NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — New York City’s summer school program “Summer Rising” kicked off Tuesday.
Thanks to some tough financial decisions in the past years, the program is more fully restored.
More than 100,000 students are taking part in “Summer Rising.”
The city’s version of summer school combines classes with summer camp-style activities.
This year, there was some concern about what “Summer Rising” would look like after the city made some cuts, blaming the asylum seeker crisis and the pandemic.
But, the money was restored to allow the program to run fully.
For the first time since it began in 2021 under the De Blasio administration, the Department of Education will cover its roughly $80 million portion of the tab.
“Summer Rising” costs about $350 million to operate.
Each year, more students are applying.
This year out of 138,000 students, 110,000 got in.
NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks spoke to Eyewitness News Anchor Bill Ritter on “Up Close.”
“The biggest initiative that we put in place was NYC reads. Got to make sure our kids on grade level are reading. We not only increased reading this past year but also increased in math by double digits,” he said. “We still have a long way to go, but enrollment is up, reading is up, math is up. We feel like we’re really reconnecting back with school again.”
Chancellor Banks attended the first day of Summer Rising at MS 210 in Ozone Park, Queens.
Students will have off for the 4th of July holiday.
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