January 15, 2020
Dear Chancellor Carranza:
Our students’ zip codes should not determine their number of opportunities. But, as I’ve raised
before, the recent Parent Teaching Associations (PTA) and Parent Associations (PA) fundraising
report discloses what so many of us have intuitively known: there are glaring disparities among
schools, districts and neighborhoods. Please consider giving all schools a baseline amount of
funding for PTAs and PAs, as well as changing the Chancellor’s regulations to allow schools that
desire to do so to share PTA revenues with other schools.
It is imperative that the Department of Education help make sure our schools are more equitable.
Students should have an array of opportunities—whether it’s AP classes or enrichment, but
unfortunately, that is not the reality at many of our schools.
My PTA/PA bill, which is now Local Law 171 of 2018, produced a report that highlighted the
drastic disparities among schools. As I’ve stated before, we know through anecdotal reports that
schools can use PTA and PA funds to supplement funding—and that funding can be used for a
variety of factors, including adding teachers to staff payrolls. A school in an under-resourced
community simply does not have that option.
If DOE added a base-level of funding to PTAs and PAs and allowed schools that desired to share
resources to do so, this could help move our schools in the right direction towards equity.
In addition to giving all schools a baseline amount of funding for PTAs and PAs and updating the
Chancellor’s regulations to allow schools who desire to do so to share PTA revenues with other
schools, it is important that all stakeholders come to the table to discuss the future of PTAs and
PAs. As DOE works to make our schools fairer, there must be communication with parents,
advocates, and other important stakeholders. DOE should create a working group of stakeholders
to determine adequate base-level amount of funding for all schools.

 We must improve equity throughout our school system and a part of that should including finding
ways to improve the best practices of PTAs. Every child should have the opportunity to participate
in extra enrichments or attend a school with an art teacher.
As we work towards being the fairest big city in America, let’s make sure that we are uplifting all
students at all of our schools.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,

Council Member Mark Treyger