Update on lawsuit to restore budget cuts & estimate of actual cuts

August 1, 2022

1. The lawsuit to restore the budget cuts to schools and provide the City Council with another chance to vote on the education budget will be heard this Thursday, August 4 at 10 AM in the NY State Supreme Court, 80 Centre St. in Room 308. Please join us in the courtroom to show your support.

At 9:30 AM, prior to the hearing, a rally will be held to restore the cuts in Foley Sq., just a block away. If you join us there, you can walk with us to the courthouse at 9:45 AM sharp.

2. Last week the City appealed the Judge’s temporary restraining order to the Appellate court, while at the same time, denied principals access to their budgets in an apparent effort to instigate the chaos they claimed our lawsuit had created. That same day, they lost their appeal and then let principals once again access their budgets. We also found out that 700 teachers have already been excessed from their schools as a result of these cuts. I’ve summarized these fast-moving events on the blog here. You can also learn more about the lawsuit directly from the attorney and the plaintiffs in this week’s Talk out of School podcast.

3. Finally, there’s been a lot of confusion about just how much school budgets have been cut or will be cut by the end of the year. It doesn’t help that DOE refuses to provide these figures. Our updated estimate and explanation is here of why we predict that if these devastating cuts are not restored, schools will lose about a billion dollars overall compared to this past year.

As always, please reach out to us if you have any questions!

Hope to see you on Thursday, Leonie