Summer is a crucial time for young people - particularly our youth in low-income communities. Research shows that 2/3 of the ninth grade achievement gap is a result of unequal access to summer learning opportunities (Alexander et. al, 2007). Summer learning loss accounts for most students losing two months of grade level equivalency in math. However, low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite their middle-class peers who make slight gains (Cooper, 1996).

The problem is the New York City Department of Education does not account for discretionary summer funding in schools’ yearly budgets. Currently, only 0.17% of our education budget is allocated for summer ($45 million on mandated summer school out of the $25.7 billion budget). This leaves schools scrambling for money to find quality summer programs for their students – sometimes with no academic options to offer. If schools had the funding to choose and provide high-quality academic summer programs, all students would return to the school not 2.5 months behind but one month ahead!

As parents, educators, students and concerned citizens, we demand that the NYC DOE allocate $1.6 billion for academic summer enrichment programs so all New York City students can eliminate the summer learning loss.

Mayor de Blasio has made a commitment to close the achievement gap by creating universal pre-kindergarten and expanding after school programs for middle schools. He and Chancellor Fariña have advocated for academic summer programs for the city’s struggling schools. We know that the next step is to increase the summer school budget from 0.17% to 6.2% so schools can provide high-quality academic summer programs in our low-income communities.

With this increase to the yearly budget, we would solve the summer learning crisis and be one step closer to closing the achievement gap in New York City.