Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of the New York Education newsletter. We'll take a look at the week ahead and look back at what you might have missed last week.

The state legislative session may be over now, but the battle continues in the aftermath of bills that extend mayoral control of New York City schools and codify a class size reduction that comes with a hefty price tag.

While Mayor Eric Adams experienced some wins, like funding public housing repairs and $4 billion for child care, the mayor saw some losses — the Legislature deciding to not change laws providing judges with more discretion to set bail and a mayoral control bill with a time frame shorter than the one he sought and a class size reduction mandate, POLITICO’s Anna Gronewold and Joe Anuta report. 

“While there is more work to do to deliver on the priorities New Yorkers are asking for, we are optimistic that there is a way forward on key elements, including ensuring we achieve the shared goal of smaller class sizes without forcing the city into a fiscal crisis and impacting programs for our most vulnerable students,” Adams said in a statement Friday.

On the campaign trail in 2021, Adams had said that mayoral control should be revisited every two years. But once he became mayor, he called for a three-year extension and then Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a four-year extension. A legislative insider previously told POLITICO that the mayor, who previously served as a state senator, was to blame if he was dissatisfied with the final agreement.

State lawmakers also increased the number of members on the Panel for Educational Policy, the Department of Education’s governing body, from 15 to 23 — 13 mayoral appointees, five borough president appointees and five members picked by community education councils.

Lawmakers also shocked the mayor with a companion bill that limits class size to 20 students in kindergarten through third grade, 23 students in fourth through eighth grade and 25 students in high school classes. A person familiar with the negotiations called the inclusion of class size “super-underhanded,” but state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat who heads the Senate’s New York City Education Committee, said class size reduction was included in the 2006 Campaign for Fiscal Equity court ruling, POLITICO’s Madina Touré reports.

Adams has warned that without guaranteed funding attached to those mandates, the city will see cuts in other parts of the school system, referring to the loss of counselor positions, art programs, social workers, after-school tutoring, school trips, dyslexia screenings and paraprofessionals.

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FOOD BENEFITS FOR FAMILIES — Chalkbeat’s Marcela Rodrigues-Sherley: “All New York City public school families regardless of income will receive $375 per child in food benefits to help cover the costs of meals from last summer during the pandemic —whether they attended summer school or not. The state began the rollout this month, with the retroactive benefit being distributed to students enrolled as of June 2021. The benefit comes from the Coronavirus Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer or P-EBT, a federally created program covering meal expenses for students who typically received free meals when in school but were learning remotely due to the pandemic.”

BRONX INTERNATIONAL HS STUDENTS WIN ARTS COMPETITION","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-bronx-immigrant-students-recognized-art-contest-met-museum-20220604-4uuctcalljh2xn3mlkdyatez7q-story.html","_id":"00000181-3e25-dc72-a7c1-bebdd6d90003","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000181-3e25-dc72-a7c1-bebdd6d90004","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">BRONX INTERNATIONAL HS STUDENTS WIN ARTS COMPETITION — Daily News’ Michael Elsen-Rooney: “Bronx high school art teacher Bob Hechler works hard to make his class a refuge for the immigrant students when the demands of learning English or adjusting to life in the U.S. get too heavy. ‘English acquisition can be so difficult,’ said Hechler, whose school, at Kingsbridge International High School caters exclusively to recently-arrived immigrant students. ‘To come into a room where you can have some successes right away and also take a breath, it’s really important for me to be that space.’

PANIC ALARMS IN SCHOOLS — New York Post’s Rich Calder: “Albany pols passed a law Saturday requiring school districts statewide to seriously consider installing silent panic alarms to alert law-enforcement authorities during emergencies. The state Assembly approved ‘Alyssa’s Law,’ named after 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was shot and killed in 2018 during the Parkland, Florida school massacre. 'Schools should be a safe place for our kids to learn and grow,’ said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie in a statement announcing the bill’s passage.”

PARENTS SEEK MORE DISCIPLINE","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://nypost.com/2022/06/04/teachers-parents-want-discipline-as-nyc-student-suspensions-fall/","_id":"00000181-3e25-dc72-a7c1-bebdd6d90007","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000181-3e25-dc72-a7c1-bebdd6d90008","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">PARENTS SEEK MORE DISCIPLINE — New York Post’s Mary Kay Linge and Kathianne Boniello: “A progressive push to soften school discipline has caused student suspensions to plummet — and made city classrooms more chaotic and dangerous than ever, parents and teachers charge. Suspensions of five days or more meted out by principals and superintendents plunged more than 42 percent from the fall of 2017 to the fall of 2021, from 14,502 to 8,369, Department of Education data shows. As suspensions declined, taxpayer money allocated to “restorative justice” — a system that sends badly-behaving students to mediation, conflict “circle” meetings, and guidance counseling, rather than boot them from classrooms — soared. The city in February pledged to sink $1.3 million more into such programs.”

ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY IN SCHOOLS — Bloomberg’s Linda Poon: “Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) month came to an end this week with some exciting news amid the sobering statistics about the continued rise of anti-Asian sentiment in the US. Yes, the K-Pop supergroup BTS graced the White House press briefing room last week to call out the surge in hate crimes. But also, New York City announced a pilot program to teach AAPI history in the largest public school system in the US. The curriculum in NYC will launch in the fall of 2024, as part of the city Department of Education’s Hidden Voices Project, which aims to teach students about communities that have been overlooked in traditional history classes.”

MORE HEALTH CARE STUDENTS AT SUNY FMCC — Albany Times Union’s Kathleen Moore: “SUNY Fulton-Montgomery Community College is adding seats to its nursing and health care programs for this fall, thanks to a state grant designed to increase the health care workforce. The community college received a SUNY Nursing Emergency Training Fund grant of nearly $94,000. The goal is to quickly respond to the health care employee shortage. The fund will allow the college to add seats to the nursing, phlebotomy, CNA, and medical administrative assistant programs for this fall. Applications were closed in January but have been reopened to admit additional students.”

SCHOOLS TO GO VIRTUAL ON ELECTION DAY — NJ.com’s Camille Furst: “Some New Jersey schools being used as polling locations will transition to virtual learning for election day, according to district officials. Districts announced they received guidance from the state Department of Education encouraging remote learning on Tuesday so added security could be present at polling locations. The recommendation comes in the wake of the May 24 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed.”

NEWSOM, LAWMAKERS DISAGREE ON SCHOOL SPENDING ISSUES — POLITICO’s Blake Jones: California Legislative leaders have unveiled their own budget proposal, and with beefed-up funding numbers and trimmed-down policy actions, it’s no copy-and-paste of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Revision plan for public education. Newsom and lawmakers are split on how much to give to schools, how much to shield them against enrollment-related dips in funding and how to expand financial aid. Those key differences could become sticking points as the executive and legislative branches look to reach a consensus on a final budget before a June 15 deadline.

WEST POINT TO TAKE DOWN ROBERT LEE PORTRAIT — POLITICO’s Lara Seligman: For 70 years, the slave-owning Confederate general Robert E. Lee has stared down at West Point cadets from a massive portrait in the academy’s library, a slave guiding his horse in the background. But that portrait could be coming down. The commission that was established to rename military bases that honor Confederate generals is expected to recommend that West Point remove the 20-foot portrait of Lee in his gray Confederate uniform, according to two people familiar with the group’s deliberations.

TEACHER, HUSBAND MOURNED IN UVALDE — WSLS 10: “She died protecting children from bullets. He died grieving his lost love. Uvalde said goodbye Wednesday to Irma Garcia, who was killed along with fellow teacher Eva Mireles, and 19 children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last week when a gunman made his way into their classroom as they were wrapping up the school year. José Garcia died two days later, after laying flowers at the schoolyard memorial for his wife Irma, Mireles and the children.”

SUNY Oswego’s Sheldon Institute will host its 43rd summer educational enrichment program in July and August.