A report highlighted by the New York Post said 300,000 New York City public schools did not show up to school last year.
“The teacher union has gradually emphasized the importance of going to school after Covid, which signals students that classes are optional,” Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “This continues to have a devastating impact on students’ learning outcomes.”
The New York Post story reported: “K-12 student count Deemed not to exist for a long time – According to a study specifically covered for the Manhattan Institute, lasting 10 days or more during the 180-day school year or over the 180-day school year, rising from 26.5% in the 2018-19 issue to 26.5% in the 2023-24 pandemic to 34.8% in the 2023-24.
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President Trump vowed during his campaign to eliminate the Education Department and bring power back to the United States. (Getty Image)
These figures suggest that over 300,000 students in the New York City public school system have no.
However, the spending of students in the New York school district has increased significantly.
The Citizen Budget Commission’s January report found that “New York school districts will spend $89 billion in the 2024-25 school year ($36,293 per student). Total spending per student has increased by 21.0% over the past four years, or 4.9% per year.”
Even with a substantial increase in funding, subjects, including mathematics and reading, suffered from the ability level.
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The U.S. Department of Education building was seen in Washington on November 18, 2024. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
National assessment of educational progress or NAEP, Discover Last year, only 33% of fourth-year students in New York City were proficient in mathematics, compared with 23% in 2022 and 32% in 2019. 28% of the fourth-grade students in the city are proficient in reading.
Among the eighth-grade students at Big Apple, 23% are proficient in mathematics, while 29% are proficient in reading, reading slightly higher than 25% and 27% in 2022.
Burke told Fox News that the increase in spending and the “disturbing” reduction in proficiency.
“The fact that New York now spends $36,000 a year on K-12 education (which is a breathtaking taxpayer funding) makes long-term absenteeism even more disturbing,” she said. “New York now spends $89 billion a year on public education – more than Croatia’s GDP – but academic results remain flat. Less than three of eighth-grade students can read proficiently – this statistics should keep New Yorkers on the front end at night.”
“New York families will provide better services to the state, allowing them to get $36,000 spent annually to attend a portion of their preferred school. These new figures increase the need for universal school choice in New York state.”
President Donald Trump announced the elimination of the Department of Education during the 2024 presidential election, and is expected to issue an executive order calling on new Education Secretary Linda McMahon to be identified as the 13th education secretary on Monday to begin repealing the department.
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McMahon was identified by the Senate as the next Education Secretary on Monday. (Getty Image)
A press secretary for New York City Public Schools told Fox News in a statement: “Since the pandemic, New York City Public Schools has reduced chronic absenteeism over the past three years due to strategies to encourage students to participate, including “every student every day,” providing a range of services and support, and with schools, school institutions, school institutions, basic, agency-based, agency-based, and community-based organizations, school institutions, school institutions, institutions-based, community-based and community-based organizations.
“We also provide professional development and targeted support for community schools. We are providing support to districts and schools to help families access food, clothing and sanitation supplies, counseling and sanitation services, and all of which are barriers to regular classes. There is more work to reduce symptoms of chronic deficiency, but we are right.”
