Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters asks why the NYC Department of Education is spending millions for school buses that are useless while planning to cut the budget of the schools by $827 million?
She writes:
If DOE suspended our busing contracts now, the DOE would save $700 million through the end of the year – even after paying for the two weeks in March when they were used. This would prevent the need for most of the cuts planned for next year, including most importantly the entire $100 million planned for school budgets.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The bus contracts have long been a political boondoggle in NYC. It so happens that it’s impossible to hide in the current fiscal crisi. Usually the tabloids are the only papers that cover this story (which stretches way, way further back than De Blasio, although De Blasio’s record on this is far worse than any mayor I’ve seen in my decades in NYC), so it’s good to see Haimson asking these questions.
LikeLike
The only caveat is that I’m not even sure this money “would prevent the need for most of the cuts planned for next year,“ because the budget cuts the mayor has announced are just a baby step toward what he will ultimately be forced to propose if we stay locked down for another month, or even longer (as the Mayor himself seems to favor).
LikeLike
I don’t see an alternative to the lockdown in a city where the virus continues to rage. Hospitalizations decline because people are not interacting. If the lockdown is lifted, more people will get sick, more will be hospitalized, and more will die. I don’t know how this ends until there is a vaccine or a cure. Neither does anyone else.
Those people who oppose a lockdown should do whatever they want.
LikeLike
A global depression will cause people to die, too. There may never be a cure. If a vaccine were widely available in a year, it would probably be an all-time record for development and distribution. And a vaccine could take two years, or five, or more. If we can’t imagine ending lockdowns until there is a vaccine or a cure, then we should end lockdowns now and focus on hospital capacity and PPE, and make it through the other end of this. More will die, yes, but we can’t eliminate risk, and we are committing economic suicide. It may already be too late, but hopefully it isn’t. We cannot lock down the city past mid-May.
LikeLike
We will see what happens. I don’t think any responsible elected official will opt to put people in harm’s way.
The possibility of an economic depression is alarming, but whose life should be sacrificed to avoid it?
LikeLike
Put differently, whose lives should be sacrificed so that fewer people die from COVID-19?
If lockdowns are extended for much more, I think the loss of life and the increase in suffering (particularly to children, who themselves are at essentially zero risk from the virus) around the world over many years will be far greater than we would lose to the virus if lockdowns ended today (with perhaps exceptions for large gatherings). I fear we’ve already passed that point.
LikeLike
If schools reopen, teachers and staff are at risk. The risk for children appears to be low, but they can be carriers.
If and when schools reopen, if there is neither vaccine nor cure, absentee rates will be high among both children and staff.
People don’t want to die.
LikeLike
“If and when schools reopen, if there is neither vaccine nor cure, absentee rates will be high among both children and staff.”
Again, there is no cure on the horizon, and a vaccine will not be available until a year from now at the earliest, most likely later, and possibly never. Closing schools for years (or forever) is simply not an option.
If absentee rates are high in the fall, then let them be high. That would be better for children than absentee rates of 100% and the continuing farce of “online education.”
LikeLike
Economic instability is not enough of a reason to reopen the country, BUT if we are talking about a serious shortage of food supply, then we will be forced to reopen the country. A greater amount of people will get sick and die. There are no positive answers to this – it is a tragedy every way you look at it.
As far as the buses go — we aren’t a country that can make things happen. We have a lot of bureaucracy with everything we do. I assume it is all in place to provide many checks and balances – so I guess that is the positive…?
Diane – I was wondering how this economic instability will begin the fight for charters again. It will certainly bring insane cuts to arts, libraries, physical education, music, etc. What can we do now to prevent the dangers that lie ahead? Thanks!
LikeLike
Why aren’t they?
LikeLike
Cuomo said that state aid to localities could get cut in half if a federal bailout doesn’t happen. That means several multiples of $700 million for NYC.
LikeLike
Are the idle bus drivers being paid? They should be.
LikeLike
In Utah districts have placed wifi hot spots for students who need it.
LikeLike
Idle buses are the 😈’s workshop
LikeLiked by 1 person