New York State education department and Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration agreed to give the city's 145,000 English Language Learners (ELLs) services they've long been slighted. The city agreed in 2011 to provide the students with more bilingual programs and teachers, and quick assessments to determine whether they need classes in languages other than English.

"The commitment is not just about the law," said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, the daughter of immigrants from Spain. "It's about what we know personally that makes a difference."

Fariña and State Education Commissioner John King signed a new agreement before about a hundred educators and advocates at the Cervantes Institute in midtown Manhattan. Neither criticized the former Bloomberg administration, but when pressed by a reporter, King acknowledged the city did not live up to its earlier commitment.

The new plan sets targets for the city to increase the number of bilingual schools by 25 percent each year, to improve professional development for teachers of English Language Learners, to enhance record-keeping, and to improve communication with students and parents.

But King did not say what will happen if the city does not meet the new targets. He said the city has "made progress," and the new agreement is "building on that progress," taking September state standard updates into account. These updates include a meeting with parents in the language they best understand, and a requirement that a school must continue providing a bilingual program if it enrolled at least 15 students the previous year who speak the same home language.

The commissioner said the state will identify new baseline numbers for the city over the next few weeks.