One Down, One to Go: The Budget Wars
A governor and a mayor fighting the budget wars in the muck and mire of the political swamps; Cuomo took no prisoners; he punished anyone perceived as an enemy, and the legislature danced on his grave. Hochul tried the Cuomo route, with mixed results. (“Can Hochul Become an Uber Powerful Governor”?) A month until the legislatures June 8th adjournment and the legislators will try and pass their favorite bills and lobbyists will wheel and deal in the “big ugly” the final days of the session.
A bill high on the list of public school advocates is the Charter School Transparency and Accountability. (Read Bill here)
While the Albany budget was essentially the governor versus the legislative leaders the city budget is more politically entangled. New York City is a mayoral control model, the mayor appoints all commissioners, deputy commissioners, and a total of 300 mayoral appointees, the Council has no “advise and consent” role
The 51 Council members, almost all democrats, are assigned to committees by the speaker who also selects the committee chairs. Members have “oversight” responsibility, meaning they can hold hearings, at the discretion of the speaker, who is elected by the 51 Council members at the beginning of the term. The speaker has considerable authority over the 51 members, aside from assigning committees the speaker controls the flow is dollars to projects around the city, (“Reward your friends and punish your enemies”)
The fiscal year is 7/1 – 6/30 and the budget must be passed by the Council by June 30th, usually by mid-June.
Budgeting is complicated because the Council is internally divided, 20 0f the fifty-one members belong to the Progressive Caucus, essentially a political party among the democratic members of the Council. See the Progressive Caucus Statement of Principles here. And their education principles:
High-quality, public education from early childhood education to higher education that prioritizes desegregation and reducing class sizes, as well as universal free or low-cost early childhood development (ages 0 – 5) and universal after school programs, which should enable all kids to succeed and aim to eliminate the achievement gap – with academic, athletic, and culturally competent programs that focus on human development rather than punishment or criminalization. The goal is not just for every New Yorker to graduate from a high quality high school, but to thrive in a public post-secondary educational setting that advances their career goals and economic opportunity.
The budget process is driven by the Mayor, who releases a preliminary budget, read the presser here.
The Mayor’s budget contains dramatic budget cuts; you will hear PEG, Program to Eliminate the Gap, the gap meaning the gap in spending and anticipated revenue.
Recovery from COVID has been slow, offices remain hybrid, the influx of tens of thousands of migrants who continue to arrive, the Albany budget was helpful, and the Mayor has chosen not to fill vacancies to save dollars. The latest preliminary budget calls for a 3% cut in 30 billion dollars Department of Education funding; although the Mayor says the cuts will not impact classrooms. Read Chalkbeat here.
New York State law requires the city to begin phasing in the required reductions in class size, the plan requires the approval of the UFT and the CSA, the teachers and supervisors unions and the current budget make no mention of the dollars needed for the required reductions.
On May 23rd the Council Budget Committee will conduct an oversight hearing and grill the Department of Education and on May 24th the public can claim their three minutes on any budget issue, the hearing begins at 10 am and will continue deep into the night.
The Progressive Caucus can vote “no” on the budget; however it will only be symbolic unless they can gain the support of other members.
Unions and scores of advocacy organizations are fighting for their piece of the budget.
I am an officer on the board of a CUNY college alumni association, we are part of twenty organizations that form CUNYRising, fighting to eliminate tuition at CUNY and this go around to fight the proposed cuts to the CUNY budget, and, we were successful. The Professional Staff Congress (PSC – the CUNY union), and the American Federation of Teachers helps fund the coalition.
The fight to adequately fund public schools is also a coalition, the unions, led by the UFT and a wide range of community and other public school advocates (AQE, Class Size Matters and many others) are both working with the Council as well as pressuring the Mayor (with or without a contract).
Will the Mayor and Speaker Adams hammer out a budget agreement?
Will the Progressive Caucus and the Speaker, Adrienne Adams, work together?
Will the Mayor be able to divide the Council by offering “perks” to members?
How will the June 27th primary impact the Council members, some of whom have primary opponents?
What happens if the Council and the Mayor cannot agree on a budget?
As the Yankees and the Mets fade the budget fight might be the excitement in June.