May 6, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PLACE NYC Calls Upon Parents to Vote in the 2025 CEC Elections
With one week left, PLACE NYC urges public school parents to vote in the Community Education Councils (CECs) elections, NYC’s version of school boards. Voting is underway and will end on May 13. Parents can vote online through their NYC School Account (NYCSA).
Newly elected CEC members will begin their term on July 1, 2025. Here is why the right representation for parents matters for the next two years:
1- Availability of accelerated education opportunities, including Gifted and Talented, accelerated middle schools, Honors classes, screened and Specialized High Schools, and AP and College Now classes.
2- Funding, with a fiscal cliff, the threat of losing federal funding and no durable source of funding to sustain the class size reduction and access to high quality teachers.
3- Class size law implementation, while smaller student-teacher ratio can be meaningful, planning to make sure enrollment opportunities are not cut at highly popular schools and programs is critical. Ensuring high quality teachers are recruited and that honors, APs and enrichment programs are not sacrificed but instead expanded.
4- Curriculum choices over the past few years have been questionable and require thoughtful evaluation and reflection, and possible changes to address poor results and educators’ objections.
5- Proficiency in ELA and math continues to deteriorate, obfuscated by changes in the tests and a lowering of the bar. The Board of Regents is on the path to eliminating the tests for High School graduation, just when colleges across the country are reinstating standardized tests.
6- Adaptive SHSAT roll-out in fall 2026 requires more guidance from NYCPS. Parents and students have questions and concerns on this new method.
7- Safety concerns, bullying and hate have all increased in our schools and must be courageously addressed by NYCPS leadership. Bold action is what matters, not helpless apologies.
8- Chronic absenteeism still hasn’t recovered from the devastating and long lasting impact of the pandemic on attendance.
Enrollment continues to decline, and a recent survey revealed that the number one reason why families left NYCPS is the lack of sufficiently rigorous education. It is important to immediately convey to the upcoming Chancellor that restoring the quality and academic rigor of our public schools should be their first and foremost mission.
“Because NYCPS operates under mayoral control, no matter who becomes our new Mayor and who they appoint as Chancellor, families need effective CEC members who can elevate their concerns with NYCPS.”, said Lisa Marks, Co-President of PLACE NYC.
Just 3% of the parents eligible to vote participated in 2023. Because of this low participation, every vote matters. PLACE NYC volunteers compiled a comprehensive list of recommendations, for each of the 32 local districts and each of the four Citywide Councils (CCHS, CCSE, CCELL, and CCD75). These recommendations considered the alignment of the candidates with what PLACE NYC stands for, while also taking into account the candidates’ qualifications for the CEC positions.
“Don’t procrastinate, please vote today. Our public schools are at a turning point! Thanks to PLACE-supported CEC members, the SHSAT contract passed in December 2024, securing the test for another five years. NYC families want more rigorous education and we need to elect CEC members who will advocate for that.” said Yiatin Chu, Co-President of PLACE.”
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