Families, educators in NYC worried over impact of budget cuts to classrooms in fall
Families and educators in New York City are worried over the impact of hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to school budgets and how these cuts could impact classrooms in the fall.
They’re hearing about rising class sizes, losing teachers, and cutting enrichment.
City lawmakers passed a budget deal earlier this month slashing school budgets based on declining enrollment projections.
The city’s public schools (excluding charters) have lost 9.5% of their students since the pandemic began.
Mayor Eric Adams’ $215 million cut to schools was somewhat softened by federal coronavirus stimulus dollars. Without that federal funding, Adams would have cut budgets by $375 million, which he plans to do by the 2024-2025 school year.
Schools must typically return money if they enroll fewer students than projected midway through the school year. But Mayor Bill de Blasio held schools harmless from these cuts over the past two years, largely using COVID stimulus dollars. Adams’ plan reverses this policy and goes back to a funding system that’s more closely tied to enrollment.
The formula provides more money to schools with higher shares of students with disabilities, those learning English as a new language and those struggling academically.
According to an analysis, a majority of schools — 1,035 — will see cuts in Fair Student Funding, as high as $2.8 million at Brooklyn’s James Madison High School. Just under 480 schools will see an increase, up to $1.4 million at Brooklyn’s ENY-Transit Tech High School.
Some education advocates have encouraged families to look up current school budgets and compare them to what’s posted online for schools for next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
However, that won’t show an “apples-to-apples” comparison, since schools typically receive all kinds of funding throughout the course of the year.
