Despite city schools’ recently improved test scores and increased graduation rates during Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, progress may be threatened by upcoming firings.
After sustaining four separate cuts over the past year, which dented budgets but did not result in personnel losses, New York City’s schools may now have to lay off thousands of teachers.
In the next fiscal year—which begins in the early summer—City Hall and Albany will face shortfalls of $4 billion and $13.7 billion, respectively. On Jan. 30, Bloomberg announced that he plans to slice $1 billion off the budgets of all city agencies, adding that such reductions are necessary as the city prepares to lose 294,000 jobs.
Although the mayor did not mention how much money the Department of Education will lose, focusing instead on proposed cuts for police, fire, and welfare agencies, he affirmed that schools’ budget will be impacted significantly.
During testimony before the State Senate and State Assembly committees on Jan. 28, DOE chancellor Joel Klein, CC’ 67, revealed that schools may have to cut as much as $1.4 billion from next year’s budget and lay off about 15,000 employees.
“There’s no way for me to sugarcoat our budget situation,” Klein said, noting that most of the personnel threatened with job losses are teachers. “We must do everything in our power to protect our schools and keep our country’s financial crisis from turning into a crisis in our classrooms.”
But the DOE expects that the massive federal stimulus package still awaiting final approval from Congress could provide some much-needed relief. Much of the nearly $800 billion package is expected to reach New York.
“There is simply no way schools could afford to operate,” DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte said concerning the need for federal money. “If city schools receive money from lawmakers in Washington, the situation could look very different. Federal money will help our schools weather this economic crisis and avoid the need to eliminate thousands of teaching positions.”
Still, Forte admitted that even with stimulus money, the DOE projects a budget gap that would require them to make layoffs. Local administrators are already preparing for this.
“We have to wait to see exactly how severe cuts will be before we start talking about laying off teachers,” said the principal of an Upper West Side middle school who spoke under the condition of anonymity. “I have never had to excess [fire] a teacher in my 14 years here. I was always able to cut from other places, but I am not sure I can do that anymore.”
She added that the DOE will provide her with “considerable autonomy” in terms of personnel decisions, but emphasized that telling teachers they cannot come back to work will be “extremely difficult.”
The principal said that she was already forced to reduce the size of technology and arts programs this past fall and predicted that further budget cutting would result in additional losses for these programs.
“This is a very stressful time,” she said. “Parents have been very supportive, but they say they can’t contribute as much to our work as they have been in the past.”
Other local schools, such as the Bloomingdale Elementary School, the Booker T. Washington and Crossroads middle schools, and the A. Phillip Randolph and Bread and Roses High School were unavailable to comment.