Update on budget cuts & how you can help!

June 21, 2022

Dear folks,

Important updates:

1. This Friday June 24 at 11:30 AM in front of City Hall there will be a press conference/rally to protest the devastating budget cuts to schools.  Please come and bring signs.

Then starting at noon, there will be hybrid Council hearings on these cuts, held by the NYC Council Education and Investigation Committees at City Hall and via Zoom. You can sign up to testify in person or via Zoom now at  https://council.nyc.gov/testify/.

If you can’t make the rally at 11:30 AM, there will also be another rally at 3 PM at City Hall on Friday.  Bring signs and your kids!

2. We compiled spreadsheets of all the cuts to school Galaxy budgets a week ago; a searchable pdf is here,  showing the Galaxy cuts amounting to more than $1.7B as of June 13, sorted by Council district.

Though DOE says they will have added more funding to school budgets throughout June and over the summer, these are the current budgets that principals have been told to use to decide on their staffing.  Already, many schools have reported excessing teachers as we warned months ago, which will lead to higher class sizes next year and the loss of critical programs.  For current amounts, you can check out your school’s cuts compared to last year here.

3. The best way that these awful cuts may be averted or minimized is if Gov. Hochul signs the class size bill.  Indeed, that is what DOE said at a public hearing last week; that if the bill was enacted, they would have to send more funding to schools before the start of the school year.  Please sign our petition to the Gov. urging her to sign the bill and call her at 518-474-8390.

4.Finally, please sign up for our Skinny awards event next Monday June 27 at 6 PM, where we will be honoring the groups and individuals who gave us the class size bill, which has the potential to forever transform NYC public schools and the opportunities provided our students.  You can show your thanks to them and your appreciation for our work by attending this event either remotely or in person.

Thanks so much, Leonie