Opportunity for Every Child
Edafe believes in strengthening the public school system to ensure that every student, regardless of background, receives a quality education. This includes advocating for equitable funding and resources across all schools, especially those in underrepresented communities.
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New York City is losing families because they cannot afford to raise their children in the city. New York City families, on average, spend about a quarter of their income on childcare, and a family would need to make $300,000 per year to have childcare be deemed “affordable” by federal standards. Moreover, childcare workers are currently not paid fair wages, with one in four childcare workers in NYC living in poverty. As a councilmember, Edafe will work with state legislators to create universal access to childcare in New York City.
Providing universal childcare is not just the right thing to do - it also will benefit New York, which loses over $23 billion a year from lost economic activity due to parents leaving the city or being forced to take time off of work.
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Paraprofessional pay in New York starts at an abysmal $28,000. This has led to 1,400 paraprofessional vacancies in our school. There are an additional 2,300+ special education teacher vacancies. All of this leads to thousands of students not getting the services they are legally entitled to and costs the city hundreds of millions of dollars when parents make claims against the city.
Edafe will fight against education budget cuts–like those in 2022 that led to $300 million less for our students. Edafe will raise pay for paraprofessionals and provide additional compensation for teachers to become dual-certified special education teachers.
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As the population of New York City changes, our district has had many school relocated, shut down, or merged with other schools. These mergers and closures create disruptions for our communities, our families, and our school personnel. But these changes frequently happen without consulting the people they impact. As a city councilmember, Edafe will support schools in our district to make sure they can sustain enrollment, and he will work with community members to minimize the disruption to students’ lives.
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A recent report by the Rockefeller Institute exposed how the state’s Foundation Aid Formula–which determines state aid to public schools–needs drastic overhaul. Edafe will work with state legislators to increase state funding to our public schools by making sure that the state adequately supports students who are experiencing homelessness and poverty.