NYC Schools Lose Massive Amount Of Funding
NYC schools announced massive slashes in school budgets for next year, leading to an array of issues the district now faces.
As trust in public education perpetually wanes within America, so does the number of families sending their children to public schools. Likewise, as enrollment rates at public schools drop, so does much of the funding from states. It appears to be a vicious cycle with no means to an end, and it also looks to be detrimental to efforts in NYC schools, where legislatures just passed a measure to decrease school sizes.
The New York Post reported that NYC schools will face a massive budget cut next school year in a total of $215 million. The cause of this is easy to detect: the drastic shrinking of families sending their students to public schools in the Big Apple. These cuts would have come sooner, however, it’s the first year the city has tied school budgets to city enrollment numbers since the onset of the COVID pandemic. Furthermore, this finding will likely make it impossible for class sizes to further shrink this year.
The average student-to-teacher ratio was already declining in NYC schools since the pandemic ravaged public education. Still, lawmakers in Albany decried the district’s outrageous class sizes, saying they were much too large. Currently, classes can accommodate up to 34 students to one teacher. But despite caps, class sizes arbitrarily decreased these past two years.
NYC public schools have lost a whopping 120,000 students over the last five years. Because of this, class sizes have already decreased. But despite these findings, a law making its way through the state capitol is hopeful to bring those cap sizes down, regardless of NYC officials’ pushback.
Even before the massive slash in funding was announced, city Mayor Eric Adams and NYC school chancellor David Banks were vehemently against the proposed legislation. To start, they feared it was impossible to pull off, as the district already was lacking teaching positions. In fact, they felt it would actually hinder education, by requiring the district to hire basically any teacher they could get their hands on, whether or not they were equipped for the job.
Now that NYC schools are losing millions in funding, it is apparent this plan will be unable to be pulled off. Additionally, NYC schools have already forecasted that they will lose approximately another 1,500 teaching positions next year, and possibly 3,000 more over the next few school years. It seems if anything, that this will once again lead to massive, and highly capped class sizes – with no clear end in sight.
Speaking directly to The Post, one Brooklyn principal spoke of his fear for the school next fall. He is expecting to have to reduce his teaching staff by at least two teachers because of budget cuts to his school. Additionally, he has no idea how the school will pay for necessary supplies, or even fund field trips – something the department of education is calling on schools to produce more of.
The class size reduction legislation has yet to become law, as it hasn’t been signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul yet. It will be interesting to see what she does, as it is quite clear that this plan will be near impossible to implement. On top of that, these NYC school budget slashes will likely mean more families turn to alternatives.
