Roughly 250 children from asylum-seeking families are set to start school next week in four upstate counties where New York City has placed them through contentious resettlement efforts.
The children are entitled by law to a public education, regardless of their immigration status. Their transfers from the city to other parts of New York over the last few months has passed the notable responsibility of schooling to the communities where they now live, even as the city continues to pay for their hotel lodging, food and other costs.
The new students are enrolled in Schenectady, Erie, Albany and Monroe counties. Their school districts are getting no immediate funding from either the state or New York City to hire more teachers or aides, if needed, although they may later recoup at least part of those costs.
The incoming students are a small fraction of the 14,000 kids from asylum-seeking families who reportedly were enrolled in New York City schools as of April. The city, which currently has around 59,000 asylum seekers in its care, has taken in more than 100,000 in all since Texas and Arizona began busing them to New York from the southern border in the spring of 2022.
Which upstate schools are they attending?
Perhaps the biggest influx will be in Mohonasen School District, a 2,700-student system in Schenectady County that is expecting 70 students from families living at a Super 8 motel in Rotterdam.
Shannon Shine, Mohonasen’s superintendent, told the USA Today Network this week he estimates his district will pay at least $300,000 in additional personnel costs. It’s hiring two more English language teachers, two teaching assistants and a part-time social worker to accommodate the new students, most of whom speak Spanish.
Incoming students:How NY schools will handle student influx as ‘large numbers’ of asylum seekers arrive
The other new enrollments of migrant children from the city, based on USA Today Network reporting and published accounts, include about 120 students in…
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