Proposed Res. No. 196-A
Title
Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign A.10427A/S.8503A, to change the admissions criteria for New York City's Specialized High Schools.
Body
By Council Member Barron
Whereas, There are nine Specialized High Schools in New York City that serve the needs of academically and artistically gifted students; and
Whereas, For eight of these schools, admission is based solely on the score attained on the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), while for Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (LaGuardia), acceptance is based on an audition and a review of a student's academic records; and
Whereas, A 1971 State law, known as the Hecht-Calandra Act, makes the SHSAT exam the only measure that can be used to admit students to Stuyvesant High School, the Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School; and
Whereas, Civil rights advocates have long complained about the relatively small number of black and Hispanic students in these most selective high schools; and
Whereas, For the 2017-18 school year, black students were offered only 3.8% of the seats at the eight schools and Hispanics 6.5%, even though 64% of the city's public school students are black or Hispanic. Asians were offered 52.5% of the seats, while whites were offered 28%; and
Whereas, In September 2012, a coalition of educational and civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, filed a federal complaint saying that black and Hispanic students were disproportionately excluded from New York City's most selective high schools because of a single-test admittance policy that is racially discriminatory; and
Whereas, The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy group, researched 165 selective high schools around the country and found that New York City's specialized schools were the only ones that us...
Click here for full text