Asked in a WNYC interview Thursday if she regrets her initial vote, though, the Forest Hills representative defended her choice, instead blaming the Department of Education for fallout in the wake of the budget’s passage.
“I don’t have regrets about voting for the budget,” she said on The Brian Lehrer Show. “In terms of the cuts… the Department of Education was not forthcoming about what that shortfall was going to cover.”
Schulman’s points echo a letter to Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks that she and 40 other Council Members signed last week decrying school budget cuts and calling for federal stimulus to offset the $215 million gap.
In the letter, the leaders criticized the Department of Education for budget mismanagement and a lack of transparency, saying the agency is to blame for some budget cut-related issues, like staff and enrichment program reductions at certain schools.
“The reports of DOE removing funding from individual schools, unrelated to the city budget, is further evidence of its harmful policies,” the letter reads, pointing to additional enrollment-related DOE cuts that exceed what the city projected, as Gothamist reported.
“DOE’s numbers are not adding up, and it seems to be using the city budget as a smokescreen to evade responsibility for its policies that undermine support for schools,” the letter contends.
Education department officials, though, told City and State that unexpected DOE cuts are because of declining federal stimulus money, which has already been allocated towards school programs, leaving the agency with a smaller cushion on top of the city’s budget cuts.
Council leaders, including Schulman, are quick to point out that the city’s school funding allocation for 2023 increased by more than $700 million compared to the year before, bringing the Department of Education budget to $31 billion — roughly a third of the city’s entire budget.
“This is one of the most robust budgets that we’ve had in a number of years. It has [educational] programs across the board,” Schulman told Lehrer Thursday in defense of her vote. She said she was even able to allocate additional funds towards schools in her district.
Still, the Forest Hills representative acknowledged that the budget cuts could prove challenging for some students, which is why she signed onto the letter demanding that the budget be fully restored in the upcoming academic year.
“I think what we want to do ultimately is to make sure that nobody goes without arts programs [and] music programs,” she said on WNYC.
“There are some issues with [DOE funding formulas] and that’s something we have to sit down and work out so that it’s equitable across the board,” she added, alluding to the agency’s controversial per-pupil calculations.
Schulman’s remarks, and the Council’s letter, come amid increasing pushback against the school budget cuts from teachers, parents and education advocates, a group of whom sued the city to reverse the financial deficit.
Some progressive Council members who voted in favor of the budget even expressed remorse for their votes, saying at a rally outside City Hall this week that they wish they’d voted differently.
As Schulman alluded to Thursday, the City is nearing a deal to restore $250 million to schools that faced the enrollment-related budget cuts, NY1 first reported Wednesday.
The funding, which sources told the outlet is “close but not yet finalized” could come from the remaining $5 billion in federal COVID stimulus funds.
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