For Immediate Release
Contact: bowman.press@mail.house.gov

NEWS: NYC Congressional Delegation Joins Council Members in Pushing Back Against School Budget Cuts

WASHINGTON, D.C.  - Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D (NY-16) led eight of his Congressional colleagues in urging New York City Mayor Eric Adams to restore funding to NYC schools in the FY 2023 budget. The letter from New York's representatives echoed calls from members of the City Council including Council Members Shahana Hanif and Carmen De La Rosa, the City Comptroller Brad Lander, and community organizations to utilize federal stimulus funding to avoid cuts to individual school budgets as the fall approaches. Rep. Bowman has not received a response from Mayor Adams yet.

The NYC Comptroller’s office has reported that 77% of our public schools in New York City will experience budget cuts in this next school year totaling more than $469 million. These cuts come at a time when the NYC Department of Education (DoE) has $4.3 billion of unused funds from the $7 billion it received from federal stimulus money included in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) and the American Rescue Plan (ARP). 

“School budgets should never be cut,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D (NY-16). “Last week I wrote to Mayor Eric Adams to express how our public schools and their budgets must come first in the city’s budget. Ongoing efforts to teach and learn throughout COVID, in addition to any reduction in school budgets would severely impact our teachers, faculty, students and their families - especially those learning or working at schools in predominantly low-income areas or communities of color. I’m joining my colleagues and neighbors again today to make sure Adams’ administration knows we are watching where the city’s money goes, and our schools need their fair share.” 

"As our city emerges from the trauma of the pandemic, our schools desperately need the resources to provide our students with every available tool and teacher to help them recover and grow. Our partners in Congress allocated federal recovery funds to support our students, yet NYC’s schools are today facing on average 8% cuts from their individual budgets. Making cuts at this moment is wrong for our students, wrong for our teachers, and wrong for the equitable recovery our city urgently needs. I'm proud to stand with my elected colleagues in Congress and City Council to restore every penny our city students deserve," said Comptroller Brad Lander.

“At this very moment, principals are setting budgets and classroom sizes for the next school year and many are doing so with half a dozen fewer teachers and half a million less in funding than they did last year. When students across the City are falling behind, we need to be investing more in education instead of telling schools to make do with less,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. “This is a Mayor hell-bent on defunding our public education system even when there are billions left on the table to ensure our schools are fully funded. I’m grateful to my congressional colleagues from across our city who have banded together to push back against this unconscionable austerity and fight for our students’ future.”  

“Our partners in the federal government have provided the resources to help us navigate the multitude of challenges facing our city during the pandemic. We need the Mayor to do the right thing for our children and educators and restore these unnecessary budget cuts,” said Council Member Carmen De La Rosa. “As a mother of a daughter in the public school system these cuts hit home. I stand in solidarity with my partners in government, educational leaders, and most importantly our children to call on this administration to restore the funding to our schools. Our students and front line education workers deserve better.”

“At a time when we are beginning the long road to recovery from the extraordinary trauma and loss this pandemic has inflicted on the students, families, and school communities of NYC, we must fully invest in the services our schools need,” said Tom Sheppard, NYC Panel for Education Policy. “Two and a half years of constant disruption and interrupted learning by our students will need additional funding for years to come. Now is not the time to deprive them of the resources they desperately need with unnecessary budget cuts. Now is the time to add healthcare professionals in every school, counselors to help our students navigate the complex feelings associated with trauma and loss, resources to help school communities heal, and the additional funding that will give them the enhanced academic support they need. Thanks for supporting parents as we urge Mayor Adams and the NYC Council to immediately restore full funding to NYC Public Schools budget for the 2022-23 School Year.”

To read the full letter, please click here. 

Co-signers of the letter include: Reps. Jerrold Nadler, Nydia M. Velázquez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Grace Meng, Carolyn B. Maloney, Ritchie Torres and Yvette D. Clarke

Endorsing organizations include: Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), American Federation of Teachers (AFT),  Badass Teachers Association, Citizens for Public Schools, Class Size Matters, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), Education Council Consortium, EduColor, Make the Road New York, National Education Association (NEA), Network for Public Education, New Settlement, New Settlement Parent Action Committee (PAC), New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools (RJPS), NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, PRESS NYC, Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council, SchoolHouse Connection, The People’s Plan, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

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