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Good morning! This is Alex with Chalkbeat New York.

Debate has simmered for years about the growing cost of private school tuition payments for families who believe their children can’t be properly served in public schools. Those payments reached $723 million last school year, up more than 300% over the prior decade.

Now, for the first time, city officials have released statistics about who those families are. The data show that 71% of students with disabilities who received tuition payments last year were white, a population that makes up just 12.5% of students with disabilities in the city’s public schools. Meanwhile, few students of color, who represent the vast majority of students with disabilities, receive tuition payments.

Our top story this morning dives into the reasons for that inequity — and the big questions that loom for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose administration has signaled a desire to reduce private special education costs.

Local News

Private schools, public dollars: A staggering racial gap in NYC special education tuition payments

NYC spent $723 million on private school tuition payments for students with disabilities, but students of color in higher-need neighborhoods are far less likely to benefit.

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