An advocacy group blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s stewardship of New York City’s schools Tuesday, issuing a report card that says he has failed on issues like transparency and serving English learners, and done a poor job on several others, including school desegregation.
The annual report card, released by the political action group NYC Kids PAC, argues that de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Fariña have been “disappointing in many important respects” and have “failed to fundamentally improve the opportunities of students citywide.”
The organization, which reluctantly endorsed de Blasio four years ago, has criticized his administration in its previous report cards. (One of its leaders, Leonie Haimson, is involved in a complaint against the city for failing to meet class size requirements.)
In response, mayoral spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie wrote: “The facts here are clear: New York City public schools are the strongest they’ve ever been with the highest-ever graduation rate, lowest-ever dropout rate, steady increase in state test scores and 70,000 four year olds enrolled in free pre-K.”