Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is imposing mid-year budget cuts to public schools with declining student enrollment amid calls for agencies to slash spending by 5%, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The city Department of Education used federal COVID-19 stimulus funds in the prior three academic years to hold schools with plummeting enrollment “harmless” — maintaining the level of spending despite having fewer students.
School funding formulas and staffing are based in large part on the number of students enrolled in a school.
A September analysis by city Comptroller Brad Lander said the DOE’s own projected enrollment data identified up to 850 schools that would have fewer students in the current academic year than last year.
Of those, 410 of the schools with estimated lower enrollment are receiving “non-recurring hold harmless funds” totaling $135 million or $329,509 per school, the comptroller’s analysis found.
City Hall said the DOE was merely returning to the fiscally responsible mid-year school budgeting policy that had been in place prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, which triggered disruptions in in-person learning and a flight of students.
Mayoral spokesperson Amaris Cockfield, in a statement, cited “the challenging fiscal environment the city currently faces, and it is imperative that the DOE revert to the pre-COVID Mid-Year Adjustment policy that every previous administration undertook.”
“This policy ensures schools’ funding continues to track with the number of students in seats and their needs,” the City Hall rep said.
City Hall said decisions on spending reductions will be made by principals at the school level and insisted there will be “no excessing” or elimination of teachers, and that the DOE will continue to support schools as they “right size” school budgets.
A new state law also requires the city DOE to cut class sizes.
Meanwhile, schools that are serving more students — and many are because of the influx of migrants — will see a bump in funding.
About 30,000 migrant students have arrived in the city since July of 2022.
During budget testimony in May, Schools Chancellor David Banks and the DOE said no school would start the new school year that began in September with a budget cut — but stopped short of making such a pledge for the entire school year.
City Hall insisted all schools, particularly those with the most needy students, will have adequate funding.
“Our administration is committed to supporting our schools with the funding they need to serve all students, which is why, this year alone, we already provided $90 million to support students in temporary housing and schools with high proportions of students with additional needs, sent almost $20 million to schools to support increased enrollment, and allocated another $60 million to support specific school needs through appeals,” Cockfield said.
Another City Hall insider said the massive city costs to care for thousands of migrants was impacting schools and other services.
“There’s no more room at the inn and there’s no more money,” the source said, parroting Adams.
The cuts provoked immediate blowback from the teachers’ union.
“It is unacceptable for NYC to cut funding to its public schools especially when the state has made such a strong financial commitment to our students,” said United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew.