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CITY BUDGET INFO

City Preliminary Budget for the 2004-05 School Year

The Mayor’s January financial plan usually gives an impression of what the Executive Budget will contain. For a second year in a row, the Mayor is shielding the public school system from deep budget cuts, but at the same time his funding level for education remains essentially flat.

Bottomline:

2003-04 SCHOOL YEAR: Since the adoption of the budget in June, there has been an increase of $11.5 million to the Department of Education’s budget, but also there are reestimates that bring down city funding by $28.4 million. City funding for the Department is now $5.109 billion from the June level of $5.126.

2004-05 SCHOOL YEAR: The baseline budget, which accounts for such factors as enrollment, salary increases, and health insurance costs, grows by only $86.2 million (compared to last year’s adopted budget). Increases, including $25 million for ending social promotion of third grade students (called the "Gates" program) come to $55.5 million, while the budget cuts (including reestimates) come to $55 million. Essentially, all the Department’s increases are funded by budget savings.

Details:

THE THIRD-GRADE GATES PROGRAM: The exact amount of funding for this program is not clear, even though the budget documents reflect only a $25 million investment in this grade-retention program. One could also expect to see a substantial savings from a much smaller summer school program (now serving all grades), but instead only $5 million in savings are estimated. Apparently there are ongoing discussions about the level of funding for this new Gates program as well as the funding level for the summer school program.

REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF SABBATICALS The $34 million reduction in the next school year is not a new cut, just a continuation of this school year’s cost savings program.

FACILITIES REPAIR STAFF The budget for the 2003-04 school year contained a headcount reduction of 486 positions. Full-time repair staff members at the Division for School Facilities were going to be replaced by outside contractors. Apparently, collective bargaining issues have delayed this contracting out.

By going to Mayor Bloomberg’s web site, you can access OMB’s web site and all the details of the January financial plan. Click here for Mayor's web site.

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