NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- In a bid to reduce the almost $3 billion New York City budget deficit, Mayor Eric Adams proposed a series of austerity measures in his $98.5 billion preliminary budget that included cuts to the Department of Education.
Adams is seeking a $557 million reduction in school staff while avoiding layoffs, according to Chalkbeat.
His plan is to eliminate 3,600 jobs by allowing schools to lose positions as vacancies open instead of firing someone to achieve the same effect.
About 95% of the roles he's looking to cut are "pedagogical" positions, the umbrella term the city uses for all teachers, administrators and counselors. That would mean further crowding in classrooms and more strain on all school staff who work directly with kids.
Who will bear the burden of Mayor Adams' "fiscal discipline"? While NYC's school-to-prison pipeline remains intact, our children will face $375 million cuts to education budget and 3,200 fewer teachers, counselors. Will @NYCCouncil step up and fight back? https://t.co/fbjM2SFEIk
— John Choe (崔容準 | 최용준) for NYC 🌐 (@johnchoe4nyc) February 19, 2022
City Hall is banking on a decrease in enrollment to justify the squeeze. Adams plans to offload $375 million in cuts to schools that have decreased enrollment.
The budget would also cut 560 school safety officers. Those cuts could be implemented right away, as the agency already has more than 1,000 unfilled positions, according to the New York Daily News.
Overall, Adams' proposal would actually increase the city's spending on schools by 3%, though the increase would mostly go to private charter schools while public schools would be stuck tightening their belts.
The $30.7 billion proposed budget for the DOE includes a $281 million increase for charter schools and $134 million increase for transport.
Due to a prior infusion of state and federal money, the DOE's overall budget will still fall by about $1 billion compared to the previous year, even with the spending increase from the city.
Eric Adams is like, "As mayor of New York City I will make public school teachers have 400-student classes on Zoom to cut the Education budget and show you how to arrest your own mother."
— Julia Claire (@ohJuliatweets) June 13, 2021
