a a minimum half hour presentation, probably 45 minutes minimum. Um, and it's there's a lot there. There's a lot of legal part of it
and certainly a lot you'd have to talk about. Alternative assessment, you know, the last presentation I saw was well over an hour, so we'll see if they can obviously trim it down. Um, and then the autism programs. I mean, shoot, I see, you know, two-hour programs, four-hour programs talking about those. Obviously,
we need to get it down in size as well, but that the dial knows how to play that game. So, all right. Any other unfinished business that we want to discuss? Yeah, the um the candidate
forums. I wanted to um kind of uh encourage the council to um just try to oversee those uh uh candidate forums. I noticed, not that
not that you have to, but I'm just um you know, I'm trying um to do so. because I noticed that in in my burrow in Queens um there was I think for district 26 if I'm not uh mistaken
um they did not have the link up for a Zoom registration which they only had the forum the candidate forum in person um which means I guess no recording of
the candidate forum. So, I am just concerned um and I'm I'm I'm concerned that the families that weren't able to attend in person are not going to be able to you know more about their candidates for
that for that um CEC. So, that's one concern. Another concern that I do have is that our uh for our council that the links for our meetings um cuz we have
multiple meeting multiple um forums um are still not up on the website and you know we would love to follow up with um face about this but I just um yeah I'm you know in in my effort to share to
other uh you know uh families or or advocates about the forums and just getting them getting the word out there just like what we've done with the district um committee.
Um, but if the families are having a hard time getting to those forums, accessing those forums, then we those for those districts is going to be a huge disadvantage. And I just um, you
know, I just wanted to point that out and kind of like, you know, um, speak to face about that. Um, and and yeah, that's it. I did put up the the link to all the forums on Zoom. Um includes the link to register if you'd like to watch. They
have put up for the March 26 the actual Zoom link to register after the first Zoom presumably they'll put up or after the first meeting presumably they'll put up um the Zoom registration for the April 2nd. But you can register now for the CCSE meeting on March 26th, 6:00 to
900 p.m. It's it's it is up there. Okay. So, just last time I checked, that's why it wasn't up there. So, if they up if they uploaded it now, then then that's fine. But still, um I just don't understand why some forms are completely done in person and other forums are
hybrid. That was a decision between FACE and the president's council which is hosting the individual CEC um forums. So the difference with the citywides is there's no president's council and so there the citywides are
run a little bit differently but for the CEC's they're actually run by the president's councils and so they have a little bit of sway and how the meetings are run if they're in person if they're Zoom if they're hybrid. Um, so yeah, I think you know, District 4 was one where
there's no recording available. Um, District 14, same thing. No recording because they chose as a district to hold it in person only. Hey, Mark. Yes, Tam. There's all there
there the the forums are problematic. I totally understand what Maggie's saying on this one, too. There are parents that I know that are running for CCSE who still do not know which date which form they're participating in. They haven't received any correspondence at all and these are right around the corner. And
then I know in in other CC's the same thing is is happening when there's multiple dates. Parents still don't know and it's like a week, two weeks away. But just in terms of CCSE, there are people that do not have a form yet. I just got contacted today. Um, so just
so you know, I mean, just so you know, there it's like look with CCSC there's almost 400 candidates and so it's a lot of people they have to individually call and they're calling and then emailing. Um, it depends on on who's doing it, but it does take time to get through all
those, but just you're not you're not the only one. Those people are not the only ones. It's it's it's throughout. I I literally got a phone call today and I just think we have the most candidates out of any group and so therefore we have the most dates, right? There's like what we have like three or four
scheduled to ask like a parent, you don't know their situation or what they're they're doing to hold on to four nights and block out that time and schedule child care if they need it. Schedule either commute, get it off of work. Like it's ridiculous. So like we need to really push them to like send
those out as soon as possible. Yeah, there's actually eight dates scheduled for CCSC. So, it is eight dates because there are again about 400 people. So, um yeah, they're trying to figure as they're making calls, they're trying to determine if they need all
eight slots or if they can do it in three or in five. And that's part of the challenge is they've got to reach indivi each individual person and get a yay or nay and what date they're doing based on what they're offering. And so that I think is part of the slowdown is they've
just got so many and they need to contact each one to before they can slot everyone in. So that's the hold up I believe. But we we'll reach out to to face tomorrow as well. Just I wanted to update while you were telling her that I'm emailing Face right now. So I will
follow up tomorrow if I don't hear. Thanks Caroline. I mean I get it. I get it. But this is their job. This is what they're you know this is what they do. And I just think it's it's it just shows like the disconnect between their office and
like the advocates here in this space and who we advocate for to say hold on to all of these dates, you know, and just we'll tell you at the last minute. It doesn't work like that for a lot of families and that's why they don't get involved, right? It's frustrating.
In addition, you also have to log in at 5:30. And if you're a person who works um like I do until 5:00 in a different burrow from where I live, there's no way for me to get home to log in on time. Um so you're also asking for folks to have
to rearrange their work schedules and whatnot. Um because the forms actually do start pretty early for people who are working. And just so that everyone's aware, when when they had these two years ago on Zoom, there were people logging in at
6:00 who were candidates, there were people who logged in post 6:00 as candidates and they were still called on. Um they had to raise their virtual hand and then they were slotted in to be a presenter um at their appointed time. But, uh, just Heather's right. It's it's
a lawn night and it's certainly a pain to try to slot reserve eight dates on the possibility. Um, it's really unfortunate that we're still having these challenges this late in the ball game. And after having so many elections, it's not like this is the first election we've had on Zoom. This
is what, the second or third election now on Zoom. You'd think they would have figured it out by now, but it's a challenge. Any other comments on unfinished business? All right. Um, that is really the end of the agenda. Anyone else got
anything before we uh talk member reimbursements? Okay. Um, Rose's is over there. She is begging for member reimbursements. If you want money, please get it to her. Um, she did email us the forms for member reimbursement.
So, please, please, please get the rose. We're running out of dates and you wait too long, you ain't going to get the money. Rose has got something to say, though. Yes, please. Um, next month, april meeting, please bring in
your reimbursements. If you plan to get Don't look at me, Moises, because you I need to know if you want to get reimbursed, tell me yes. If you don't, tell me no, and I won't ask again. So, but next month, please bring it in
because um we just have three months left and some people have not submitted in at all this year. Thank you. I submitted mine and Shamine just responded. Thank you, Shamine. You're welcome, um Carolyn, but that's
not a uh complete response. I emailed you both earlier, so check that other email. That's 50% of it. Thank you. Thank you, Rose. All right. Is there a motion to
adjurnn? Everyone wants to stay tonight. All right. We can we can stay. Motion to adjourn, please. Motion to adjourn the meeting. Yeah. The business meeting. Anyone in seconding?
I second. All right. We got multiple seconds. All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. All right, everyone. Good night. Thank you so much everyone online. Really appreciate interpreters. Thank you for your service. Really appreciate it. Thank you. You all have a
great night. Stay safe. And we appreciate all you do for our community, each and every one of you out there. Thank you.