Education Equity Act gathers momentum

Andrew Friedman

Education Equity Act gathers momentum

More than two-thirds of the City Council voted to pass the Education Equity Act at their final session of 2005 on December 21. The legislation requires the Department of Education to translate key documents, like report cards, and to provide interpretation services for limited English proficient parents or guardians at important education-related meetings.

Mayor Bloomberg has said that he plans to veto the legislation, but he hasn't.

Today's El Diario ran an editorial urging the Mayor to change his mind. The paper writes,

"If we truly want parents to participate in their schools and get involved in their children`s education, we must eliminate any barriers that are preventing them from doing so. We live in a city where 36 percent of the population was born outside of the U.S. Approximately 300,000 parents in the public school system speak Spanish only and more than 43 percent of our students speak another language in addition to English. We can`t demand that parents get involved, then speak to them in a language they don`t understand. We urge Mayor Bloomberg to sign this bill. If he doesn't, we urge the City Council to override his veto."

Also, hundreds of immigrant parents will join union members and key Council supporters of the Education Equity Act, like Hiram Monseratte of Queens, on the steps of City Hall later this morning to deliver the same message to Mayor Bloomberg. Importantly, Bloomberg allies from SEIU 32BJ will be at the rally. Parents will describe how frustrated they are by being locked out of their children's education. "I'm taking classes but I don't want to wait until my English is perfect to help my daughter succeed at school", says Brooklyn parent and Make the Road by Walking member Irania Sanchez.

Hopefully, Bloomberg will get the message and sign this important civil rights legislation.

Comments

I don't understand why Bloomberg would want to veto this in the first place. Is it because of the extra money it would take to translate and produce these documents?

That's the reason I heard him say in the papers Jason. Of course remedial help for students who fall behind, and welfare for people who weren't able to get a decent education costs even more. But in true GOP tradition- Bloomberg refuses to do what must be done to prevent the problem. Then once a crisis hits, they complain about how much it all costs.

This is how they treat health care and it's how Bloomberg is treating education.

Best of luck to you in NYC! Here in Rochester, NY, we are dealing with the exact same thing, of course. Where goes your effort, then goes our own. The above-linked article was written by Rosemary Rivera, a local organizer for the Campaign for Fiscal Equality. It's a story I'm just catching up on, actually.

As you can see from the article, the disparity between the suburban schools in Rochester and the city is just about as wide as you can imagine, especially in such a small area. That is, sadly, typical of my city, where the county has all the money and County Executives get elected to benefit the suburbs.

The parity ordered by the court would go a long way to helping those kids who are already hamstrung by thier parent's poverty and lack of choice. Again, best of luck to you!

DraonFlyEye I'm totally with you on the connections between what happens in NYC and what happens soon after in the rest of NYC. DMI will be talking more about that very soon. 'Cause you guys are keeping tabs on Rochester I'll think you'll find something we're working on of particular interest. Thanks for passing on that article.