Leonie Haimson provides an update on the battle over the city’s education budget. Parents and teachers are fighting budget cuts by Mayor Eric Adams.
She writes:
Dear folks–
Sorry to say that late in the day yesterday, the Appellate Court granted the City a stay on Judge Frank’s decision that the Education budget was illegally adopted, which means that the school budget cuts can legally remain in place until the court hears the City’s appeal on August 29.
What’s particularly infuriating is that the City could have asked for a speedy decision from the Appellate court to settle this matter, but instead asked that the hearing not occur until the end of the month, which merely prolongs the uncertainty and the chaos that the City complained about in its brief. The statement from the Attorney for the plaintiffs about this latest decision is on the website here.
We have also prepared an updated FAQ about the court decisions. We are now asking the Council to push the Mayor to agree to a budget modification to restore the cuts as soon as possible, and not wait for any decision from the Court so that parents, teachers and kids can be assured of a safe, healthy and positive learning climate when they return to school in September.
Tomorrow, Thursday August 11, at 1 PM, parents, advocates and teachers will gather on the steps of City Hall to urge the City Council Members to demand the Mayor propose a budget modification, as they make their way into a Council stated meeting. They will then hold a press conference at 2 PM to convey this message . Please join them if you can! We must all do what we can to stop these horrific cuts to schools.
More soon, Leonie
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
phone: 917-435-9329
leonie@classsizematters.org
www.classsizematters.org
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Host of “Talk out of School” WBAI radio show and podcast at https://talk-out-of-school.simplecast.com/
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The last thing a mayoral control mayor needs is a chaotic school opening, and that’s just what Mayor Adams created, the media is beginning to hammer him, he alienated the state legislature, angered parents, and we’re a month away from the kids showing up .. on the bright side, it can’t get worse, or ….
Peter,
I have serious doubts about Mayor Adams’ ability to keep his promises or to find solutions.
NYC schools cannot get a break. Even when they win, they lose.
The Backdrop though is or should be, that the City is in serious financial trouble. Due to the work from home culture accelerated during Covid ,new Commercial Office leases the driver of the Cities economy are down 30% . This affects the tax base in everything from Retail to Construction. As well as increasing the amount of welfare social spending. At the same time as Wall Street the second driver of the City economy is taking a hit I am not saying that the education budget should take the cuts .I can think of other areas to cut. But localities do not print money .
Mayor Adams owns this mess.