Students, parents, educators and advocates call on the city to invest in guidance counselors, social workers and restorative justice
Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY and Allied Organizations Call on Mayor de Blasio to Divest from Criminalization and Invest in Support
As a citywide coalition of students, parents, educators and advocates, Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY (DSC-NY) is strongly opposed to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Fiscal Year 2020 preliminary budget that proposes to grow the NYPD’s School Safety Division by more than $27 million from previous budget plans — amounting to over $314 million, the largest proposed budget for the division in its history.
At the same time, the School Construction Authority is proposing to double school security spending to reach $200 million; funding that includes increases to policing infrastructure in schools, such as video surveillance and metal detection equipment.
This is especially concerning given the Department of Education’s February 15th release of data on the number of guidance counselors and social workers in schools, which shows that there are still more NYPD school safety agents than there are guidance counselors and social workers combined. In addition, the Mayor’s budget did not include funding for restorative justice, despite its proven ability to reduce suspensions and create positive school climates.
You get what you pay for and right now Mayor de Blasio is choosing to fund the criminalization of Black and Brown youth while refusing to invest in their success. Now is the time to divest funds from the NYPD’s school safety budget and invest in guidance counselors, social workers and restorative justice.
Signatories:
- Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY
- Advocates for Children of New York
- Brooklyn Community Foundation
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Children’s Defense Fund – New York
- Coalition for Educational Justice
- Collaborative Solutions inc.
- Creative Cultural Worx
- Cyphers for Justice
- Department of School Psychology, Counseling, and Leadership, Brooklyn College/CUNY
- DRUM
- Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
- Future of Tomorrow
- Girls for Gender Equity
- Global Action Project
- Henry Street Settlement
- IntegrateNYC Inc.
- Lehman College, School of Education, Dept of Middle/HS Education
- Make the Road New York
- MINKA Brooklyn
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
- National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
- Neighborhood Benches
- New Settlement Parent Action Committee
- New York Appleseed, Inc.
- NYCID
- NYCLU
- Organizing For Equity NY
- Ramapo for Children
- Restorative Intent
- Restorative Justice Initiative
- S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective
- Sistas & Brothas United-Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition
- Teachers Unite
- Teens Take Charge
- The New York Collective of Radical Educators
- The People’s Coalition
- Urban Youth Collaborative
- YA-YA Network
