Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew warned yesterday it may be impossible to end social promotion on a vast scale without a big influx of money from several sources.
“For any one governmental entity, this is just too big a lift financially,” Crew said in a speech to a Jewish group.
Mayor Giuliani – demanding “radical reform” – has called on Crew to detail an immediate plan to wipe out social promotion, the widespread practice of passing kids who flunk to the next grade.
Under such a plan, Crew said 300,000 failing kids from fourth grade through high school – more than 25 percent of the 1.1 million systemwide – would have to attend summer school next year or be held back a grade. He’s against holding back kids before fourth grade.
Even so, it’s a massive undertaking. The Board of Ed is spending $70 million this year to send 52,000 kids to summer school.
Crew has yet to put a price tag on summer school for six times that many kids.
Nor has he explained what the system would do with kids who are held back – how many extra teachers or classrooms will be needed when thousands of kids repeat a grade.
“We’re trying to come up with a plan that is realistic and, ultimately, fundable,” Crew said, adding that the state should be asked to help pay for an extended school day and year.
Brace for sticker shock, education watchers say.
“With more kids coming into the system, and fewer leaving, holding them back gets into very expensive territory,” said Noreen Connell, executive director of the Educational Priorities Panel.
As one cost indicator, the Board of Ed spends more than $200 million a year to continue to educate about 150,000 high school kids who fail to graduate in four years, Connell said.
She also predicted a space crunch: “If you think there’s overcrowding now, this policy will make it much worse,”
One veteran school official called Crew’s suddenly tougher stance on social promotion a “knee-jerk reaction” to appease Giuliani since their bitter feud over vouchers and abolishing the Board of Ed.
Crew tried to cool the war of words with Giuliani by not even mentioning his opposition to vouchers in his speech to the American Jewish Congress, which is against using tax money to send kids to private schools.
But he told reporters his friendship with the mayor is over.
“I don’t think we really have a relationship. I think that’s deteriorated to the point where whatever sort of innuendoes are being said are being said purposely,” he said.
“Whatever happens happens. I can’t stop it. If they want to fire me, they know what they have to do. If the mayor wants to bring in four votes to fire me, I’m sure he can do all of that. I’m not going to worry about that.”