Parents, teachers sue city over education budget cuts
/
A group of public school parents and advocates filed a lawsuit to get the Department of Education, Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks to restore funding cut in the recently passed city budget. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By Rachel Vick
A group of parents and teachers are suing the city, Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Education over budget cuts they allege were made outside of proper procedure and are requesting the City Council take revote on the city’s budget.
The plaintiffs, who filed the suit on July 17, say Schools Chancellor David Banks intentionally skirted protocol when issuing the cuts. They say the move was solidified when the City Council voted to pass the city’s budget in mid-June, before the city’s Board of Education voted on budget plans, informed by public testimony.
“The explicit language of State law requires that these egregious budget cuts be halted and reconsidered by the Mayor and the Council, because the law was not followed,” said Laura D. Barbieri, special counsel for Advocates for Justice representing the petitioners. “The State Legislature enacted an explicit budget review and voting process by the Board of Education that was eviscerated by the Chancellor’s abuse of authority. No emergency justified the Chancellor’s ignoring the proper procedure.”
Plaintiffs include parents Melanie Kottler and Tamara Tucker, and teachers Sarah Brooks and Paul Trust — a Queens parent who was a music teacher at PS 39 in Brooklyn for more than a decade until the entire program was cut due to budget constraints.
They claim that Banks issued the emergency order without cause and as a means to get the budget adopted without the BOE’s input, all in alleged violation of New York State Education Law. Among their suggested solutions to bolster the DOE budget is a request to use the city's reserve fund or leftover stimulus money.
The at least $215 million reduction in funding, they claim, will have widespread impact on programming and support for students across the public school system.
“They will lose out on specialized instruction, mental and academic supports, and the vital opportunity to learn outside of the confines of their own neighborhoods,” Brooks said. “The Special Education program will be markedly and significantly impaired. Our students deserve more from their schools.”
Cuts to education for fiscal year 2023 are above $500 million, City and State reported.
In past weeks, a number of City Council members rallied in support of restoring the cuts, despite the fact that many voted in favor of the budget passed two weeks before the deadline.
As part of the outrage, a majority of councilmembers signed a July 13 letter calling for Adams and Banks to restore individual school budgets using $700 million in newly uncovered unspent federal stimulus funds from last year.
“DOE’s numbers are not adding up, and it seems to be using the city budget as a smokescreen to evade responsibility for its policies that undermine support for schools,” the letter signed by 41 councilmembers said. “We must confront the DOE’s status quo policies on school budgets that poorly serve schools and students.”
“The DOE’s school budget policies are disrupting school communities in every borough, and we cannot afford for them to continue,” they added. “The response we have received from you thus far – to wait until the school year to address this issue – is unacceptable, because it will be too late to avoid the negative impact on students.”
The city’s Law Department said they are reviewing the lawsuit.
“Since day one, the Adams administration has been committed to uplifting students throughout the five boroughs,”spokesperson Jonah Allon told the Eagle. “As was reflected during the budget process, there are more city funds in DOE’s FY23 budget than last fiscal year. While enrollment in public schools dropped, the city has maintained the unprecedented commitment to keep every school from every zip code at 100 [percent] of Fair Student Funding.”
