Testimony delivered by New York City public school educators before the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s hearing on the state Foundation Aid Formula

Testimony of Vincent Corletta, Queens English Language Arts teacher

Hello. My name is Vincent Corletta. I am a proud ELA teacher in District 27 at MS 137, South Ozone Park, Queens. 

I am here today because the current Foundation Aid formula fails my school in three critical ways. 

It does not provide enough funding for students in temporary housing. It does not provide enough funding to lower class sizes. 

It does not provide enough funding to address the mental health needs of our students. 

Our newest New Yorkers have gone through traumatic experiences just getting to NYC. 

I have heard some of the stories, but they are not mine to share. These children need help not only in English instruction, but in navigating a new country and new places with different customs. There is an intense amount of pressure on these students as they often are the translators for their parents/guardians. We educators do as much as we can when we can. But it shouldn’t be left to individual educators only. 

Now is the time to fix these flaws with Foundation Aid. 

If we had smaller class sizes, I could develop deeper connections with my students and provide deeper learning experiences. 

But once again the Foundation Aid formula does not provide. 

So not only do I have students with major needs — those staying in temporary housing or learning a new language — but my classes far exceed the 23 students set in the new class size law. 

And with the major influx of the new New Yorker students, these class sizes can balloon quickly and overnight. The current Foundation Aid formula is not enough to meet the new class size law requirements — not in terms of staff or space. 

Now is the time to fix these flaws with Foundation Aid. 

Finally, the current Foundation Aid formula is not enough to address the mental health needs of all students. 

We have nearly 2,000 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders. We have three guidance counselors — one per grade level, so each is responsible for more than 800 students. We have two social workers. You do the math. 

My school and my administration do the best we can with what we have. 

Yet, any time there is a crisis, or the ever-growing issue of young students with suicidal ideation, there is a scramble. 

An emergency demands and receives a response, but that's not meeting students' needs in any sustainable way. Students are asking for our help. Just as for class sizes, I ask, “how can you build a relationship with a student when you are tasked with 600 students?” 

Now is the time to fix these flaws with Foundation Aid.

Testimony of Troy McGhie, Staten Island special education teacher

Hello. My name is Troy McGhie. I am a special education teacher and a dean at Curtis HS on Staten Island. 

As we all know, parents and educators fought for decades to get lower class sizes for New York City students, something they already enjoy in other parts of the state. 

Because of that work, we now have the law requiring smaller class size — but we don’t have the funding needed to hire the staff. 

Smaller classes give us more one-on-one time with our students, something our students desperately need. 

At Curtis, we have over 2,400 students served by one social worker and two school psychologists. We are lucky to have a health center in our school, which gives us another social worker. 

But it’s not enough! 

As a dean, I get pulled into every crisis and emergency. Too many times, I have seen students leave our school in an ambulance, heading to the psych ER, because of suicidal ideations. 

Our school also received many migrant students. We lack the bilingual teachers needed to give them instruction in their native language during the course of the day. We had to resort to Google Translate and pairing newcomers with current students who speak their language. 

We are teaching in a post-COVID world, but we are getting funded with a pre-COVID formula. 

I can do better for our students. 

You can do better for our students. 

We can do better for our students.

Testimony of Sandy Wong, Bronx kindergarten teacher

Good evening, everyone, I am Sandy Wong, a kindergarten teacher in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx. This is my 24th year of teaching. I am speaking on the urgent need to reform New York State's Foundation Aid formula. The formula is failing our most vulnerable students, particularly those in the low-income communities where I teach. We should implement a sliding scale that allocates substantially more funds to schools with higher percentages of students from low-income families, English language learners and students with disabilities. We need a Foundation Aid formula that truly serves all our children, regardless of their zip code or family income. 

At my school, PS 30, I have many students living in shelters or in uncertain housing situations doubled up with extended families. We used to have two full-time social workers in my school building assigned to work with students living in temporary housing. One left and was never replaced to provide trauma-informed counseling, parent outreach, crisis support, home visits, etc. 

The current formula treats all students equally, but here's the truth — all NYC students don't start on an equal footing. In the Bronx, we're not just teaching reading and math. We're battling poverty, hunger and trauma. Our students are coming to school without breakfast, hungry and worried about where they'll sleep at night. Some are learning English for the first time; others are navigating learning disabilities. And yet, our funding doesn't reflect these enormous challenges. 

Every child deserves the chance for a fair and equitable funding formula, especially vulnerable students in low-income communities. We need a formula that recognizes the actual needs of our students and understands that equality in funding doesn't create equity in education. Thank you for your time!

Testimony of Dr. Terrain Chambers Reeves, Brooklyn high school educator

Good afternoon. 

My name is Dr. Terrain Chambers Reeves. I am an educator at Edward R. Murrow HS, a 3,600-student high school in Midwood, Brooklyn. 

The current Foundation Aid formula was created in 2007 and is broken. Over the past 17 years, while funding has been provided to our schools, it has not kept up with our students’ needs. Those needs have evolved and grown exponentially, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. It has not provided adequate funding for our neediest students: children who are homeless, children who require special education services or children who have experienced trauma. 

My school has three full-time social workers, one full-time psychologist, and two part-time psychologists for 3,600 students. We have part-time OT/PT providers and part-time mental health counseling providers for our neediest students. 

The city provides funding for 225 children in temporary housing at our school. However, our school has approximately 400 students in temporary housing, many of whom are not included in the city’s budgeting for our school. 

During my first year in college, I was homeless myself. I experienced abuse and trauma at the hands of my mother while in high school. My guidance counselor took money from her pocket to provide me with food and clothing. 

Years later, my colleagues and I are doing the same thing many of our educators and support staff did for us when we were in school: providing supplies due to the lack of funding from the city and state. 

WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED! NOTHING HAS CHANGED! 

Public schools SHOULD serve children of all abilities and identities. We MUST adequately and equitably fund our public schools to meet the diverse needs of OUR students and ensure their success and OUR shared prosperity. We MUST prioritize public education AND invest in a just and prosperous future for all New Yorkers. We CANNOT continue with this band-aid approach. 

Thank you.

Testimony of Carmen Romero Lee, Manhattan middle school teacher

My name is Carmen Romero Lee and I teach 6th- and 7th-grade social studies at Yorkville East MS in Manhattan. 

The current funding formula for New York State schools simply is not meeting the needs of our students. We urge you to take action and advocate for New York State to revise its formula to allocate sufficient resources to ensure every child receives the proper support. 

Our school faces a critical shortage of resources to support our students’ mental health and special education needs. We recently received news that budget cuts will eliminate one of our guidance counselor positions, leaving just one counselor and one social worker to support all of our 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders. 

This reduction comes at a particularly challenging time. 

Our middle schoolers — though no one wants to hear it — are still struggling with the social and emotional impacts of COVID. 

The pandemic's social isolation has led to challenges for many students, and our most vulnerable students need help reacclimating to the social environment of a classroom after remote learning. 

As educators, we're noticing issues with attention, classroom behavior and social media dependence, which are contributing to a rise in anxiety, depression and body image struggles among our students. We’re seeing a need to address attention spans and classroom behavior that may have been impacted by excessive screen time. 

This is true even though, at our school, students put their cell phones in locked Yondr pouches during the school day. (A discussion about how our school pays for that is for another day.) 

We need that lost guidance counselor. 

Adding to these challenges, my school needs to receive the adequate resources we need to work with our special education students. Across grade levels, our special education teachers are overburdened and managing multiple subjects for the entire grade. 

Our principal has made the most of the budget she has been allocated and scrounged the funding necessary to hire another special education teacher, but this situation leaves limited time for the crucial one-on-one support these students require. 

Thank you for your time.

Testimony of Avil Gvili, Staten Island computer science and technology teacher

Good afternoon. 

My name is Avil Gvili, computer science and technology teacher at IS 7, located on the South Shore of Staten Island. 

I am here today because the current Foundation Aid formula fails our students. We need a revamped system that funds schools based on our students’ needs. That means covering the costs to meet state-mandated lower class sizes and providing equitable resources so teachers like myself don’t have to fundraise or crowdsource to give our students what they deserve. 

Right now I basically fund computer science classes by winning awards in STEM competitions. 

In 2024, my 7th-grade students placed third in a local Rotary competition by developing a new approach to mitigate air pollution. The $500 prize went toward replacing broken keyboards. 

Our school has an eight-year-old 3D printer, a dinosaur in this evolving technology. 

With adequate funding, I would invest in an online computer curriculum to allow each student to progress at their own pace. 

With adequate funding, I would invest in additional, current 3D printers, because engineering today revolves around fabrication. 

Students love technology. It is a way to get them engaged, keep them engaged and prepare them for college and careers. 

For my school as a whole: We are at capacity regarding space and staff, and so will struggle to reduce class sizes — something teachers have fought long and hard for and which is now finally the law. 

I would invest in additional staff and space. 

My school became eligible for Title 1 federal funds this past school year. That means our student population has changed — our students now come from poorer households. 

We are investing in resources for the growing numbers of English language learners and recent immigrants, but it is not enough. 

We need to rethink how we fund schools. We need to fully fund our schools based on the needs of our students. Our students deserve it.

Testimony of Annawa Naing, Queens 2nd grade teacher

Hello. My name is Annawa Naing, and I am a 2nd-grade teacher at PS/IS 78 in Long Island City, Queens. 

I am here today because the current Foundation Aid formula does not adequately fund intervention services or services for special needs children — not at my school and not at hundreds of other public schools across New York City. 

I have more than 700 students in my school in pre-k through 8th grade. 

We have no budget for intervention services. At one point it was standard — expected — to have staff dedicated to working with children who were struggling with reading or math in addition to the classroom teacher. 

At my school, we don't have the budget for intervention teachers. I will have 32 2nd-graders in my classroom in the fall. My job and passion are to give each student what they need to achieve. But there is not enough time in the school day to do this in a class of 32. This is mind- boggling to me, as an educator, when the city just adopted a “science of reading” curriculum and the biggest push is for students to learn how to read. If the chancellor wants all students to read by adopting a new reading curriculum, it is important for teachers to get all the support and resources they need for this to be successful. Having intervention reading teachers for ALL schools will help students who need extra support. 

In addition, how about fully funding a special education teacher in an ICT classroom even when you don’t have 60/40 ratio? How can a school receive a budget for HALF a teacher because an ICT class might not have a full 40% of special education students? How is this fair to our most vulnerable students that need support from a full-time special education teacher? 

And last, we have only one guidance counselor for the entire school. What happened to all the guidance counselors and social workers the mayor promised us after COVID? 

Thus, we must fund schools to meet the needs of the children and not fund them based on an outdated formula.