Ongoing budget cuts to schools causing additional loss of teachers as the number of highly paid educrats grows -- please take our survey now!

Please take our new five-minute survey below on the impact of budget cuts on your school!

Even as the Mayor and the Chancellor ruthlessly cut the budget for schools this year, the impact of those cuts are still being felt in a new wave of teachers being excessed from our schools.  According to Chalkbeat, many principals are letting go of teachers and other staff now, told by DOE educrats that they must cut their budgets as enrollment at their schools has been even lower than projected.  Some principals have been told to cut their budgets by as much as $750,000 or face having to return the funds next year.

That would mean excessing seven to eight teachers who he just hired this summer after a wave of departures. He’s planning to shift the debt to next year, even though district officials have urged him against it.

“It would literally destroy the school’s programs, not to mention excess all the new teachers we brought in who have brought fresh energy, fresh blood and new life to the school,” said the principal, who runs one of the city’s community schools, which serve larger shares of high-needs students.

Meanwhile, the NY Post reports that the DOE overspent its last year's budget for Central and District offices by over $100 million:

Most of that excess spending went to personnel.  Fatter salaries mean at least 80 DOE executives now make more than $200,000 a year, up from 63 or so in the prior fiscal year, according to officials and the Empire Center for Public Policy.

Apparently one of those high-priced executives is Mayor Adams' partner, Tracey Collins, who was recently promoted to “senior advisor to the deputy chancellor of school leadership,” receiving a 23% raise to $221,597 a year.

As I was quoted in the NY Post, the fact that DOE has exceeded its budget target for administration by such a large amount while slashing school budgets by somewhere between $475 million and over $1 billion shows that "Either their priorities or their management skills are severely flawed."

Even larger budget cuts are threatened for the future.  The Mayor's office and the Office of Management and Budget have ordered all city agencies including the DOE to cut an additional 3% this year and 4.75% next year. This literally could put the DOE into a death spiral and make it impossible for them to comply with the new state class size reduction law. 

Please take our five-minute survey on the impact of the budget cuts on your school if you haven't already!