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New York City mayor announces $827 million in cuts to public education

作者：xiaoxiaowang 於 2020-4-23 09:14 發表於最熱鬧的華人社交網路--貝殼村

通用分類:熱點雜談

On Thursday, New York City』s Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city was making massive budget cuts due to a steep fall in revenue brought about the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the $2 billion in cuts, some $827 million will be cut from the Department of Education (DOE), far more than the $273 million in cuts announced by the DOE on April 7.

The cuts are among the earliest of a broad assault on public education funding now being discussed across the US, including in California, Colorado, Nevada, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and many other states. In the coming months, virtually every state will further slash education funding due to a decline in tax revenues stemming from mass unemployment. While funneling trillions of dollars to Wall Street, they will repeat the constant refrain that 「there is no money」 for the social needs of the working class.

The New York City school system, which teaches 1.1 million students—70 percent of whom are poor, including 114,000 homeless students—will be devastated by the immense cuts. Recovering from the emergency measures taken during the pandemic will now be virtually impossible.

In a letter to staff on Thursday, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said that the cuts include, 「all non-essential, non-mandated DOE activities, including training, overtime, and materials at schools, central and field offices.」

The cuts will wipe out civics programs and health certification programs for teachers. There will be reductions in counseling for students and cuts in after-school programs that will be necessary to help students catch up when they return to their buildings next year. Even funds for the installation of air conditioners and the control of rat infestations will be cut.

In addition, the DOE has ordered schools to immediately stop spending funds on any budget line not directly related to the coronavirus. This has caused widespread confusion since the DOE has issued no guidelines as to what constitutes this kind of spending.

On Saturday, de Blasio announced that further cuts were coming to the city unless federal aid was forthcoming. At his Sunday press conference, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said, 「If we don』t get federal assistance, you』re looking at education cuts of close to 50 percent in the state of New York, where school districts would only get half of the aid they got from the state last year.」

One teacher told the World Socialist Web Site: 「As far as I know, we will not lose any teachers to the cuts, but will lose per session activities. I may not be able to continue after-school clubs. We will also lose professional development opportunities.

「If the cuts affect coaching, which I'm pretty sure they do, then it looks like sports will be affected.

「And yes, larger class sizes look like they'll be a huge issue. Supplies also. Some teachers are anticipating having to buy more supplies with their own money. I just raised the funds to acquire material for an outdoor project, but without per session opportunities, I don't know how we will be able to fully utilize them.」

The situation in New York City is a concentrated expression of the class character of the government』s response to the pandemic. While cutting hundreds of millions from education spending, de Blasio has sanctioned the federal government』s funneling of trillions of dollars to the financial institutions of Wall Street.

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), has accepted the budget cuts in principle. He has merely disputed where the cuts are to come from and suggested that the unions should be involved in budget-cutting decisions.

He said: 「We all know there are tough budget times ahead, and new sources of revenue have to be found. But according to its own filing with the state, the New York City school system spends more than $6 billion every year on Central Administration. To the extent that DOE cuts become necessary, that』s the first place the city should be looking.」