Mark Treyger – $26 Won’t Change Classrooms
This Spring, City Councilman Mark Treyger pushed out a press release to local papers because he wanted to announce that he made a huge increase to Teacher’s Choice. The article began: “One small step for educators…..” Yes, it actually said that.
Every year, teachers receive a check in the Fall to purchase supplies for their classroom. This program is called Teacher’s Choice. Most teacher spend several hundred dollars on their classroom and students throughout the year.
In 2003, NYC Teachers received $200 to purchase classroom supplies. In 2007, teachers received $220 through Teacher’s Choice.
When the city had budget cuts, Teacher’s Choice was lowered significantly. In 2010, Teachers Choice was $110 dollars per teacher. It has slowly increased over the last few years. In 2016, $122 was allocated.
While Treyger boasts that he was a teacher, he hasn’t done much for education! This years allocation is just $148 – an increase of only $26.
$26 will purchase a bit more paper.
If a classroom has 32 students, a teacher couldn’t even purchase a class set of notebooks from the 99 Cents Store with this year’s increase. NYC Council gave themselves a 32 percent salary increase this year ($112,500 to $148,500), but they couldn’t restore Teacher’s Choice to $200.
Each teacher in NYC must account for the money given to them through Teacher’s Choice by listing the items and attaching the receipts. Mark Treyger gave $40K to a not-for-profit that has been questioned in the newspapers and Treyger can’t provide any evidence that money was handled correctly (no cancelled checks from recipients).
The UFT might as well get rid of their lobbyists as $26 per teacher isn’t worth doing somersaults over. The newspaper coverage of the $26 increase shows us that Mark Treyger hasn’t done much for education.
*Thankfully many PTAs have stepped in to provide their teachers with extra funds for their classroom. But many are not able to do that and NYC Council should have made a real effort to restoring Teacher’s Choice.
*Politicians are playing with money, but most people want to help students and teachers. If you are a teacher, try Donors Choose for classroom projects.
Hugs,
marlene
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