Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
On Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 1:00 PM, the New York City Council Committees on Education (Chair Eric Dinowitz) and Higher Education (Chair Rita Joseph) held a joint oversight hearing at 250 Broadway to examine the implementation and expansion of the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness. The committees also discussed granting college credits for the Seal at CUNY and heard testimony on four related pieces of legislation: Intro 259 (dental care information), Res 418 (CUNY credits for the Seal), Res 451 (Next-Gen Civics Act), and Proposed Res 620-A (universal Seal access in DOE high schools). All introduced legislation was heard by the committees and laid over without a final vote.
Opening Remarks and Background: Chair Joseph provided an overview of the Seal of Civic Readiness, which requires students to earn points through civic knowledge benchmarks, participation, and a capstone project. Chair Dinowitz highlighted the rapid expansion of the program, noting that 8,000 students from 166 DOE high schools earned the Seal in the 2024-2025 school year, a 72% increase from the prior year. He strongly advocated for CUNY to award college credits for the Seal, comparing it to the successful expansion of credits for the Seal of Biliteracy. He framed the initiative as having no downside, calling it a "win-win-win-win-win" for students, families, schools, CUNY, and New York City.
CUNY Testimony: Alyssa Vine, University Director of Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) at CUNY, testified that CUNY has established CPL pathways for credentials like the Seal of Biliteracy but has not yet evaluated the Civic Readiness Seal for credit. She stated that the breadth of the Civic Readiness Seal requires careful faculty review to identify routes that demonstrate college-level learning, with the high school Capstone Project being a promising candidate. She committed to convening faculty to begin this evaluation process.
DOE Testimony: Cordelia Veve, Chief of Curriculum and Instruction for New York City Public Schools, presented on the "Civics for All" initiative and the scale of the Seal program. The number of schools offering the Seal has grown from 31 in the pilot year to a projected 271. In the 2025-2026 school year, 12,019 students earned the Seal, a 1,600% increase from the first year. The DOE detailed its project accreditation process to ensure rigor and its plan to offer the Seal in all high schools, as 56.2% of diploma-granting schools currently participate. The total civic education budget was reported as $3,001,659, with $1.6 million going directly to schools for participatory budgeting.
Interagency Collaboration and Data: Councilmember Joseph pressed for formal data sharing on Seal recipients between DOE and CUNY, which both agencies committed to establishing. Chair Dinowitz requested a meeting between CUNY and DOE to audit student Seal projects for college-level equivalency and urged both agencies to collaborate closely. CUNY agreed to form a faculty working group to evaluate the Seal.
Equity, Access, and Outreach: Councilmembers Wilson, Farías, Narcisse, and Gutiérrez raised concerns about equitable access for students of color, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. The DOE testified that its curriculum focuses on multiple perspectives and that projects can be completed in a student's home language. Chair Dinowitz and Councilmember Brewer strongly emphasized the need for better public outreach to families, as many are unaware of the civic education programs in schools. The DOE committed to working with the "MySchools" website division to make Seal participation a searchable filter for families and to identify Seal-offering schools at high school fairs.
Data, Budget, and Transcripts: Chair Dinowitz requested data on Seal earners broken down by race, ethnicity, income, disability, borough, and school type, which the DOE agreed to provide. He also raised a technical concern that the legacy ATS system only allows listing one distinction on a transcript, potentially undercounting Seal earners. The DOE acknowledged the issue and noted the transition to the OASIS system. Chair Dinowitz urged the DOE to keep professional learning in-house to ensure teachers are compensated, rather than outsourcing to private contractors.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We apologize for the delay. We've been playing musical rooms this morning. So uh uh we appreciate your uh cooperation today. Uh we're getting ready to start at no time is anybody allowed to approach the dais. If you have any questions that you need to answer, just get the attention of one of us, Sergeant at Arms, and we'll be more than happy to assist you. Chairs, we're ready to begin. Good afternoon. I'm Councilmember Rita Joseph, Chair of the Committee on Higher Education. Welcome to our joint hearing with Committee on Education, chaired by Councilmember Eric Dinowitz. Today's hearing is on the use of New York State Seal of Civic Readiness in DOE's high school and at CUNY. Additionally, our committees will hear the following legislation. Intro 259, sponsored by Councilmember Sheker Krishnan, amending the administrative code of the City of New York in relation to requiring the Department of Education to distribute information about the importance of dental care. Reso 418, sponsored by Councilmember Dinowitz, calling on the City of University to ensure all campus award an appropriate number of college credits to students who earn New York State Seal of Civic Readiness and High School. Reso 451, sponsored by Councilmember Suzanne Joang, calling on the New York State Legislator to pass and the governor to sign aid 9298 and a companion bill in the Senate, which enact next Gen Civics Act, providing hands-on project based on civic education to students in grades 9 through 12. And proposed Reso 620A, also sponsored by Councilmember Dinowitz, calling on the New York State New York City Department of Education to ensure that the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness is awarded in all New York City public high school to eligible students. First, let me ask Councilmember Zhuang to deliver her remarks on her bill. Thank you so much for two chairs as a mother of two. Right now, young people are not in not engaging in politics. Young New Yorkers remain among the least civically engaged voters in the city. Participating among schools in civic education reminds voluntary and uneven. But young people who receive high-quality civic education are significantly more likely to vote, volunteer, and the engaging in their community as a result. That's why I'm asking you to support RISO Rezo 451, calling on New York State legislature to pass and the governor to sign a 9829A and the companion bill in the Senate, which would enact the next Gen Civic Act, providing hands-on project based on civic education to students in grade 9 through 12. This instruction will include hands-on project where students apply what they learn through activity like market election, community projects, and the policy simulations. I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution and help our children learn about how our government work in a way that will engage and extend excite them. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember. Now calling on Councilmember Krishna. Thank you so much, Chairs Joseph and Dinowitz. At a time when in our country right now, there is so much wrong information, disinformation, false information about our public health, which is impeding access to uh resources, critical life-saving resources for our children, for our seniors. When the Secretary of Health in our country is deliberately trying to uh spread wrong information about vaccines and reduce uh Americans' access to vaccines. It is more critical than ever that we in New York City step up to make sure that our children especially uh get the information and vaccines and medical resources that they need. That's why I'm proud to uh be hearing today uh my legislation to make sure that our Department of Education is informing parents about the importance of fluoride uh when it comes to our children's dental health. We've heard so much wrong information and questions at the federal level about the importance of fluoride, but we know more than ever it is crucial for our children's dental health. And I want to thank the DOE for being a partner to make sure that our students uh and our parents can get the information they need to take care of their children's health. Thank you to our chairs and looking forward to today's hearing. Thank you, Councilmember Krishnan. Now, for a little background on today's hearing topic, the seal of civic readiness, which was implemented statewide in 2022, recognizes high school students that have attained a high level of proficiency in civic knowledge, skills, and actions. It also shows higher education institutions and employees that students have completed an action project in civics or social justice. To earn the seal of civic readiness, the students must earn points from a menu of various civic knowledge and participation benchmarks, which they can next can select from, which in completing required advanced selective social studies high school courses, passing the social studies regents exam, carrying out a research project, completing a service learning project of at least 25 hours, participating in extracurricular activity or work-based learning experiences of at least 40 hours, and conducting a middle school or high school civic capstone project that addresses a real world issue. Some New York City public high schools have graduating, coming to CUNY with an earned SEAL civic readiness in their hands for several years now. At this hearing, the committees are interested in exploring how SEAL of civic readiness is being promoted and awarded across New York City public school high schools. But the committee is also interested in encouraging CUNY to accept the SEAL for college credit or in fulfillment of a common core or elective requirement. I believe that that would help smooth the transition from high school to college for the DOE high school graduates who made the effort to earn the SEAL. The committee further interested in whether awarding college credit for the seal of civic readiness would eventually improve students' chances of successfully graduating from CUNY. Our committees are also extremely interested in making sure CUNY students graduate in a timely manner so they can move on to pursue their career careers as effectively and efficiently as possible. Now let me turn it over to Chair Dinowitz for his opening remark on the hearing topic on his resolutions. Thank you, Chair Joseph.