Statement from Comptroller Brad Lander on City Hall’s Announcement to Open Up $150M For Schools in Federal Stimulus and Budget Appeals Money

New York, NY – Comptroller Brad Lander issued the following statement in response to an announcement from City Hall and the Department of Education regarding budget flexibility for schools:

“Giving principals flexibility to decide how they want to use $100 million in Federal stimulus funds that the DOE had already allocated to their schools back in June – for tutoring, to prevent class size increases, for arts, or a guidance counselor to support struggling students—is a logical step. Accelerating the access to appeals funding that DOE usually holds in
reserve until the fall will also ease some principals’ anxiety.

“But it doesn’t make sense to still maintain a more than $300 million cut to schools when the DOE has an additional $500 million in unspent Federal stimulus funds for education to roll over from last year. With just a month remaining before the first day of school, hundreds of principals have already painfully eliminated arts and music programming, re-shuffled teachers and consolidated classes, and excised guidance counselors and support staff.

“There’s no need to impose budget challenges on our principals, teachers, students, and schools, in this moment when they are still struggling to recover and there is ample money to cover the budget losses.”

The Comptroller’s Office analysis found that the cuts to Fair Student Funding facing individual schools due to enrollment decline projections total $469 million. The Comptroller’s year-end review of school stimulus spending identified $505.6 million in unspent, uncommitted FY 2022 federal stimulus funds for education.

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