FAQ

CEC stands for Community Education Council. It is our local school board for NYC. There is one CEC for each school district in NYC. School districts are mapped differently than congressional or city voting districts. (Map of school districts.) While mayoral control significantly limits the power of CECs, they still have a direct line to the DOE and have the ability to weigh in on curriculum, zoning and admissions policies. CEC elections occur every 2 years in the spring. The 2025 election is over, the next election will be spring 2027.

Yes! CEC meetings are open to the public and are held once a month. Google your local CEC board number to find their public site that will list upcoming board meetings. For District 2, the next meeting will be listed on the D2 CEC websites approximately a month in advance. Meetings are on Wednesdays at 6pm. The meetings are hosted at school buildings. You can watch old meetings on the D2 CEC youtube page. (Live meetings are also broadcast on the youtube page - it takes about 10-15 minutes for it to go fully live.) Come see if the those in the current majority continue to leave mid-meeting because they don't want to listen to parents or the community.

A parent or guardian who has a student enrolled in a public (non-charter) school is able to vote for CEC members in the district that school is located in. If you live in Brooklyn but your child goes to school in District 2 you will vote for CEC candidates in District 2. You do not need to be a citizen or registered to vote in city elections to vote in CEC elections.

For grades pre K - 8, you vote in the district where your kid(s) goes to school. For example, if you live in Brooklyn but your student goes to a D2 school, you will vote in the D2 CEC election. If you have a kid in D2 and a kid in D15, you will vote in both D2 and D15 elections. For high schools, you will vote in the citywide CCSE election. The IEP board is also citywide. You will know what you can vote for because it will appear in your account!

Voting is through your NYC Schools Account (NYCSA) - this is the same account that you can check grades on, it is not the same as a my schools account. The CEC voting button is on the bottom row, lower right hand. It will take you to the voting portal. You have 3 votes for student associated with your account - if you have more than one student you will need to vote each ballot separately. If you don't have a NYC schools account contact the Parent Coordinator at your school and ask them to provide you with the account set up code and your students OSIS numbers. Your student OSIS numbers are also on their report cards. Full guide to set up from the DOE.

You should vote because races in the 2023 District 2 CEC election were won and lost by single votes. This isn't the presidential election. This is LOCAL politics where your vote could actually decide the race. Do you want right wing MAGA embracing representation or parents who care about kids and education? That is what happens when regular parents don't vote. This is NYC, we might have awful mayors but we don't need to also have awful CECs.

Voting started on Friday April 25th and will run through May 13th. Use your NYCSA account to vote - the CEC button is on the lower row on the right hand side. Voting for CECs is every two years. We will be stuck being represented by right wing Mom's for Liberty leaning individuals who won't even stay for a full meeting (5 out of the last 10 meetings haven't had votes because members have left or been absent) if we don't get parents that actually care voted in NOW.

You can vote for three candidates per child. If there are two parents or guardians in your family, one or both of you can vote. If only one of you votes, that person's will be able to vote for three candidates and each candidate will receive a full vote. If both of you vote, each person will be able to vote for three candidates with each person giving HALF a vote to their selected candidates, for a total of three vote. If you have two children you will have two ballots, each with three votes. You will have SIX votes total.

Nope - only one parent / guardian per family needs to vote. There are three votes per student. If only one of you votes, that person will be able to vote for three candidates and each candidate will receive a full vote. If both of you vote, each person will be able to vote for three candidates with each person giving HALF a vote to their selected candidates, for a total of three votes. If you have two children you will have two ballots, each with three votes. You will have SIX votes total. We recommend voting for the same slate for each child (if they are within the same district).

You can vote for anyone who is running in the district. While you may have candidates running from you school, the pool of candidates is anyone running in your particular district. For District 2, we provide 3 recommended candidates per school - this is because there are 3 votes associated with each student. We are supporting more than 3 candidates in D2, but to make it easy to vote and to ensure that votes are spread out across the candidates, we have provided suggestions by school based partially on where candidates home school is located.

No, we care about a lot of things! 1. We care about more parents knowing what their local CEC is up to outside of once every two years. Not paying attention is what lets Moms for Liberty supporters sneak by. 2. We care about equity and excellence. We will be raising support for important issues that impact our kids. 3. We care about process: we'd like to see the CEC elections run better with easier voting. 4. We care about all elections, because all elections have the potential to impact kids!

We are regular, tired parents and concerned citizens. We want our kids, your kids and our neighbors' kids to all receive the supports they need to succeed in school and life. We want fair and equitable schools that push all kids to learn and thrive. Not just a select few. We care deeply about academics but we also care about racial equity and social and emotional learning. Our kids can be smart and kind. We know that kids with IEPs deserve the services designed for them. The city needs to provide them. We support current NYC and NY state policy on trans students in sports, which was set in 2019. We aren't going back to the dark ages. The current majority does not represent us and has not listened when we have asked them to, so it is time for them to go. We have identified candidates who we believe stand with our basic principals and will listen to a community that wants a better future for every child. In 2027, we hope the choice between candidates comes down to the fine details. But today, we are voting for parents who care enough to stand up to hate.

We looked for candidates who had demonstrated a commitment to inclusive, equitable and honest public education in NYC - and who have strong ties to their school communities. Also we owe many huge thanks to parent groups in D15 and D30 and AQE for providing supporting recommendations for other districts and the citywide councils, all with the same view towards values. Our lists took many hours and are as good as we could get them. We are not affiliated with any candidates. The DOE does not allow CEC candidates to solicit endorsements or work collectively with other candidates to campaign, which limits how deep any group can go into vetting.

If you have NYC public school student(s): Sign up for a NYCSA and be ready to vote! Make sure ALL of your friends have accounts too! Tell everyone at your school to check out the familiesforchangenyc.org website and voting recommendations (PTA announcements, class whatsapp groups, pick up and drop off)! Attend a CEC meeting to see what it's all about. (Old meetings are also available on the CEC District 2 youtube channel.) Sign up for our email list for updates and more ways to get involved! If you don't have NYC public school student(s): Tell any parents or guardians that you do know! Sign up for our email list for updates and more ways to get involved! Attend a CEC meeting.

We are an unaffiliated group of local volunteers who want to elect people who will actually listen to the D2 and other CECs. We don't want right wing hate representing us. We want parents who actually care sitting in those seats. We are not being paid to do this. We are doing this on our nights and weekends. We are very tired, but we are fighting. Doing the right thing matters. We have no affiliation with any candidate (not because we don't like them, but because it is a requirement related to CEC voting rules).