Selim Algar

City Councilman Ben Kallos is pushing legislation that would waive application fees for city public school students hoping to enroll at CUNY colleges.

Roughly 75,000 Department of Education kids apply to the public schools each year and pay $65 to do so.

“It’s unacceptable that right now, a 17-year-old can be told by a high school guidance counselor their rent-burdened single mother isn’t poor enough to get a break on hundreds of dollars of fees to apply to colleges and compete for scholarships,” said Kallos, who co-sponsored the bill introduced last week.

Overall, the initiative would cost the city roughly $4.8 million.

Around 75,000 New York City public schools students apply to CUNY colleges every year.

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“This legislation is about bringing more access and equity to the families that struggle,” he said. “A $65 fee should not be what prevents a talented kid from getting into a CUNY.”

The largest urban university system in the country, CUNY currently runs 11 senior campuses along with seven community colleges across the boroughs.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is co-sponsoring Councilman Ben Kallos’ effort.

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The schools currently enroll roughly 275,000 students.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is co-sponsoring the legislation.

Mayoral candidate and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams also supports the effort.

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“College application fees can be a financial burden for our public school students,” she said. “This legislation will make applying to CUNY more accessible for high schoolers and will help make their dreams of a college education possible.”

Mayoral candidate and current Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is also backing the push.

A City Councilman wants the Department of Education to spell out which schools are providing healthcare support to their students.

Councilman Ben Kallos is re-introducing legislation this week that would compel the DOE to reveal which schools offer services like vision care and HPV vaccines.

“We should know exactly which health services are available to which public schools so that we can ensure all 1.1 million public school students have access to the health services they need,” Kallos said.

The Manhattan Democrat said the DOE has not been adequately transparent about healthcare resources in city school buildings and should be legally obligated to do so.

City Councilman Ben Kallos, who also pushed for the program, called for its reinstatement.

“The faster we bring the program to more francophone families that need it, the better off the children will be,” he said.

A pair of City Council members is urging the de Blasio administration to use remote learning to better “desegregate” the district — including by offering more gifted and talented programs.

In a letter to schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday, Councilmen Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) and Robert Cornegy (D-Brooklyn) said online instruction frees the district up from building space and cost restraints.

That means remote learning can be molded to suit individual student needs — and even offer G&T-level instruction for kids in areas that don’t have the coveted programs, the pols said.

“The virtual schools within this new district would be organized around learning style, enrichment, and even common interest,” the letter stated. “Enrichment programs like Gifted and Talented or those tailored to specific interests and remote-learning styles could finally be offered to every student who qualified.”

Cornegy and Kallos argued in their letter that educational opportunity is distributed unevenly across the city — often on racial and socio-economic lines — and that remote learning can help to address that imbalance.