Weingarten: It Is The Time To Be Bold On Building New Schools

At Gotham Schools, Philissa Cramer provides a running live-blog account of yesterday’s City Council hearings on the Capital Plan for the New York City public schools. The Capital Plan is the city’s budget for creating new student seats, in the form of new and renovated schools. Here is what Philissa says about the testimony of UFT President Randi Weingarten:

3:20 p.m. Randi Weingarten is in the house, offering testimony that she said is influenced as much by her new role as the head of the national teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, as by her long-term experience in New York. She said the proposed capital plan “thinks small” and could hold New York City back if federal funds become available to stimulate local economies. I’ll have more on this later.

Weingarten’s testimony received a full-on round of applause in the usually staid chamber. One person who didn’t clap, but who wished he could have: Fidler, who said if it weren’t for the rules that bar council members from applauding, he would have been on his feet.

Weingarten also joined the list of people testifying that they are concerned about the SCA’s class size targets. The SCA’s planning “does seem to take aim” at the state’s class size goals, she said.

Read the full text of Weingarten’s testimony here.

Tagged: blogs, Capital Plan, City Council, Randi Weingarten

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