NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- In a joint letter, 41 of the 51 New York City Council members called on Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Education to renege on school budget cuts that will result in the city spending less on each child.
The City Council signed off on a $215 million budget cut when it voted 44 to 6 to pass Adams’ 2023 city budget in mid-June, but many council members are now claiming the Adams administration misled them by saying the cuts would be fully accounted for by declining enrollment.
A report from the New York Post later revealed that changes to the Fair Student Funding formula would result in a decrease in the amount the city spends per student.
The formula is used to calculate how much money is allotted to each school on a per-student basis.
City Council is blaming DOE policy for reductions in funding beyond what is made necessary by the cuts the Council voted for.
“DOE has indicated a gap in school budgets of approximately $215 million, barely 0.06% of the agency’s $37.6 billion budget. Despite differing amounts of funding being reported as cut from schools by DOE, indicating even greater reductions and the policy-driven nature of school budgets, the solution remains the same,” said the letter. “DOE’s numbers are not adding up, and it seems to be using the city budget as a smokescreen to evade responsibility for its policies that undermine support for schools.”
“At the end of the day they are responsible for the budget they signed,” Schools Chancellor David Banks said at a press conference last month.
The letter went on to suggest the DOE use surplus federal stimulus funds to make up the gap in spending since the City Council already voted away its ability to ensure adequate funds are available in the budget.
“Declining federal stimulus funds cannot be an excuse for bad policy decisions, and the funds exist within DOE’s $37.6 billion budget to support schools,” said the letter. “As of June 7, the Independent Budget Office tracker identified $761 million in unspent federal stimulus funds for Fiscal Year 2022 and $38.1 million from Fiscal Year 2021 within the agency’s budget… These are funds that must be used for school budgets.”
Banks said the DOE wants to wean schools off of using federal stimulus money in an attempt to avoid a fiscal cliff when the cash runs out.
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