Families for New York

NY Senators turn their back on low-income parents and children

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:58:51 GMT

On Tax Day 30 Democratic Senators led by Mark Kelly introduced a bill to repeal the Federal Scholarship Tax program approved as part of the Big Beautiful Bill.

A low estimate is that the program would generate $500 million to NY low-income kids to use on education: scholarships, enrichment, books, tutors - public schools students are eligible.

Why are NY Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gilibrand against this needed support for NY kids while it wont cost anything the NY state?

Here is my article about this today on amNY:

Read Here

What I am reading this week

How NYC’s elite high schools discriminate — on mayor’s orders (NY Post)
A Mediocre Public-School Education for Just $40,000 a Pupil (The Atlantic)
NYC’s School Calendar Is a Labor Agreement (The Bigger Apple)
The Self-Defeating Condescension of an Anti-Racist Education (The Atlantic)
An Antidote to Ivy League Decay (City Journal)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

What happens when families can choose their schools?

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:35:20 GMT

I have been fascinated with the expansion of school choice in Florida. I think it provides important insights about what families really value for their kids’ education.

My latest article examines the choices Florida families are making.

The first lesson is that good public schools are thriving: the most popular choices are charter schools and open enrollment (public schools that are not the one your kid was assigned to).

Second, huge interest in “a la carte” learning with more and more families enrolling in hybrid and micro schools, selecting specialty classes - all thanks to the Education Savings Account program.

Third, a huge increase in religious schools, with particular growth of special needs students enrolling in catholic schools.

Here is my article about this today on City Journal:

Read Here

Calling all fifth grade parents!

Now that the results are in, we are trying to crowdsource information from this year’s NYC District 2 Middle School admissions process in order to help other families in future years better understand their likelihood of acceptance into specific middle schools ahead of the lottery process.

If you’re willing to pay it forward, would you please complete this 6-question google form. All info will be kept anonymous.

We will be crunching the data similar to what is done for the NYC HS admissions lottery, as you can read here. Thank you for helping other families navigate the all-too-complicated process!

Complet Survey

What I am reading this week

Florida’s Billionaires Want More Private Schools. So They’re Building Their Own (WSJ)
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pathetic ‘science of reading’ fiasco (NY Post)
As Enrollment Dips, School Administrators Turn to TikTok to Advertise (NY Times)
Why We Should Be Skeptical About High Graduation Rates (City Journal)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

My appearance on The Grade podcast

Danyela Souza Egorov — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:07:15 GMT

Education never receives enough attention from the media despite representing 30 to 40% of NYC city’s budget.

I had the opportunity to discuss media coverage of NYC public schools with on his podcast . We talk about class size law, the over coverage about G&T and SHSAT schools, and the lack of accountability on spending vs results.

Alexander Russo's The Grade

What's missing from NYC schools coverage?

A self-described angry mom who ran for office and sends her kids to NYC public schools, Danyela Souza Egorov is now a fellow at the Manhattan Institute whose work often appears in City Journal…

Listen now

22 days ago · 6 likes · Alexander Russo

Listen to the podcast

What I am reading this week

How Democrats Can Win on Education Again (Washington Monthly)
Did New York blow $10 million on reading instruction that doesn’t work? (Hechinger Report)
How Public Disorder Starts (The Dispatch)
Finding the Lost Einsteins (City Journal)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Mamdani can't afford to not cut the DOE budget

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:38:22 GMT

The Mayor and the City Council are on a battle on how to balance the city’s budget. The Department of Education accounts for 30% of the city’s budget and has been growing non-stop despite huge enrollment declines.

In my article today on the NY Post I write about this:

Read Here

A Reflection on Mayor Mamdani’s First 100 Days in Office: The Future of NYC’s Kids

Last month the Manhattan Institute organized an event to reflect on Mayor Mamdani’s first 100 days in office. Here is our full panel “The Future of NYC’s Kids” with Jennifer Weber and Sydney Altfield.

Here is our full panel “The Future of NYC’s Kids”:

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Educational Redlining in New York

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:56:02 GMT

This week, Tim DeRoche from Available to All released an important report that should spark a conversation about which schools are offered to which families in NY.

The report shows that some school zones map directly to the old redlining maps. This has created a situation in which schools very close to each other have completely different demographics and outcomes for kids.

I wrote about the report and how we should address this problem by expanding the schools we know are delivering for kids in NY and offering school choice to all families.

The Bigger Apple

Educational Redlining in New York

New York likes to tell itself a story about progress. But a new report from the nonprofit Available to All argues that the state’s school maps, which shadow the old redlining maps that once helped restrict access to housing in mostly minority areas, remain a major obstacle to equal educational opportunity…

2 months ago · 15 likes · 8 comments · Danyela Souza Egorov

What I am reading this week

The Supreme Court Restores Parents to Their Proper Place (City Journal)
Why Johnny Can’t Read Anything Other Than Pronouns (WSJ)
High Schools Are Losing the Struggle to Block Pot—Even During Class (WSJ)
School Choice or School Spending? Florida’s 15-Year Experiment Points to the Answer (EdNext)
Education Advocacy Needs More Strange Bedfellows (The74)
NY school rules keep herding the poorest kids into the worst schools, new study finds (NYPost)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

NY families don't know how much our government spends on public schools

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:38:17 GMT

Sometimes I think I spend too much time talking and writing about the fact that NY is the #1 state in education spending, but the new 50CAN survey shows that the majority of New Yorker families don’t know how much we spend per pupil or estimate it at less than $1,000.

In fact, NY is the top state in the survey where families underestimate the per pupil spending - only 1% of families answered the correct answer between $35,000 and $40,000.

Here is my article about this today on City Journal:

Read here

What I am reading this week

I just finished the biography Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America and learned so much about our country’s politics in the 60s and 70s. The book is long but very well researched and written.

I am also reading with my son The Complete Novels of Sherlock Holmes and he is really enjoying it.

For the Sake of Their Students, Districts Need to Do Their Job in Labor Talks (The74)
School Choice, Tutoring and the Path to Better Schools (The74)
It’s time to fix a de Blasio era special-ed policy that’s killing NYC’s budget (NY Post)
Democrats, This Is Why You Haven’t Fixed Schools Yet (NY Times)
Mamdani Will Need to Change How He Governs (NY Times)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

How to make the PEP more effective

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 19:26:06 GMT

Last week the new City Council Education Chair, Eric Dinowitz, had a hearing about Mayoral Control on NYC public schools. My friend Effi Zakry gave a testimony on how to improve the Panel for Education Policy. Effi served on the PEP for two years and has extensive professional experience in finance.

Here is his testimony:

Good morning, Chair Dinowitz and esteemed members of the Education Committee.
I am Effi Zakry, and I am here to share insights gained from serving two full terms on the PEP. I was elected by parents to this position, rather than appointed by the Mayor or borough president—a distinction that provided me with a unique vantage point on our school system.
When we discuss “Mayoral Control,” we are fundamentally discussing the composition and functionality of the PEP. As a recent member, I have witnessed the inner dynamics of the Panel firsthand and believe there is a clear path toward meaningful improvement.
While Albany revisits this issue every few years, the conversation often becomes political and the necessary reforms are deferred. However, establishing a robust mechanism for checks and balances is imperative, regardless of who resides in City Hall. Nevertheless, the Mayor should remain accountable as the head of the executive branch. Returning to the old local school board system that was rife with corruption and inefficiency is certainly not the answer.
To make the Panel more effective, I propose the following:
· Streamline Membership: The PEP has become unwieldy. The recent increase in the number of members has made it difficult to achieve a quorum, particularly at BERS meetings. Here, bigger is not better. I recommend a leaner body consisting of 5 parent representatives and 6 mayoral appointees— 11 in total.
· Ensure Direct Representation: Parent representatives—one from each borough to reflect their unique needs—should be elected directly by parents using a process similar to CCHS elections.
· Prioritize Experience: At least four of the six mayoral appointees should be parents who have had a child in the public school system within the last five years and have served on an education council. These should be individuals with “boots on the ground” experience, not political appointments.
· Protect Independence: All members should serve fixed two-year terms and be protected from removal without due process.
The PEP must serve as a functional check and balance for our students. I would be happy to share more suggestions and details with the Committee at a later time.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Yiatin Chu, co-Founder of Place, also testified about accelerated education- you can watch her testimony here.

John Liu on the Schooled podcast

The Schooled podcast this week has John Liu, NY Senator and Chairman of New York City Education Committee, to talk about class size law. They asked some of the tough questions about this unimplementable law.

What I am reading this week

New York’s Charter Schools Live Up to Their Promise (WSJ)
The Chicago Teachers’ Mystery Audits (WSJ)
New Jersey joins the rush to make high school diplomas worthless (NY Post)
Pols pitch extra $1B for NYC schools — even as Mississippi, Alabama students outperform New Yorkers for a fraction of the cost (NY Post)
As usual, teachers union puts children last (NY Post)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Mamdani can find lots of inefficiencies in the DOE budget

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:42:58 GMT

Our city is in a difficult situation. The Mayor announced that there is a $10 billion budget gap next year and that he is looking for ineficiencies. My article this week discusses three ways where savings can be found in the Department of Education budget.

“The number of students enrolled in city schools has shrunk by 10 percent since its peak in 2010. Despite this, the DOE’s budget has grown by more than $1 billion yearly since 2019, reaching $40 billion this year. As a result, projected per-pupil spending will exceed $42,000 per child this year—the highest in the country and about $10,000 more than in the 2021–22 school year.”

Read Here

My appearance on the Nazareth podcast

I had a wonderful time talking to Sophia Arnold from the Nazareth podcast about NYC public schools, school choice, and the new Federal Scholarship program.

Listen here

School Choice Week Discussion

Last week we had a great discussion about what school options are available for NY families and what can be expected in the next few years. Thanks to Yiatin Chu, Tim Castanza, and Adrienne Jensen for sharing their experiences and guidance for parents.

I received a lot of comments and questions about homeschooling - the education option that is the fastest growing in NY (more than 50,000 students statewide and 15,000 in NYC). I will find more ways to share information to families who are curious about this option.

What I am reading this week

Early voting in public schools cause a lot of disruptions. There is a campaign organized by NYC parents to get rid of early voting in public schools, you can sign up here: Remove Early Voting From Schools

NYC Parents Oppose Mayor Mamdani’s Plan to End Kindergarten Entry to Gifted and Talented Programs; Nearly Half Will Not Enroll in NYCPS If That Happens (PLACE)
Virginia’s New Governor Is Rolling Back the State’s Higher Ed Wins (City Journal)
New York Leads in School Spending—But Not Student Achievement (City Journal)
High-Poverty D.C. Charter School Students Outscore Wealthy Neighbors in Math (The 74)
Charter Schools Don’t Shortchange Special-Education Students (City Journal)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Who Will Be Paying For NYC’s Expanded “Free” Childcare?

Alina Adams — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:01:07 GMT

As soon as NY Governor Kathy Hochul and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani trumpeted they’d be bringing free childcare for two years olds to the Big Apple, the 5-Borough NYC Early Education Coalition of vendors already contracted by the Department of Education (DOE) to provide Universal Pre-K and 3K announced a February 12th “Day Without Community Based Organizations (CBO)” rally to protest the expansion.

The NYCEEC’s main points of contention are pay parity and the lack of a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

“We are currently under a five-year contract set to expire in 2026,” Lori Cangiolose, Assistant Director of The Playgroup Experience, explained. “The city is proposing to extend contracts without any COLA. Over the past five years, every operational expense has increased – food, utilities, insurance, classroom supplies – yet our funding remained stagnant. This has made it increasingly difficult to keep our doors open, let alone fairly compensate staff.”

“CBO teachers are required to deliver the same DOE curriculum, follow the same regulations and expectations, and meet the same professional requirements as educators in public school 3K and Pre-K classrooms,” Diana Yudina, a teacher at Alphabet Academy confirmed. “We are required to hold the same credentials, including a master’s degree and certification, matching the qualifications of public school early childhood teachers. However, despite doing the same work and meeting the same requirements, CBO teachers do not receive equitable compensation.”

A new DOE teacher with only a Bachelor’s degree and no experience has a starting salary of $71,314. A certified, 30 year veteran teacher in a CBO earns a maximum of $68,652. Many earn considerably less.

“I have worked in this field for 37 years, 10 years within the DOE, and earn $40,000 annually,” Cangiolose divulged.

Many of those working in CBOs are also denied other benefits public school teachers receive, including union protections, pension eligibility, and health insurance.

“How is that fair?” demanded Chloe Pashman, a Bronx CBO School Leader. “Some staff work in the summer, and don’t have long holiday breaks. Many work 10-6 shifts. Is it because they’re located in the Bronx projects and serve children and families who are not white? Most of our staff is not white, and the majority are women. The city has gotten away with loading 3K and PreK on the backs of these women for so long – why wouldn’t they try it with 0-3 year olds? It’s a great deal for them. They get us all “on the cheap” and abuse us.”

In addition to inequitable salaries and benefits, those running CBOs are faced with regularly delayed payments from the DOE. Many of those working for the city report they were “forced to become a vendor of the DOE or face closure.” At a City Council hearing in 2025, one preschool director who’d run her formerly private center for decades was in tears as she explained that she might need to shut down unless the DOE was more prompt in paying what they owed her.

“Programs are expected to maintain and improve quality while operating on stagnant funding,” Stepping Stones Director Michele Kindya recounted. The low pay and onerous working hours contribute to a revolving door of staff and even to centers closing unexpectedly, leaving the families who counted on them with nowhere to go.

Every teacher and director who reached out to me stressed they support accessible childcare, but don’t believe schooling for 2’s should be offered while the state of 3PK and UPK remains precarious.

“Our system is expanding faster than it is reforming, and the consequences are falling squarely on educators and the programs that serve our youngest learners,” reported Joy Farina Foskett, MSEd/MSEd Special Education. “Conversations about expanding programming such as 2-K raise serious questions. Opportunity without infrastructure is not progress, it is risk. We cannot continue to roll out new programs without first addressing salaries, benefits, staffing, funding timelines, and workforce sustainability.”

“Reform Before Expansion is our motto,” Pashman summarized. “We need to fight for the hardest working and most qualified educators, staff, and leaders in the city who are being illegally underpaid and taken advantage of. I thought our city and state were run by ‘progressives’!”

When asked to comment on the above accusations, DOE Associate Press Secretary Dominique Ellison did not dispute any of the charges, only writing that, “We appreciate and value all teachers who dedicate themselves to educating NYC’s youngest learners. We will continue to advocate strongly for funding and policy solutions that support pay parity and workforce equity across community-based organizations. Whether they work in traditional school settings or CBOs, educators are the foundation of our early childhood education system, and their professionalism and commitment deserve our recognition and support.”

As a working mother of three, I sympathize with parents looking for a break on childcare costs.

But as so many directors told me, “While the program is free for families, it is not free to operate.”

As a result, I cannot bear to see our “free” childcare come at the expense of other women, the majority of whom are low-income and/or people of color.

“If we want a system that truly serves children and families, we must start by valuing the educators who make that system possible,” Foskett said. “That means committing to pay parity, attaching COLA to contracts, stabilizing funding, and strengthening support for CBOs before asking them to grow. Our educators – and our children – cannot afford anything less.”

Alina Adams is the author of “Getting into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting into NYC High School,” and a school admissions consultant. She writes about education – and a whole lot more – at Alina’s Susbtack Newsletter.

Many wins to celebrate this School Choice Week

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:30:32 GMT

It is National School Choice Week, and we have so much to celebrate!

For the first time, a majority of kids in America are eligible to access school choice in their states.

My article in City Journal discusses how red states are passing bills to expand school choice while making significant investments in public education.

Read Here

What I am reading this week

New York City Robs Kids of a Snow Day (WSJ)
No More Snow Days for New York City Students. Blame the Teachers’ Union (City Journal)
Hochul refuses to jump on chance to help neediest NY students, critics gripe — but she blames Trump (NY Post)
Educational choice is giving new hope to Catholic schools (Flypaper)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Navigating school options in NYC

Danyela Souza Egorov — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:32:01 GMT

Next week is National School Choice Week and I will be moderating a panel of NYC parents and educators to discuss which school options are available in our city and what policy and governance changes may be on the horizon under the Mamdani administration.

Come join us on Jan 29th and talk to Yiatin Chu (Founder of PLACE), Tim Castanza (Founder of Bridge Prep Charter School), and Adrienne Jensen (NYC based homeschooling advocate and mother of four). You can register here.

Navigating School Choice in NYC:
Options, Access, and the New Mayoral Administration

Thursday, January 29, 2026

New College Rankings

If you have a child deciding which college to go to, check out the new City Journal College Rankings. It includes more factors than the established evaluation tools consider, for example:

Does a college encourage respectful discussion and vigorous debate?
Is the curriculum strong, or is the university coasting on a reputation that it earned a century ago?
Does the school force divisive ideology on its students?
Do administrators prioritize activism over education—and even tolerate chaos and violence?
Does the university prepare students to earn enough to pay back their tuition and thrive as citizens and workers in the twenty-first-century economy?
CJ College Rankings

What I am reading this week

School Yourself

A call for a national curriculum database

Recently, the Fordham Wonkathon sought the field’s best ideas for making Science of Reading laws work. Here’s mine…

3 months ago · 23 likes · 10 comments · Karen Vaites and Curriculum Insight Project

NY’s quest for universal child care sounds enticing — but reality is simply unrealistic (NYPost)
Universal Childcare Could Hurt New York’s Kids (City Journal)
Top 5 Schools in Each State Beating the Odds in 3rd Grade Reading (The74)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Go Teach event, new NYC edu podcast and more!

Danyela Souza Egorov — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 17:48:06 GMT

Last week I participated in an event organized by the Children’s Scholarship Fund and American Federation for Children to discuss NY education and the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit. You can watch the video of the event here:

New podcast about NYC education

My dear friends Yiatin Chu and Deborah Alexander launched a new podcast “Schooled” to discuss New York City public education. Real talk by real NYC public school parents!

What I am reading this week

Mamdani Does an About-Face on Mayoral Control (City Journal)
Conservatives see married parents as a solution to low student achievement. It’s not that simple. (Hetchinger Report)
How Mississippi Transformed Its Schools From Worst to Best (NYT)
What Public Schools and Parents Can Learn from a $40,000-a-Year Private School (The74)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

IAC is coming to NYC!

Danyela Souza Egorov — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:20:22 GMT

For the past 4 years my son has been participating in the History competitions of International Academic Competitions. He loves it and it has led to a study group that meets every week and great friendships with other kids who love history. his year, my youngest started participating in the science competition and had a great time!

We have been driving to other cities so he can participate for years, but I am excited to share that NYC will host one of these competitions this month:

New York City Winter Tournament on February 1st at Park East Day School

Kids of all ages can register and compete in science, history, or geography. I highly recommend, it is a fun way to encourage your kids to develop a love of learning!

Real Talk on NYC School integration efforts

Ray Domanico has a thoughtful article on what it means to integrate NYC schools when our district is “87 percent of the students in the public schools are either black or Hispanic, and 89 percent live in poverty.”

“The long struggle for racial integration in our nation and city was born out of the unconscionable and deliberate segregation of black and white students in the South. But today’s demographics are much more complex. Forty-two percent of New York City students are Hispanic. Asian students are fast becoming the second-largest group in the system, as their numbers increase and the number of black students plummets.”

Read the article

What I am reading this week

has an important article on how the DoDEA schools are so successful with all types of kids (including low-income kids) and what we can learn to apply in regular public schools.

The Education Daly

The Best American School System

At the end of World War II, the United States military hastily organized schools for the children of service members who remained stationed in Europe and Asia. At first, each branch managed its own set. Eventually, they were consolidated into a single entity. In 1994, the overseas schools were joined with an existing network of domestic schools for the …

4 months ago · 38 likes · 14 comments · Tim Daly

My colleague has a thoughtful article on the discussion about “heritage Americans” and what it means to be an American. I am deeply troubled how some parts of the right talk about foreign born citizens like me and this article raises some important points on the composition of American population today.

City Journal Substack

The Heritage Americans Have Already Been Replaced

What, exactly, is a heritage American? It’s the question that nobody can seem to answer, despite a smoldering dispute on X and among right-wing activists. Vivek Ramaswamy—currently seeking the Republican nomination for Governor of Ohio—reignited the debate in a…

4 months ago · 43 likes · 12 comments · Charles Fain Lehman

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Mamdani could make NYC public education worse

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 16:42:27 GMT

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and loved ones!

I am very excited to share my first article for Reason magazine on how Mamdani’s proposals for NYC public schools. He has talked little about education, but what he has said could have a negative impact on our best schools.

“A rational mayor would conclude the system needs to reduce expenses, keep implementing NYC Reads, and tackle chronic absenteeism. Unfortunately, Mamdani's proposals are likely to have the opposite effect.”

What I am reading this week

I just finished reading “Peter Pan” with my son and he loved - we also learned a lot of British words related to ships!

I read “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis, the book is a series of radio lectures that he gave right after WW2 and talks about how to be a christian. This book will stay with me a for a long time, specially this quote:

The Best Preference: Equal Opportunity for All (City Journal)
Why Southern States Are Outperforming Others in Education (City Journal)
Colorado Accepts the GOP’s School-Choice Money (WSJ)
Kathy Hochul’s political pickle pits union power against NY’s kids (NY Post)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

The latest on the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 18:32:57 GMT

Democratic Governor Jared Polis announced this week that Colorado will opt in. As I wrote before, it is a no-brainer for states because it won’t cost anything from state budgets. But several governors, afraid of the teacher’s union, might deny this opportunity to kids in their states. We will see what Governor Hochul decides for NY which is the 3rd largest state in terms of paid federal taxes.

The US Treasury is now requesting comments on the Individual Tax Credit for Qualified Contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations. This program will allow taxpayers to donate up to $1,700 from their federal taxes to an organization that grants scholarships to low-income students.

Below is the comment I submitted to the Treasury. You may also submit your comment here until December 26.

“Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Danyela Souza Egorov, and I am a New York City public school parent. I am also the founder of Families for NY and a Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

I am writing to express my strong support for the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit. In New York, there is widespread popular support for School Choice: 63 percent of adults and 74 percent of school parents said they support voucher programs, according to an EdChoice survey.

New York is the state that spends the most on education in the country, but offers only mediocre learning outcomes for our children. According to the Citizens Budget Commission, New York spends $36,293 per pupil, 91 percent more than the national average. Yet New York fourth-graders tied for 39th in math and 25th in reading on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams, while eighth-graders ranked 27th in both categories.

While nationally only 9% of children attend private schools, a survey from EdChoice indicates that 36% would choose a private school if they could choose any school. This program would allow many New York children to make this choice and receive a high-quality education.

We also see in New York that expanding school choice has led to better academic results for children in every demographic group. In the recent New York state tests, every group was able to have a higher proficiency rate in both math and reading if they were enrolled at a public charter school.

New York is the third-largest state in terms of paid federal taxes, and several New Yorkers will likely donate to it. This program will allow some of this benefit to be returned to families and children in our state who are not being well served by their current school.

Sincerely,
Danyela Souza Egorov.”

What I am reading this week

Some great articles from my colleagues at .

City Journal Substack

The American Dream’s Not Dead. So Why are Republicans Acting Like It Is?

Americans’ belief in the American dream—that in the United States, those who work hard will succeed—is at a record low. In a recent poll conducted jointly by the Wall Street Journal and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, 69 percent of respondents said that the idea doesn’t hold true anymore…

5 months ago · 18 likes · 2 comments · Renu Mukherjee

City Journal Substack

Tent City, Here We Come

This essay first appeared at our main website, city-journal.org…

5 months ago · 11 likes · 2 comments · Stephen Eide

Bill de Blasio’s Diversity Push for These Schools Lowered Admissions Standards—and Didn’t Increase Diversity (Reason)
New York Can’t Be Progressive Without the One Percent (The Atlantic)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Mamdani and charter schools

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:34:13 GMT

I have been busy with family stuff and working on some large projects that should be coming online soon, but I am excited to share my latest column on City Journal.

NYC charter leaders are excited about Mamdani’s focus on affordability and eager to collaborate on his agenda to expand universal child care.

“Anyone who says that they are serious about affordability, they have to focus on the data on which models are working and are delivering more,” says Rafiq R. Kalam. “If you look at charter schools, we are delivering more.”

It is also worth noting the incredible results that charter schools just got on the NY state tests that were released last week. EVERY demographic group does better at charter schools - graphs by the NYC Charter School Center.

What I am reading this week

Our family watched Wicked and my son and I read together “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, we both really enjoyed the book.

If you have great book recommendations for a 8y old, please send me!

The Argument

When grades stop meaning anything

The question that captured the world’s attention was 7 + 2 = [_] + 6. There’s no trick; it’s as easy as it looks. The answer is 3…

5 months ago · 690 likes · 277 comments · Kelsey Piper

One Approach High-Performing Public and Charter Schools Share – And How to Do It (The 74)
When Progressives Supported School Choice (City Journal)
Teaching Terrorism in American Classrooms (City Journal)
Why the Left Stopped Talking About Achievement Gaps (The Atlantic)

Please share this newsletter with your friends and families.

Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Real affordability in NY

Danyela Souza Egorov — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 19:57:39 GMT

Last week I joined the NY Roundtable on Affordability led by Senator Stephen Chan and Assembly members Lester Chang and Michale Novakhov. They discussed how to really make NY more affordable by reducing regulation on housing, healthcare, and developing smarter energy policy.

I was able to share my research on education policies and the unaffordable public schools that we have. You can watch it here:

The Florida Experiment

The Economist wrote about the experiment that Florida is running on education and how it is expanding the “a la carte” education options for homeschoolers as well as making public schools to adapt to the new reality.

I highly recommend the article to understand how other states are trusting parents to make choices on what is the best way to provide education to their kids. And how the public and private schools are following parents’ lead and offering more of what families want.

What I am reading this week

The Education Daly

We’re Living Through an Education Depression

In 1990, 48 percent of our nation’s eighth graders had very weak math skills. How did we know? They scored in the lowest performance category, Below Basic, on the national test given to a sample of American students every two years…

2 years ago · 56 likes · 8 comments · Tim Daly

Aldeman On Education

Listen to parent demand!

Fairfax County has a unique opportunity on its hands. When the Saudi government stopped funding a private school in the western part of its boundary, the district stepped in to buy the property at what’s being reported as a large discount. The superintendent…

6 months ago · 8 likes · 5 comments · Chad Aldeman

New York City Could Easily Double Teacher Pay. Why Doesn’t It?(EducationNext)
With no accountability for school lockdowns, freedom’s foes soldier on, a new doc reveals (NY Post)
Board of Regents mandates ‘climate’ curricula as NY kids still struggle with math and reading (NY Post)
Albany Republicans’ $20B shame: state spending madness is their fault, too (NY Post)

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Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

Revisionist history and an unsustainable path for NYC schools

Danyela Souza Egorov — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 15:39:32 GMT

I still remember one day back in 2021. I went to the gym in the morning and later went to dinner with my best friend at our favorite restaurant in the West Village. However, my son, who was in 2nd grade, was still doing remote learning from home. My gym and my favorite restaurant were open, but my son’s public school was not. At dinner, I remember telling my friend, “Why are we all here without masks, drinking and dining, and my son still can’t go to school??!!”

The decision to reopen the entire city, but not its public schools, was heavily influenced by Randi Weingarten’s leadership. She had an outsized role in shaping the CDC guidelines and in keeping schools closed until Congress approved the aid package for public schools.

Her new book offers a revisionist history of that time, and I wrote about it for.

Read the article

NYC Public Schools lost 87,000 K-12 students since 2020

On November 3rd the NYC DOE sent preliminary enrollment numbers to journalists and they show the unsustainable path that our public schools are taking:

There are 793,300 students enrolled in K-12 grades. That’s down 2.3% from the previous year and nearly 10% since 2020.
There are 112 public schools with fewer than 150 students, up from 80 schools just two years ago.
Prekindergarten enrollment is down 8% this year alone.

I wrote about how Mayor Adams did little to address the massive problem of schools that are under enrolled: his administration closed/merged 18 schools while also planning to open 28 new schools. The new Mayor will have to deal with the problem of half-empty schools sooner or later.

Read the article

What I am reading this week

We all need friends who read only fiction and can recommend great books. My friend recommended Project Hail Mary and I am loving it. I am not a science fiction fan at all, but this book is about so much more than astrophysics and space travel.

Bleeding kids:’ NYC public schools face biggest enrollment drop in four years (NY Post)
We’re in an education depression. This solution is a no-brainer (Washington Post)
Unlike Michigan, Indiana got tough on missing school. It’s already working (Bridge Michigan)

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My appearance on the Bigger Apple podcast

Danyela Souza Egorov — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:13:27 GMT

Education often receives insufficient attention in the news, in my opinion. There was minimal discussion about public schools in the recent mayoral election, despite the NYC Department of Education costing 40% of the city’s budget.

I was grateful for the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing our public schools in depth with my colleagues, and , on their podcast . Liena has an excellent weekly newsletter about all things related to NYC, and I highly recommend that you subscribe.

The Bigger Apple

What's Failing New York's Schools?

On this week’s episode of The Bigger Apple Podcast, we sat down with Danyela Souza Egorov — Manhattan Institute fellow, public-school parent, and founder of Families for New York — to talk about the issue that hasn’t been at the center of this mayoral race: education…

6 months ago · 1 like · Nicole Gelinas and Liena Zagare

Listen to the podcast

What I am reading this week

Some great articles about education on Substack:

Center for Educational Progress

What Went Wrong with Math Instruction in New York?

Editor’s Note: This article discusses a New York petition asking Commissioner Rosa to retract the NY math briefs. You can find the petition and associated letter here…

6 months ago · 26 likes · 1 comment · Benjamin Solomon

The Argument

Education isn't a zero-sum game

In 2014, too many kids were failing eighth-grade algebra, so San Francisco got rid of it…

6 months ago · 220 likes · 89 comments · Kelsey Piper

New York City Must Retain Mayoral Control of Schools (City Journal)
The leaky kindergarten-to-college pipeline for high-achieving, low-income students (Flypaper)

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Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY

The movement to democratize tutoring

Liz Cohen — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 13:08:47 GMT

I am excited to share today research on the movement to democratize tutoring. States like Louisiana are offering tutoring not only during the school day, but also through vouchers for low-income families to pay for outside tutors.

You can buy her book “The Future of Tutoring” here.

Last year, 50CAN asked a national sample of parents if their child had received academic tutoring in the previous school year. The percentage of parents who said yes was quite clearly related to income: 35% of parents making more than $500,000 had a child in tutoring compared with only 15% of parents making less than $100,000. No real surprise here–tutoring is expensive!

Meanwhile, as many as 10,000 school districts launched tutoring initiatives between 2021 and 2024 as a response to pandemic-era school disruptions. But in most of those schools, the parents often had no idea their child was working with a tutor. Some school leaders told me they would tell parents about their tutoring program to ensure better attendance on tutoring days, but it was far from a consistent practice.

Part of what is compelling about the high-impact tutoring movement that emerged in the immediate post-pandemic years is that it allowed low-income students to access the kind of personalized academic support that their higher-income peers have leveraged for years. High-impact tutoring is when the tutoring takes place at least three times a week, for at least thirty minutes, with no more than four students working with a consistent adult. Ideally, what students work on in the tutoring sessions is connected to what they’re learning in the classroom, though there’s some flexibility, for example with early literacy and math skills. Technological advances are part of what’s made this possible, including the expansion of broadband internet and important evidence that virtual tutoring can be as effective as in-person tutoring. One-time federal funds certainly jumpstarted this trend, with tutoring the most common solution to learning loss adopted by schools. But even with thousands of schools trying out tutoring, too many students still don’t have access to the most effective academic intervention that exists.

When I started my research into the post-pandemic tutoring movement, the focus was on schools and districts that were investing time and resources to build tutoring programs inside the school day. That work is exciting, impactful, and continues even now. But one of the reasons why offering tutoring inside the school day is novel is because it allows students to participate who might otherwise never be able to access that kind of personalized academic support. As that 50CAN survey showed, parents who can afford it are paying for tutoring outside of school in high numbers. By 2022, more than 10,000 private tutoring centers were operating in the United States, primarily in high-income zip codes. When I recently interviewed Brown University economist Matt Kraft about the future of tutoring, he told me he hopes the future is that “we have democratized access to individualized instruction in a way that it’s not only available to families in the private market who can afford it.”

I couldn’t agree more with Kraft–democratizing access to individualized instruction is the real promise of tutoring, and precisely what, for example, the state of Louisiana is doing, both with their robust high-impact tutoring program currently serving more than 240,000 students and with the Steve Carter Tutoring program, which provides $1500 vouchers to eligible families to pay for out-of-school tutoring with approved providers. William Minton is the CEO and founder of Canopy Ed, one of the largest providers of Steve Carter-funded tutoring, serving almost 2,000 students last year. Canopy hires teachers to work as tutors, paying up to $60/hour, with the idea that teachers can build on existing relationships between families and schools. No teacher works with her own students, but with students from other classrooms, building more bonds between students, families, and the school as a whole.

Minton explained that payment also depends on students showing up to tutoring, not just signing up. One of the biggest challenges in high-impact tutoring programs is getting students the amount of tutoring (the dosage) required to yield results. Companies like Canopy mitigate this challenge by incentivizing the tutor to engage with families to ensure the students show up. Focusing on school partnerships also helps–instead of arranging a separate trip to a tutoring center, parents can simply come to school a bit later to collect their child. According to Minton, there are multiple beneficiaries to this program: the students who learn more and feel more engaged in learning, the families who feel empowered to procure tutoring for their child, the teachers who earn desirable additional income, and the entire community that benefits from the virtuous cycle of those first three wins. Would more states follow Louisiana’s lead? When we don’t offer the most effective tool we have to students who need help, it’s hard to imagine we ever truly change outcomes for all children. Districts like New York City may spend more than $30,000 per student on average, but does it matter if the average student isn’t learning all they should or could?

For parents wondering whether your child has access to publicly-funded high-quality tutoring, here are two questions to ask your school:

Do we have a high-impact tutoring program? If so, which students participate? Is my child eligible?
If my child isn’t eligible or we don’t have a high-impact tutoring program, what is your plan for ensuring my child is learning on grade level?

I’d love for every school to answer, “yes, we have high-impact tutoring!” But what’s even more critical is that each school has a plan for supporting every child to academic success. Too many schools have never been asked to articulate their instructional strategy; too many students languish in classrooms where teachers and principals simply hope what they’re doing works. The evidence behind high-impact tutoring, on the other hand, is significant. Students gain months of additional learning, attend school more regularly, and often become more engaged in their own learning. After a summer tutoring program in New Jersey, for example, 82% of students said they were more likely to now participate in their regular math class because of tutoring. That’s on top of the average four-month gain of additional learning that researchers found after analyzing 89 separate tutoring research studies.

In 1900, renowned education reformer John Dewey wrote that “what the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.” In 2025, what everyone wants is tutoring; let’s provide access for as many children as possible.

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Contact me if you want to help bring universal education choice to NY! #SchoolChoiceNY