Dear CEC3 and DOE,
In June, we brought a short document to the CEC rezoning hearing, “Principles for Equity in District 3.” A principled commitment to school equity always matters, and it particularly matters here because the current rezoning process ignores the underlying problem -- extreme inequality among District 3 schools -- and diverts time and attention from solutions that address that crisis.
[A PDF version of this letter is here.]
School inequality in District 3 is not new, but has been growing for over a decade as wealthier families have looked at certain schools as “schools of choice,” and used a range of privileged means to gain seats for their children. The current overcrowding in lower District 3 and under-enrollment in upper District 3 are a result of parents who can afford it either moving into high-cost housing that’s zoned for more-resourced schools or, if they live in the northern part of the district, finding ways to avoid sending their children to their zoned school. As a result, “schools of choice” become even more privileged places, where privileged families clamor for spots. Struggling schools are left to less privileged families and are often under-enrolled as privileged families who live nearby refuse to attend. Rezoning does nothing to address the cause of this. It only puts a band-aid on the symptoms.
Fixing this imbalance demands an equity plan. Rezoning is not a solution to problems of overcrowding, segregation, or inequity in schools, but focuses instead on the immediate symptoms of inequity, and only in a few mostly high-income schools. (It addresses one struggling, under-enrolled school by widening its zone rather than addressing the reasons for under-enrollment.) The current three-year rezoning process has delivered the message that the CEC and DOE are primarily responsive to the concerns of privileged families. The right of other students to an equal and adequate education seems an afterthought. School inequity does not even appear as a goal in the CEC’s goals or DOE’s proposals. “Diversity,” without any definition, is mentioned as something to “consider.”
Neither is rezoning a long-term solution for lower District 3. As long as families can buy their way in and out of zones, the gains made through rezoning will fade and schools will once again become as unequal as the district’s real estate. It’s time for New York City policymaking to adopt a fair admissions policy that removes wealth as a bargaining chip for education.
Public School Parents for Equity and Desegregation asks the CEC and DOE to meaningfully consider Community-Controlled Choice as a long-term solution that will better equalize and integrate schools. The CEC has not yet engaged in a real community process on any school equity plans, and the CEC chair and the Zoning Committee chair have been opposed to Community-Controlled Choice. Contrary to the CEC’s October 18th letter, the two panels it did host on Community-Controlled Choice did not result in “more questions than panelists could answer.” The panelists answered that specifics must be determined by the community through an engagement process that runs scenarios using different controls. It is not true that there was no explanation of the consequences of Title I funding changes at affected schools: very simply, Community-Controlled Choice can preserve Title I by allocating low-income students to a school. Dismissing Community-Controlled Choice as unattainable because it might need “years of strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and analysis” is an insult, considering we’ve just witnessed this three-year rezoning process, catered to families who are accustomed to benefitting from unequal schools and the school-buying power of real estate.
We ask also for the DOE and CEC to start fairly representing all families. Equal schools and educational justice must be a first principle. Making plans any other way will deepen and prolong overcrowding, segregation and inequity.
Signed,
Toni Smith-Thompson (Mott Hall 2 parent)
Yassiel Nieves (PS 145 parent)
Chris Parkman (PS 75 parent)
Kavita Singh (MSC/PS 333 parent)
on behalf of Public School Parents for Equity and Desegregation’s (NYC PSPED) District 3 Members Community-Controlled Choice , District 3 , PSPED Documents , Rezoning , Zoning and Privilege
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