<![CDATA[Families for New York]]>https://www.families4newyork.comhttps://www.families4newyork.com/img/substack.pngFamilies for New Yorkhttps://www.families4newyork.comSubstackThu, 27 Aug 2026 03:08:33 GMT<![CDATA[New video of our report “An Education Agenda for New York City” ]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/new-video-of-our-report-an-educationhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/new-video-of-our-report-an-educationMon, 10 Aug 2026 11:42:36 GMTLast month we released our report “An Education Agenda for New York City” - if you don’t have the time to read the report, here is a video with the key takeaways:

More than half of NY 3rd-5th graders can’t read proficiently

I wrote with my colleague about the new state test scores on the NY Post:

Read Here

What I am reading this week

I am still following my husband’s recommendations and read “Moscow 2042,” a hilarious and absurd book about an exiled Soviet writer who travels to the future and sees what communism has become. The author, Vladimir Voinovich, smuggled the book “Life and Fate” out of the Soviet Union so it could be published - Life and Fate is one of my favorite books. The KGB then tried to poison Voinovich, but he survived and moved to West Germany.

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[$1 billion for NY students]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/1-billion-for-ny-studentshttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/1-billion-for-ny-studentsFri, 07 Aug 2026 11:27:30 GMTGovernor Hochul has said she intends to opt in to the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, which could bring more than $1 billion from the federal government straight into the hands of NY low- and middle-income families.

You can help this effort by clicking here to send her an email expressing your support. If NY doesn’t opt in, the almost 3M federal taxpayers from NY will still be able to donate, and the money will go to kids in other states.

One-click to thank Governor Hochul

It’s really important to show your support because the teachers’ union has launched a vicious campaign to flip Governor Hochul. They have ads that misinform the public and call the program a voucher. IT IS NOT A VOUCHER PROGRAM.

Public school students can use the funds to pay for tutoring, after-school activities, special education services, and other educational expenses. The majority of the 2.7 million eligible students in NY are enrolled in public schools.

I wrote with my colleague about this on the NY Post:

Read Here

What I am reading this week

City Journal Substack
Free Child Care Won’t Keep Families in New York
This week, 2,000 New York families opened their inboxes to learn that their toddlers had won seats in the city’s first free childcare program for two-year-olds. “Their lives will change forever,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. The program, launched with $73 million in state funding, part of a $1.2 billion state increase f…
Read more
20 days ago · 6 likes · 4 comments · Jennifer Weber

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Mamdani asked every agency to save 2.5% of their budget]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/mamdani-asked-every-agency-to-savehttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/mamdani-asked-every-agency-to-saveWed, 05 Aug 2026 10:57:17 GMTMayor Mamdani has asked every city agency to find an additional 2.5% in savings in the current fiscal year as NYC’s budget situation worsens.

The largest agency is the Department of Education, which accounts for 1/3 of the city’s budget.

I wrote with my colleague Jennifer Weber on City Journal about how the Mayor can cut the Department of Education.

Read Here

What I am reading this week

I am almost done with Whitaker Chambers’ memoir “Witness”. He had an adventurous life, joining the Communist Party in his 20s, running an underground espionage ring in DC, then leaving the party and becoming a Time magazine editor and a witness in the Alger Hiss trial.

The Next 30 Years
If Children Were Angels
“If men were angels,” James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 51, “no government would be necessary.” The same might be said of student discipline. If children were naturally orderly, patient, truthful, and inclined to subordinate their impulses to the common good, discipline would scarcely be required. Yet a persistent strain of educational thought—from …
Read more
a month ago · 63 likes · 9 comments · Robert Pondiscio

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[The School System Built for a City That No Longer Exists]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/the-school-system-built-for-a-cityhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/the-school-system-built-for-a-cityThu, 30 Jul 2026 15:45:07 GMTEarlier this month we launched a report An Education Agenda for New York City with an analysis of the main trends in spending, enrollment, and academic results, and how to fix the structural inefficiencies in the system.

and I have a new article on Searchlight with a summary from our report.

“But it means that you need to not be an idiot.”

The NYT has an article about the where I am blessed to be a fellow. I have been there for a short time but have really enjoyed the collaboration with other people who are also very focused on making NYC better.

What I am reading this month

Kids are at camp which means I am reading a lot - and eagerly checking the camp app for pictures :)

My husband has the best Russian literature recommendations and I just finished “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It’s a short book that really takes you inside one “good day” in the gulags in the 1950s. It was the first book published about the gulags in the Soviet Union.

The Bigger Apple
Who Are NYC’s 300,000 Chronically Absent Students?
Whenever debates over educational equity erupt in New York City, the conversation inevitably turns to the city’s specialized high schools…
Read more
a month ago · 17 likes · 3 comments · Liena Zagare

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[The SHSAT crisis starts in kindergarten]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/the-shsat-crisis-starts-in-kindergartenhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/the-shsat-crisis-starts-in-kindergartenMon, 27 Jul 2026 12:30:24 GMTThe latest stats for the SHSAT schools were published, and we are seeing the same coverage that we always see: not enough students of color in these schools because the test is racist.

I wrote for The Bigger Apple about how we can’t understand the results of the SHSAT without considering the racial disparities in the absenteeism problem, which starts in kindergarten.

The Bigger Apple
The SHSAT Crisis Starts in Kindergarten
Each year, when the NYC Department of Education releases admissions data for specialized high schools, the press and elected officials highlight the low enrollment of Black and Hispanic students. Just yesterday, the New York Times published a story titled …
Read more
a month ago · 18 likes · 9 comments · Danyela Souza Egorov

Our New Report on NYC public schools

I have a new report with my colleagues Jennifer Weber and Ray Domanico on the NYC public schools and our recommendations on how to improve the system.

We analyzed the main trends in spending, enrollment, and academic results, and wrote about the structural inefficiencies in the system and how to fix them.

What I am reading this month

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[World Cup and edu news]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/world-cup-and-edu-newshttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/world-cup-and-edu-newsMon, 13 Jul 2026 13:28:09 GMTI have been spending way too much time watching soccer games with my boys, which explains the few newsletters I’ve sent over the past month. My husband is still amazed at how Brazilians stop their lives every 4 years to watch soccer and I am afraid I have now taught our sons to do the same…

But I want to share two articles that I wrote for last week.

I wrote about how the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) are using lawfare to prevent the opening of innovative charter schools that cater to families impacted by the childcare affordability crisis.

I also wrote about the latest NYC education budget which is the definition of insanity: funding more of the same things that are not educating our kids. This year budget has an increase of $894 million, bringing the total to $38.6 billion, while the DOE projections show a 4.2% decline in enrollment for the coming school year. The Washington Post also republished this article.

What I am reading this month

I just finished “Road to Serfdom” by Friedrich Hayek, a book published in 1944 about the dangers of a state controlled economy and its role on nazism and socialism. It’s a short book and still very relevant for our times.

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[There are not enough G&T seats in NYC]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/there-are-not-enough-g-and-t-seatshttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/there-are-not-enough-g-and-t-seatsWed, 17 Jun 2026 14:34:05 GMTLast week, New York City families found out if – and where – their children had been offered a place in one of the public elementary school citywide or district Gifted & Talented programs. The process used to select students at this grade level is notorious for going against the documented science on how it should be done.

But it’s also more or less moot. Very few spots are available for entry in grades 1 through 4. The majority of public school G&T seats are allocated at the Kindergarten level, using a different process than the one for higher grades.

Not that the K process is any better. In my 20+ years of working as a school consultant, I have tried to explain to parents just how badly the odds are against them, no matter how “gifted” their child is.

To help drive the point home, I’ve broken it down by the numbers:

Even if you assume that intelligence testing for a 4/5 year old is valid (I don’t, and I have the research to back it up), then 1 percent of NYC kids would score in the 99th percentile.

In a city where some 70,000 students apply to every grade level, that means 700 kids. (That’s in theory, in practice over twice that amount tested in the top percentile, when compared to national norms.)

Hunter College Elementary School only accepts 50 Kindergarteners. In all five of the public citywide, accelerated schools (i.e. Anderson, Nest+M, TAG, BSI and 30th Ave), there are about 300 seats total at the entry level.

Throw in the “Divine Dozen” of “top tier” (another term I don’t like) private schools for an additional 600 or so seats, and you’ve got under 1000 possibilities. (And that doesn’t take into account that you probably won’t be able to travel to all of them, and that some of the private schools are single-sex, so not available to you.)

But even Hunter CES moves the top 2 percent to their second round. So now you are talking about 1400 “highly gifted” NYC kids. Citywide G&T’s used to accept the top 3 percent, so a theoretical 2100.

Back when there was a test for public school G&T, the top 10 percent of applicants were eligible for district gifted program seats. So that’s 7000 “gifted” students competing for only 2500 public school spots citywide.

Now, with no test, just a teacher or parent nomination, over 10,000 qualify... for the same 2500 placements in public school.

Whenever I talk to parents, they hem and they haw, and then, eventually, they come out with, “I know every parent thinks this, and I know every parent says this, but I really believe that my child is advanced -- and their teachers agree!”

My standard response is, “I believe you. I believe that the majority of NYC kids are capable of doing work at a higher level than what public schools offer. I believe that if you are spending the time and money to speak to me, your child has been parented well enough to qualify as “gifted” based on the tests we have available. Yes, they are advanced. But, the problem is, so are many of their peers. The good news is, whichever school you land at, odds are, most of your child’s peers will be equally “gifted” so you don’t have to worry about them feeling different or like the odd man out. The bad news is, if you have your heart set on a particular school, know that, yes, your child is likely perfectly qualified for it. But so are 1000s of other children.”

And, when it comes to private schools, if Admissions has a choice between a child in the 99th percentile needing financial aid, and a child in the 98th percentile who can pay full, whom do you think they will select? Is that 1 point on a meaningless test really worth giving up tens of thousands of dollars that can be used to keep the lights on for all students?

“But, that’s not fair!” the parents I speak to protest.

They’re right. It’s not.

But here is the problem: It’s unfair to everyone, not just you.

As long as parents focus only on getting the best education available for their child, and ignore the fact that the majority of children could benefit from an “accelerated” curriculum, they will be hurting all students.

I was born in the former Soviet Union. I am about as far away from a Marxist as it is possible to be. And, yet, if anything will get me to admit that ol’ Karl might have had a teeny, tiny point about one thing, it is this: The people in charge ARE pitting families against each other, as a way to hoard privilege for themselves.

They do it when they pit Asian immigrant families against Black and Hispanic families over Specialized High School admissions.

They do it when they remove middle school honors programs in the name of “equity” and call anyone who doesn’t agree racist. (And if you’re a person of color who doesn’t agree, then you’re brainwashed. Or a tool.)

And they do it at the very earliest level, by imposing an artificial scarcity on “gifted” programming, despite their own metrics suggesting the majority of students would benefit from it, so that families will be kept busy fighting over scraps, instead of demanding an overhaul of the entire public school educational system.

We shouldn’t be arguing over what qualifies as “gifted” or who should have access to the pathetic programming that NYC deems as “advanced.”

We should be fighting to raise the bar for all children, at all schools. And give every child the education they need – and deserve.


Alina Adams is the author of “Getting into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting into NYC High School,” and a school admissions consultant. Got questions for her about your child’s gifted education options - or anything else? Join her “Ask Me Anything (About NYC Schools)” workshop on Wednesday, June 24th. RSVP here.

Families for New York is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

]]><![CDATA[NYC prioritizes politics over students]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/nyc-prioritizes-politics-over-studentshttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/nyc-prioritizes-politics-over-studentsMon, 15 Jun 2026 14:08:30 GMTThis year I have travelled a lot for education conferences and gatherings and I always get the same question: “How does NYC spend so much in education if its results are so bad for kids?”

I explain this on my latest article for :

The Bigger Apple
Why New York Public Schools Spend So Much to Achieve So Little
A common question from education professionals outside New York is how the city can manage to spend over $42,000 per student while roughly half of its students fail to meet basic reading and math benchmarks. The answer is that the city is wasting a massive amount of money because it prioritizes politics over the needs of stude…
Read more
2 months ago · 14 likes · 1 comment · Danyela Souza Egorov

The NY Daily News Editorial Board calls for full repeal of Class Size Law

The NY Daily News had an excellent editorial outlining all the problems with the Class Size Law and calling for a full repeal of this law. Unfortunately I can’t imagine this happening with the current elected officials that we have in Albany - but it is important to highlight how this law is damaging our public schools and the city’s finances.

The only result of this law will be higher taxes, a more expensive DOE, and fewer seats at our best public schools. And, of course, higher revenues for the UFT which was the primary goal of the law.

What I am reading this week

Minding the Gap
The Growth vs. Proficiency Debate
Read more
2 months ago · 83 likes · 5 comments · Natalie Wexler

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[My appearance on the Schooled podcast]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/my-appearance-on-the-schooled-podcasthttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/my-appearance-on-the-schooled-podcastThu, 04 Jun 2026 12:55:32 GMTI had the pleasure of talking to old and new friends at the Schooled podcast. We talked about the problems in NYC with declining enrollment and the class size law, but also about what makes me excited about the future of education in our country: expansion of school choice and all the innovation that it is unleashing.

Listen to the Podcast

What I am reading this week

The Bigger Apple
NYC Charter School Students Spend Hundreds More Hours in Class. It Shows.
Charter schools and DOE schools operate under the same state law, in the same neighborhoods, and serve broadly similar student populations, yet produce strikingly different results…
Read more
3 months ago · 11 likes · 8 comments · Jennifer Weber

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[My appearance on Freedom to Learn podcast]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/my-appearance-on-freedom-to-learnhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/my-appearance-on-freedom-to-learnThu, 28 May 2026 14:44:29 GMTI had the opportunity to talk to about NYC public schools, the huge opportunity available with the Federal tax Credit Scholarships and chronic absenteeism. Watch or listen to the podcast!

Listen to the Podcast

What I am reading this week

This is one of those essays that are really worth your time. I couldn’t stop thinking about this quote:

“I don’t know why he stopped developing, and I’ve found it’s best not to think about it. We now have the world’s biggest three-year-old, we like to say. Whenever I get angry at God about that, I quickly remind myself that this is also how we learned our most important life lesson: As George Will once put it with respect to his own son (who has Down’s Syndrome), a less-than-perfect life is still very much worth living.”

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[NAEP expansion is great news]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/naep-expansion-is-great-newshttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/naep-expansion-is-great-newsWed, 27 May 2026 13:22:25 GMTThe National Assessment Governing Board announced that it will start publishing National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state-level data on 12th-grade math and reading and eighth-grade science, and will add an eighth- and 12th-grade civics exam.

But there is a catch: governors have to opt in to get the state level data.

We should celebrate this NAEP expansion, given that education is usually 1/3 of state/ city expenses but occupies a small part of news coverage. I explain this on my latest article for :

Read Here

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Where are the students?]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/where-are-the-studentshttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/where-are-the-studentsMon, 18 May 2026 13:37:31 GMTLast year the NYC Department of Education projections for school year 25-26 totaled 766,730 students. The school year 26-27 projections have a total of 734,551 students.

This is a 4.2% enrollment drop.

But the 26-27 proposed budget for the DOE has a $3 billion, or 8% increase.

I explained how NYC and other cities can’t afford this disconnect between enrollment and budget on my latest article for the DailyWire:

Read Here

Unfortunately our Mayor still hasn’t realized that this is financially unsustainable and bragged on a video that he didn’t follow the advice that my colleagues and I provided in our articles in the NY Post.

Instead, he used gimmicks to “balance” the budget and is putting our city in a dangerous fiscal trajectory as Eric Kober explains.

“Enough uncertainty exists for New Yorkers to be concerned at Mamdani’s blithe confidence that he can keep spending more than the city takes in, balancing the budget with one-shots, borrowing, and tax hikes.”

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Too many schools for fewer and fewer kids]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/too-many-schools-for-fewer-and-fewerhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/too-many-schools-for-fewer-and-fewerTue, 12 May 2026 13:22:11 GMTToday my new report for the Manhattan Institute was published: What to Do About NYC’s Empty Schools

The report shows how enrollment is declining across the country and discuss the impact of this trend in NYC public schools. The city has an increasing number of schools that are too small to be financially viable and the report offers recommendations on how the district can develop a plan to close and merge these schools.

Mamdani keeps bankrolling failure in NYC’s schools

Here is my latest article on the NY Post on how the Mayor, the Chancellor, and the PEP are avoiding the hard decisions that our city needs: close under enrolled and underperforming schools, expand the schools that are in high demand.

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[US K-12 system now spends more than $1 trillion. ]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/us-k-12-system-now-spends-more-thanhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/us-k-12-system-now-spends-more-thanTue, 05 May 2026 13:52:26 GMTIn 2024, for the first time in history, the American K-12 public school system passed the $1 trillion mark in spending.

It is a remarkable amount and a reminder that the biggest problem of our education system is not a lack of resources, but how the money is spent. Unfortunately, most of the resources are being used to hire staff despite declining enrolment.

I explained how the 4 largest states in the country are choosing to spend their education dollars on my first article at the DailyWire:

Read Here

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[NY Senators turn their back on low-income parents and children]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/ny-senators-turn-their-back-on-lowhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/ny-senators-turn-their-back-on-lowWed, 29 Apr 2026 13:58:51 GMTOn Tax Day 30 Democratic Senators led by Mark Kelly introduced a bill to repeal the Federal Scholarship Tax program approved as part of the Big Beautiful Bill.

A low estimate is that the program would generate $500 million to NY low-income kids to use on education: scholarships, enrichment, books, tutors - public schools students are eligible.

Why are NY Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gilibrand against this needed support for NY kids while it wont cost anything the NY state?

Here is my article about this today on amNY:

Read Here

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[What happens when families can choose their schools?]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/what-happens-when-families-can-choosehttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/what-happens-when-families-can-chooseFri, 17 Apr 2026 17:35:20 GMTI have been fascinated with the expansion of school choice in Florida. I think it provides important insights about what families really value for their kids’ education.

My latest article examines the choices Florida families are making.

The first lesson is that good public schools are thriving: the most popular choices are charter schools and open enrollment (public schools that are not the one your kid was assigned to).

Second, huge interest in “a la carte” learning with more and more families enrolling in hybrid and micro schools, selecting specialty classes - all thanks to the Education Savings Account program.

Third, a huge increase in religious schools, with particular growth of special needs students enrolling in catholic schools.

Here is my article about this today on City Journal:

Read Here

Calling all fifth grade parents!

Now that the results are in, we are trying to crowdsource information from this year’s NYC District 2 Middle School admissions process in order to help other families in future years better understand their likelihood of acceptance into specific middle schools ahead of the lottery process.

If you’re willing to pay it forward, would you please complete this 6-question google form. All info will be kept anonymous.

We will be crunching the data similar to what is done for the NYC HS admissions lottery, as you can read here. Thank you for helping other families navigate the all-too-complicated process!

Complet Survey

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[My appearance on The Grade podcast]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/my-appearance-on-the-grade-podcasthttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/my-appearance-on-the-grade-podcastTue, 14 Apr 2026 13:07:15 GMTEducation never receives enough attention from the media despite representing 30 to 40% of NYC city’s budget.

I had the opportunity to discuss media coverage of NYC public schools with on his podcast . We talk about class size law, the over coverage about G&T and SHSAT schools, and the lack of accountability on spending vs results.

Alexander Russo's The Grade
What's missing from NYC schools coverage?
A self-described angry mom who ran for office and sends her kids to NYC public schools, Danyela Souza Egorov is now a fellow at the Manhattan Institute whose work often appears in City Journal…
Listen now
5 months ago · 6 likes · Alexander Russo

Listen to the podcast

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Mamdani can't afford to not cut the DOE budget]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/mamdani-cant-afford-to-not-cut-thehttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/mamdani-cant-afford-to-not-cut-theTue, 07 Apr 2026 12:38:22 GMTThe Mayor and the City Council are on a battle on how to balance the city’s budget. The Department of Education accounts for 30% of the city’s budget and has been growing non-stop despite huge enrollment declines.

In my article today on the NY Post I write about this:

Read Here

A Reflection on Mayor Mamdani’s First 100 Days in Office: The Future of NYC’s Kids

Last month the Manhattan Institute organized an event to reflect on Mayor Mamdani’s first 100 days in office. Here is our full panel “The Future of NYC’s Kids” with Jennifer Weber and Sydney Altfield.

Here is our full panel “The Future of NYC’s Kids”:

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Educational Redlining in New York]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/educational-redlining-in-new-yorkhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/educational-redlining-in-new-yorkWed, 11 Mar 2026 14:56:02 GMTThis week, Tim DeRoche from Available to All released an important report that should spark a conversation about which schools are offered to which families in NY.

The report shows that some school zones map directly to the old redlining maps. This has created a situation in which schools very close to each other have completely different demographics and outcomes for kids.

I wrote about the report and how we should address this problem by expanding the schools we know are delivering for kids in NY and offering school choice to all families.

The Bigger Apple
Educational Redlining in New York
New York likes to tell itself a story about progress. But a new report from the nonprofit Available to All argues that the state’s school maps, which shadow the old redlining maps that once helped restrict access to housing in mostly minority areas, remain a major obstacle to equal educational opportunity…
Read more
6 months ago · 15 likes · 8 comments · Danyela Souza Egorov

What I am reading this week

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[NY families don't know how much our government spends on public schools]]>https://www.families4newyork.com/p/ny-families-dont-know-how-much-ourhttps://www.families4newyork.com/p/ny-families-dont-know-how-much-ourWed, 25 Feb 2026 14:38:17 GMTSometimes I think I spend too much time talking and writing about the fact that NY is the #1 state in education spending, but the new 50CAN survey shows that the majority of New Yorker families don’t know how much we spend per pupil or estimate it at less than $1,000.

In fact, NY is the top state in the survey where families underestimate the per pupil spending - only 1% of families answered the correct answer between $35,000 and $40,000.

Here is my article about this today on City Journal:

Read here

What I am reading this week

I just finished the biography Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America and learned so much about our country’s politics in the 60s and 70s. The book is long but very well researched and written.

I am also reading with my son The Complete Novels of Sherlock Holmes and he is really enjoying it.

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Share

Thanks for reading Families for New York! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]>