District 28 reviews $1.09 billion state Contracts for Excellence funding, public comment open through July 8

Superintendent Dr. Blake told Community Education Council 28 on June that student achievement indicators in the district showed “an upward trajectory,” and he outlined how new state Contracts for Excellence funding and city allocations will be used for class-size reduction, multilingual learners and other targeted programs.

The Contracts for Excellence (C4E) program is state legislation that requires a portion of foundation aid be used for specific restricted purposes to raise achievement for students with greatest educational need. Dr. Blake said the fiscal 2026 C4E appropriation will increase to $1,090,000,000 citywide — up about $286 million from the previous year — with $241 million identified for class-size mandates and other allocations for summer school, integrated co-teaching and prekindergarten.

District 28’s proposed share, Dr. Blake said, includes approximately $16 million in discretionary school-directed funds and just over $13 million targeted for class-size reduction; other targeted allocations listed included fair student funding, integrated co-teaching classrooms, summer programming and phased class-size funds. He said the district will post detailed allocations and urged principals to work with school leadership teams and families on plans for use.

Dragomira Koleva, identified in the meeting as the senior grants officer who joined the meeting for questions, answered procedural questions about which schools are included and where to send follow-up questions. Koleva said schools that are geographically within a community district typically are included in that district’s counts and that questions about cross‑district reporting could be submitted through the public comment email.

The district encouraged public feedback on the C4E and the draft class-size reduction plan; the deadline for comments is July 8, 2025. The meeting repeated the two email addresses announced in the presentation for public input: contractsforexcellence@schools.nyc.gov and classsize@schools.nyc.gov. Dr. Blake also noted the city will work with the unions (UFT and CSA) to finalize the plan and that under the law the plan requires union sign‑off.

The district presentation included results it said were driven by local planning and additional hires: roughly 750 schools citywide were awarded funding to hire about 3,700 new teachers and “46% of classes” were reported below the caps required by law for the 2024–25 school year.

Public questions at the meeting concerned which schools geographically counted for District 28, how the 3,500–3,700 teachers referenced are being hired, and whether the draft plan and related materials would be posted online; Koleva said the materials will be posted and that hiring is being coordinated through borough hiring leads. The superintendent’s office said it would consider public feedback before finalizing the district plan.

The district noted additional informational resources from the New York State Education Department on eligible uses and approvals for C4E spending and said the class‑size draft plan will be posted as part of the public process.

A formal vote was not taken on the plan at the meeting; the presentation was informational and public comment will be accepted through July 8, 2025.