Push Against City Aid Cuts; Schools Coalition Intensifies

Schools Coalition Intensifies
Push Against City Aid Cuts


The Keep the Promises Coalition, a group battling Mayor Bloomberg's proposed reductions in city education spending, rallied June 2 outside Stuyvesant High School - one of the top-performing schools expected to have their funding dramatically slashed if the Mayor's executive budget is passed.

The Chief-Leader/Alana Marcu 'KIDS DON'T GET SECOND CHANCES': United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten calls on Mayor Bloomberg to rescind proposed reductions in the city's aid to public schools, contrasting it with the huge increase in funding the state has provided.

Punishing Success?

The proposal, which is the subject of intensifying negotiations with the City Council, imposes the greatest cuts on successful schools. Stuyvesant stands to lose 5.35 percent of its budget, or $955,135 - while lower-performing schools receive smaller percentage reductions.

Critics claim this forces higher-performing schools to compete with lower-performing schools for funding, and unfairly allocates Contract for Excellence dollars intended to improve under-performing schools in the city.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James SPEAKING WITH THE VOICE OF A CHILD: A youngster at Intermediate School 303 in Brooklyn joins Teachers, Principals and parents in making the case to Mayor Bloomberg for restoring funds he plans to cut from the city education budget as part of a belt-tightening affecting all agencies.

"I don't know how to look at the student body who works so hard and does so many things," said Stuyvesant Principal Stanley Teitel, whose school received an "A" evaluation from the city, "and tell them you are going to get less for all of your hard work."

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein's most recent proposal includes allocating $63 million of Contract for Excellence funds evenly across schools to ease the burden of the Mayor's proposed $450-million budget cut, instead of directing funds towards under-performing schools as intended. The Chancellor claims that unless he is given flexibility by Albany in allocating the $63 million in state funds, some schools will have to withstand deeper cuts than others.

'Fund Schools Equally'

"Sex and the City" actress and spokeswoman for the Alliance for Quality Education Cynthia Nixon - whose two children attend city public schools - called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity a "grueling 14-year battle" to secure a sound basic education for the city's less well-off children. "But now," she said, "at our moment of victory as the state digs deep into its pockets to begin the task of reversing decades of under-funding and neglect, the city has taken its cue to cut and run."

"This budget battle should not be about some schools getting more money than others," said Ernest Logan, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. "New York City should be funding all schools equally. Contract for Excellence money was meant to enhance, not supplement, tax-levy money." Noting that the city expects to conclude the fiscal year June 30 with a $4-billion budget surplus, he added, "Looking at the bigger picture, we should not be cutting schools at all."

"We are speaking as one city with one voice in saying no to these cuts," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. "Children don't get second chances. That is why we have fought so hard to get Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein to keep their promise to give all of our schools the resources they need to succeed." She said that she was "amazed" at the Chancellor for accusing the state of tying his hands when it has already given an extra $600 million to city schools.

"The Chancellor has contradicted himself time after time," said New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson. "No one can tell if he's telling the truth."