Letter to NY State Officials to Maintain Dedicated Fund for High-Impact Tutoring in NY Budget

March 24, 2023
RE: Maintain a dedicated fund for high-impact tutoring in the state budget

Dear Governor Hochul, Speaker Heastie, and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins,

Our coalition of education advocates from across the state urges you to keep the $250 million dedicated fund for high-impact tutoring in the budget. Kids across the state of New York are years behind where they should be academically- Our 6th grade New York students are three full academic years behind their peers in Massachusetts.

We know that high-impact tutoring is a research-based strategy to catch kids up who have fallen behind. While we respect the work happening in districts across the state, we also believe that there needs to be clear and decisive direction from the state to ensure that we are using the most impactful strategies to support learning acceleration- which we believe is possible by maintaining a dedicated fund for high impact tutoring by well-trained tutors.

Three years ago, many parents stepped into new roles during the pandemic, becoming superintendents, teachers, counselors, lunch monitors, and more. Parents learned a lot about their children during the pandemic and we are keenly aware that our students need additional learning time to catch up.

We applaud the effort of the Governor’s office for attempting to mandate a portion of funds for high-impact tutoring and believe that this moment will go to waste if districts are left to dictate how much they invest locally in learning loss programs. Based on the lack of transparency or commitment to meaningful, measurable results after receiving unprecedented funding through covid relief funding, it leads us to believe that more programming direction may in fact be necessary to ensure districts catch kids up.

Ultimately, the success of New York State students should be driven by the decisions and influence of Families, State leaders, elected Board of Education commissioners, and district leaders. Families deserve the right to be full, active partners in the development, education, and protection of our children within all levels of the education system.

Sincerely,

Buffalo Center of Arts and Technology
Buffalo-Niagara NAN
Community Advocates for Struggling Learners
Decoding Dyslexia NYC
DFER NY
Dyslexia Allies of WNY
Dyslexia Collaborative NY
ERN NY
Families for NYC
Freedom Scholars Learning Center
National Parents Union NY
New York State Charter Parent Council
NYCAN
Rochester Education Fellow
Shades of Cocoa
Students First NY
Urban League of Buffalo
Urban League of Westchester
We the Parents of WNY
WNY Education Alliance
YWCA Brooklyn