City plans to slash funding from Young Adult Borough Centers — a last resort option for students

Evening programs that offer students who struggled in high school another chance to graduate may soon face steep funding cuts from the city’s education department.

Education officials plan to reduce funding directed to the city’s 23 Young Adult Borough Centers by an average of $254,000 each, and will shift the money to transfer schools, which also help students who have fallen behind in traditional schools.

The funding in question is used to hire counselors who help keep students engaged in school, offering career and academic support, and to pay students to complete internships. City officials are planning to shift funding so that more transfer schools — serving more students — can get those benefits.

But the move could leave schools that serve some of the city’s most vulnerable students with fewer resources to get them to graduation, some observers said, all while Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to increase the city’s graduation rate to 80 percent. Several agencies that provide those services in schools argue the funding shift will have dire consequences for YABCs.

The cuts will be “devastating [and] would fundamentally change the program,” said Michelle Yanche, director of government and external relations at Good Shepherd Services, a nonprofit organization that helps run the program in a dozen YABCs. “It shouldn’t be taken from Peter to pay Paul.”

Young Adult Borough Centers, which serve about 4,800 students citywide, are night programs rather than standalone schools. Transfer schools, meanwhile, are actual schools that run classes during the day, serving about 13,000 students. In both, students who have fallen behind in high school work toward high school diplomas.

The funding stream the city plans to shift from YABCs to transfer schools is dedicated to a program called Learning to Work. Education officials are actually increasing the amount of money spent on that program by $3.7 million. But because the city is planning to expand it to 18 more transfer schools, the average transfer school will see about a $7,000 bump, while YABCs each lose roughly $250,000.

City officials said the exact changes in funding will depend on student enrollment and need, and stressed that the funding changes are estimates. Overall, the changes are a positive, they said, since they provide more funding and will reach more students.

“Expanding Learning to Work to all eligible transfer schools is what’s best for students and families, and will support approximately 5,000 more high-needs students on their path to college and careers,” said education department spokesman Will Mantell.

Helene Spadaccini, principal of a transfer school in the South Bronx, said her school has used the program to place students in internships in fields like retail and construction.

“It’s been extremely powerful in working with our students, which is why I’m really glad it’s spreading,” Spadaccini said.

But the shift will mean YABCs lose about a third of their current funding, and will result in staffing reductions. The staff-to-student ratio at YABCs is expected to balloon from one staff member per 34 students to one per 55, according to a Department of Education document obtained by Chalkbeat.

The change in staffing levels could have a major effect on the program’s quality, multiple providers said. “What makes the difference for our students is if they have individual adults who are like clams holding on to them, who know if they are going to school every day, and reach out if they don’t,” Good Shepherd’s Yanche said. “That relationship is the most pivotal factor.”

Sheila Powell, who has two children who graduated with the help of YABCs, has seen that firsthand. In the YABCs, unlike in larger high schools, teachers ensured her children didn’t slip through the cracks, Powell said. They also called her multiple times each week to check in.

“They loved my daughter, they loved my son,” Powell said. “They were really concerned, genuinely concerned, about my kids and they didn’t give up on them.”

Several providers and advocates said they supported the expansion of Learning to Work into more transfer schools — just not at the expense of other programs that serve the city’s most vulnerable students.

“New York City continues to see increased graduation rates, and the range of programs [for over-age and under-credited students] are a big reason why,” said Lazar Treschan, director of youth policy at the Community Service Society. “Moving any funding out of YABCs seems very short-sighted.”