Republican mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa Thursday called for increasing the number of charter schools and promoting the development of more independent private schools and religious schools.
The increase in parents’ ability to opt out of failing schools in lower social-economic neighborhoods was part of Sliwa’s 12-point plan to reform and improve New York City’s education system.
At the heart of Sliwa’s plan is the concept that, upon graduation from high school, every child should have a developed, real-world skill that enables them to obtain a job, start a business, or pursue higher education.
In addition to a comprehensive overhaul of K-12 education, Sliwa also calls for the creation of three-year college degree pathways to help make college more financially accessible—saving students an average of $53,188 on a college education.
To achieve this end, Sliwa includes a fully drafted New York State Assembly bill that implements three-year college degrees statewide.
“With this comprehensive education plan, Curtis Sliwa definitively establishes himself as the Education Candidate in the mayoral race,” says Sliwa’s policy advisor Oliver Roberts. “Sliwa’s plan reopens schools, reduces class sizes, improves working conditions and salaries for teachers, creates new ‘magnet’ programs for historically low-income communities, earmarks necessary funding for students with disabilities, and fundamentally transforms the college degree model to save students money. In Curtis Sliwa’s NYC, everybody wins.”
Other highlights of the plan include reopening schools and keeping them open throughout the end of July, expanding vocational and professional training in all high schools and after-school programs, including a new focus on financial literacy; and providing dedicated annual funding to support after-school and Saturday programs for NYC’s 200,000 students with disabilities.
The plan also calls for introducing an “Advancing Community Education” (ACE) program to assist working families with purchasing school supplies for their children, and implementing an annual “Back-To-School” Sales Tax Holiday to make school supplies more affordable for children and teachers.
The plan also takes aim at the Central Department of Education calling for a reevaluation of DOE contracts, positions and budget items to eliminate wasteful spending.
To see the entire plan click here.
