Report: Bigger Education Cuts Than Expected in Mayor's Budget

By DAVID POMERANTZ, Special to the Sun
March 25, 2008

Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget for 2009 could cut more funds from the city's schools than previously expected, a report released yesterday by the city's Independent Budget Office says.

The proposed budget forecasts a $99 million cut to school budgets this year and $180.7 million in 2009. But the IBO, a city accounting office not under mayoral control, finds in its report that school budgets could be forced to make additional reductions of $14 million this year and $43 million in 2009.

The indirect cuts will be caused by budget initiatives such as "recouping more in school lunch payments from students, reduction of reserves for summer school and English Language Learner programs, and shifting the cost for school-based information technology purchases to the schools," the report says.

A Department of Education spokeswoman, Debra Wexler, said the additional reductions cited in the report come from a reserve fund the city created to address projected costs, such as the summer school and English Language Learning programs. Those costs appear to be well below schedule for 2008, so it made sense to cut the surplus reserves first, Ms. Wexler said. She also emphasized that the 2009 budget plan is preliminary and that every potential cut is still being evaluated.

Teacher, parent, and administrator groups found cause for concern in the report.

"They seem to be right on target," the president of the Council for School Superintendents and Administrators, Ernest Logan, said.

"We saw it on our end. It was interesting that the IBO picked up on it and put it out because we've seen what was happening in the schools, with all the cutbacks on after-school and enrichment programs," Mr. Logan said.

In its general analysis of the mayor's 2009 budget and financial plan through 2012, the report finds that the city will stay out of debt in 2009, thanks to the surpluses the city accrued over the past several years. The report predicts what it calls a "modest" budget shortfall of $2.1 billion for 2010. After the surplus is exhausted in 2010, the city will face deficits of $5 billion in 2011 and 2012, the report said.

The predictions are based on a forecast for "a relatively brief and mild recession," the Independent Budget Office director, Ronnie Lowenstein, said in a statement. "But the economic situation is particularly precarious. If the problems affecting Wall Street and housing worsen, the recession will be deeper and the fiscal pressures on the city will quickly mount," she said.