$1.1 billion in unspent funds by DOE for FY 2020 and FY 2021 – making cuts to schools even more outrageous

See below; a budget presentation by the DOE dated June 21, showing unspent allocations to schools and districts of $1.1 billion from FY 2020 and FY 2021, which administrators are urged to cancel so they the funds can be used by DOE in the future.

These funds are in addition to the $8 billion in the city’s reserve fund, a projected city surplus next year of more than $3 billion, and presumably, the nearly $5 billion in federal funds not yet allocated, according to the NYC Comptroller. [Though someone should ask him about this; his statement was unclear.]

The fact that DOE admits that there remains a $1.1 billion in unspent funds allocated  from the previous two years (not even counting the current school year) makes the planned budget cuts to schools even more outrageous.  As the DOE says on slide 10, “These are real dollars that could be used for other purposes.”

See also the revelation just published in the NY Post that the per student allotment in the Fair Student Funding formula has been cut by over $25 for a regular general education kid.  Because it is a weighted formula, the funding for students who are struggling, are English Language Learners, or have special needs would be cut more — some nearly three times as much in dollar amounts.

See also our previous post showing  more than $1.7 billion in Galaxy school-based budget cuts as of June 13, 2022 compared to last year’s Galaxy budgets.  As the below DOE briefing points out on slide 18, any federal funding provided now or added after that point cannot be used for staffing purposes.

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