History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
UFT survey finds increased class sizes and dwindling budgets, echoing national trend
- 11-02-2011
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By Joy Resmovits/Huffington Post
By the end of this year, Seung Lee, a science teacher at lower Manhattan's P.S. 1, expects to have spent $500 from his own pocket on school supplies. "And that's a conservative estimate," said Lee, who has taught at P.S. 1 for nine years. "I'm afraid to tell my wife." Lee's nine classes are exploding, some with 32 students. "Every desk is full. There's no space for anything," he said. All this complicates the lab work he hoped to pursue. While his recent lesson on earthworms proceeded, he lost the ability to delve into the material. "With 32 kids, you spend a lot more time making sure everyone is doing it right, but not necessarily learning." P.S. 1 is located in Chinatown, and serves many students who speak English as a second language. Over the last few years, though, its budget has been eroded to the point of harming kids, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew argued outside the school on Tuesday. (more...)
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