City Schools Struggling
Education officials said yesterday that [the number of city schools flunking state standards has climbed] due to the addition of 51 schools to its list of failing institutions (otherwise known as those that have yet to be successful). The state found 699 of its schools to be lacking, thats about one in eight, and 421 of that figure are here in the city. This is only a slight increase from last year, but nevertheless these figures arent exactly slap-a-smile-on-your-face-wet-yourself-with-pride pleasing. Forty-five of the needy city schools receive federal poverty aid, meaning that they could lose the money unless they become more impressive. On a brighter note, 27 needy schools and 12 other low-poverty schools in the city that were once on the dreaded list have performed well enough to now be excluded. Up until last year, NYC had experienced decreases in the number of needy schools since 2003, which saw a grand total of 497. Officials had attributed this coup to the Bloomberg administration's education reforms. But in light of the new figures, theyre blaming Bushs No Child Left Behind law.