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EPP Budget Status Report
March 2003: New city cuts to the public schools

There is a new "contingency" cut to the NYC Department of Education of $178 million for the 2003-04 school year. To recap, in November a $200 million cut for FY '04 was announced. In January there was an additional cut of $151 million, which has since been reduced to $131 million. So here is the total proposed city cut to public schools: $200 million (November) + $131 million (January) + $178 million (February) = $509 million.

The New York City Council has estimated that the Governor's budget proposals, if implemented, would result in cuts of $724 million to New York City public schools for the 2003-04 school year. This number does not reflect all of the Executive Budget's cuts to special education programs.

Traditionally, many of the Governor's Executive Budget cuts to education are restored by the legislature. With the state facing a budget gap of $9.5 billion in 2003-04, there may not be complete restorations of all the education cuts. Parents and educational advocacy groups are doing a tremendous job in communicating with their elected officials in Albany. If these efforts can be sustained, there is some hope. There is a chance that the budget will be adopted sooner (June or July) rather than later (August), so letters and petitions are needed now.

Traditionally, most of the Mayor's Executive Budget cuts to education are not restored by the City Council because "the numbers are too big." In other words, if hundreds of millions of dollars are restored to the Department of Education, then cuts cannot be restored to other city programs. Part of the problem is that the City Council cannot delay the adoption of the budget or change the Mayor's revenue estimates. The budget is always adopted by the end of June, at the latest.

Where to focus? At this time, EPP would recommend a focus on Albany (the Governor, the Senate and the Assembly). Smaller class sizes and pre-K programs are slated for elimination, not just budget cuts. But, ultimately, action will be needed at the city level to try to get the City Council to take more responsibility for public education funding.

In order to minimize cuts to education, there also has to be a campaign to increase state revenues. Over 200 organizations are supporting the Fiscal Policy Institute's program to close loopholes in state business taxes and for a surcharge on the state's personal income tax. See their report, "Balancing New York's 2003-04 Budget in an Economically Sensible Manner," at www.fiscalpolicy.org.

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