Daryl Hornick-Becker, CCC’s Policy and Advocacy Associate, submitted testimony on March 23 to the New York City Council Education Committee on The Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ educational outcomes.

In his testimony, Daryl wrote that with the influx of generous new stimulus funds, the city can ensure that when students do fully return to the classroom they don’t return to an educational system as it was, but a new one as it could be.

To do so, the city must:

• Continue to support remote learning with a focus on equity.
• Target supports and interventions for vulnerable student populations, including English-language learners, students in temporary housing, and students in foster care
• Invest in and expand behavioral health supports for students and remove police presence from schools
• Address rising food insecurity among students
• Ensure new child care contracts cannot result in a loss of seats or full-day services, and should encourage and promote behavioral health practices
• Develop a plan to address the shortage of preschool special education classes this year