Nearly 200 parents have signed a petition opposing budget cuts planned for I.S. 239, the Mark Twain School for the Gifted and Talented.
The school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) started the petition after learning that the school would lose its free busing for seventh- and eighth-graders and all of the funding provided by a long-standing magnet grant to support specialized programs.
“We’re still collecting signatures from parents,” said Marianne Russo, the PTA’s corresponding secretary. “The petition is to have busing reinstated and some of the money reinstated. We’re still looking into whether the state can give us additional funding or the city can supplement the school because of its unique nature, its unique programs.”
The magnet funding and free busing for students living within School District 21, which includes Coney Island and Bensonhurst, was provided based on a 1974 court order. Meant to desegregate the school, the court order also instituted racial quotas holding minorities to higher admission standards than white students. The court order was lifted this year after the parents of an Indian-American girl sued the city because their daughter was denied admission based on the quota system.
Although parents have applauded the end of racial quotas, they’re dismayed by the loss of busing and magnet funding. The funding will be phased out over the next few years.
“They received about $288,000 dollars this year. It’s going to go down gradually as it ends. There’s no magnet funding in the 2011-2012 school year,” explained city Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson Andrew Jacob.
The principal of Mark Twain referred calls to the DOE’s press office.
But parents are wondering if the loss of magnet funding will mean the loss of programs. When citywide budget cuts were implemented last spring, Mark Twain Principal Carol Moore ended after-school programs more than a month before the close of the school year.
“As of now, [the principal] has not said specifically what will be cut,” Russo explained.
“Parents are upset,” said Shelly Smith, Mark Twain’s PTA co-president.
“Mark Twain is a very financially healthy school,” Jacob asserted. “They had a surplus of about $250,000 last year, which is about equal to the magnet grant.”
Parents expressed concern at the likelihood of their children commuting via public transportation to the school. The free busing was only available to students who live in District 21. Students who live outside of the district pay for private busing.
“I wouldn’t feel safe with her going on the bus,” Smith said of her daughter. “I would not feel comfortable with her traveling on mass transportation. It’s a ten-year-old going to a school.”
Some parents would likely drive their children to Mark Twain, located at 2401 Neptune Avenue. But that could be problematic, explained Yoketing Eng, whose son attends the school.
“It can be difficult for parents who have more than one kid – dropping off one sibling and having to make the trip all the way to Mark Twain,” said Eng, president of District 21’s Community Education Council (CEC).
The DOE notes that throughout the city, free busing is provided for elementary schools – not middle schools. Now that the court order is lifted, Mark Twain will receive no special treatment.
“We don’t provide bus services past sixth grade and Mark Twain is no longer an exception,” Jacob said.
