Budget & finance
It will be a pivotal school year for schools Chancellor David Banks, as his signature initiative to overhaul literacy instruction starts rolling out.
NYC officials announced a budget agreement that restores funding to a slew of programs that were on the chopping block.
Advocates want the mayor to restore funding for the Mental Health Continuum, a program that gives students easier access to counselors.
New York City’s College Choice program attempts to set up a stable future for students in foster care, who might otherwise be unable to pay for college or incur student loan debt, even with federal and state grants.
The tentative deal with the United Federation of Teachers includes annual wage increases between 3% to 3.5% over five years. It follows the pattern of raises set by District Council 37.
Programs have long struggled to provide all children with the services they need, as they are legally required to do.
With just a month until the school year ends, families are scrambling to find alternate summer programs for their children.
The decision to start the new school year with steady budgets, however, doesn’t mean schools are completely immune from cuts.
For future school years, education department officials are bracing for some big expenses to comply with the law.
Mayor Eric Adams has proposed ending Promise NYC, which has provided free child care to 600 undocumented immigrant children.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams blasted the mayor’s approach to early childhood education, describing the system as “broken” and “in full crisis mode.
As the city expects another wave of newcomer immigrant families, educators are worried it will become even more challenging to support English learners.
In total, New York City schools will receive about 4% more in funding than last year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for more charter schools in New York City emerged as one of the last items holding up the overdue state budget — and her keen interest puzzled many following the issue.
Two-thirds of that cut, or about $650 million, is the result of Adams’ decision to reduce the city’s contribution to the education department.
The education department’s spending per pupil has increased by 46%, in large part due to the billions in federal COVID aid the district received as enrollment has dipped.
City Hall did not rule out the possibility that individual school budgets could be cut.
The group of schools identified by Chalkbeat have been allowed to continue reporting poverty rates that are in some cases nearly two decades old, education department officials acknowledged.
The vote by the city’s 23-member board — largely comprised by mayoral appointees — is not the final step for the agency’s budget.
The study comes after Mayor Eric Adams decided earlier this year to pause the expansion of the preschool program for 3-year-olds as planned under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The proposals, which include figuring out where to build new pools, aim to create a stronger lifeguard pipeline in New York City.
The move could boost enrollment at CUNY’s undergraduate schools and programs as college enrollment remains below pre-pandemic levels.
With the majority of the school year now over, school districts haven’t been able to apply for the grant money due to a lengthy bureaucratic process.
Success Academy, Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First all shrank. Still, Gov. Kathy Hochul has pushed to raise the NYC charter cap.
For some DC 37 workers, the pay bump represents at least a partial acknowledgment of their crucial work helping keep the city’s school system running during the pandemic, often at far lower wages than other school staffers, union officials said.
Although schools keep a record of devices, city watchdogs have criticized the education department for having no centralized system.
Harbor Heights Middle School, which had just over 100 students before the pandemic, dropped to an enrollment of around 60 students this year.
Banks revealed the plan Wednesday while outlining the financial costs of lowering newly required class sizes over the next five years.
NYC has used hundreds of millions worth of federal relief funding for programs with recurring costs, including pre-K and hiring more nurses and social workers.
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