NYC education budget plan: more summer programming for students

New York City Mayor Eric Adams proposed a budget Tuesday that expands summer programming for public schools and increases work opportunities for students. His remarks about education largely centered on expanding these programs as a way to keep children out of trouble with law enforcement.

“We must do more for young people, especially when it comes to helping them get prepared and train for a career in the future, because I say this over and over again, folks: ‘If you don’t educate you will incarcerate,’” Adams said during a speech at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, where he highlighted his first 100 days in office.

But some big questions remain about this administration’s spending plans. It’s still unclear how the city will spend the remainder of $7 billion in federal COVID stimulus funding on New York City’s school system.

The de Blasio administration had planned to spend $3.1 billion in stimulus funding this fiscal year, but just half of that money had been spent by the first week of March, according to a recent comptroller’s report.

Those federal dollars are a part of the mayor’s $31 billion education plan in this budget, though City Hall officials did not immediately say how much they’re expecting to use next fiscal year.

This budget will be the first Adams negotiates with the City Council, as he seeks to extend his control over the nation’s largest school system.

Tuesday’s proposal — known as the executive budget — comes two months after he presented the preliminary budget that outlined spending cuts at the education department. That included reinstating a policy in which schools must return money if enrollment decreased. It also includes cuts in department jobs by eliminating thousands of vacant positions and assuming jobs won’t be filled as student enrollment drops.

One new addition between the February plan and Tuesday’s version: the city is expecting to save $100 million because there are fewer education department staff on the payroll, according to a city budget official. While it wasn’t immediately clear, this could include savings from the roughly 900 education department staffers who were fired after not getting vaccinated.

Adams and his team will negotiate the budget with the City Council, and it must be approved by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.