Dear New Yorkers,

This month marks 70 years since Brown v. Board of Education – the milestone Supreme Court decision ruling that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional.

Here in New York, oh boy do we have a lot of work to do. Seventy percent of New York City’s schools remain intensely segregated, due to decades of redlining, gentrification and unequal access to schools with screened admissions. In fact, we have one of the most segregated school systems in the country.

Meanwhile, student enrollment is on the decline in NYC public schools – with declines falling even more acutely in Black communities. Between 2012 and 2022, while overall student enrollment declined by 12%, Black student enrollment declined by 32.5%. In turn, the decline in enrollment reduces the funding a school receives, per Fair Student Funding (FSF).

On top of all this, schools must also comply with New York State’s new mandate to lower public school class sizes. Right now, the majority of New York City public schools aren’t meeting the mark. The law, passed by the state legislature in 2022, requires that kindergarten to third grade classrooms have 20 or fewer students, fourth to eighth grade classes have no more than 23 students, and high school classes have 25 or fewer.

How do we solve this multipronged problem? In a new report co-authored with New York Appleseed, we offer one solution: The New York City Department of Education can help meet the class size mandate and reduce segregation with intentional and inclusive school mergers.

How do we know this works? Just look at the successful school merger that created Arts and Letters 305 United in District 13 (Brooklyn).

In the fall of 2020, the Academy of Arts and Letters and P.S. 305 became Arts and Letters 305 United while schools were still grappling with COVID-19. The merger decision process was deliberate about framing the process through a lens of equity and integration. School and district leaders made intentional choices to involve the community in the decision-making process, and did not shy away from addressing the apparent racial and socioeconomic differences between the two schools.

Arts and Letters 305 United is one of New York City’s few models for school mergers that explicitly center school integration. Our analysis of their merger process only bolsters this report’s recommendations that the New York City Department of Education should make the engagement, thoughtfulness, and central value of integration part of the standard model for all future mergers.

Read our report co-authored with New York Appleseed.

Here’s to a more equitable future for all NYC students,

Brad