Budget Info
EPP Budget Status Report: January 2003

By now, most of you have heard about a new round of city budget cuts, but may be confused as to whether they
will affect the schools this year. They will not. The latest announcement concerns additional cuts in city funding for
Fiscal Year 2004 (July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004).

Bottom Line:

This school year -- $200 million in cuts (as announced in the Mayor's November Plan); $290 million in reoccurring
cuts from the last school year; and $120 million in a self-imposed internal DOE savings plan to cover a shortfall
in city funding.

Next school year -- $200 million in cuts (as announced in the Mayor's November Plan) and $151 million in new cuts
(the 3% cut announced this week) for a total of $351 million.

These budget cuts for the next school year can be reduced if the Assembly succeeds in getting additional state
school aid or if the City Council manages to get an agreement on restorations in their negotiations with the Mayor
over the city budget, which are usually concluded by the middle of June. In the past, the Assembly has come to
the rescue, but the state budget for FY 04 is not in good shape (some estimates put the gap between revenues
and expenditures at $7.5 billion).The City Council does not have a track record of securing major restorations of
education funds.