Editorials

Good choices in bad times

Jan 31, 2008 3:17 PM

The governor and the mayor have submitted their budget proposals for the next fiscal year and the news for public schools is not good. Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to cut education funding by about $324 million — while already having reduced this year’s funding by $180 million — and Gov. Eliot Spitzer would reduce next year’s promised increase for New York City schools from $530 million to about $330 million.

Still, with all signs pointing to a recession and the stock markets acting like a bad roller coaster ride — mostly going down — what’s so bad about a little belt tightening?

What’s so bad is that even in times of economic hardship children should be immunized.

Budgets always reflect the choices we make as a society. We evaluate the functions and services we need and assign levels of priority to each of them. The education of our children, giving them the opportunity to develop their abilities and to achieve their maximum potential, must always be among the highest priorities of a progressive society.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case in the proposals made by the governor and the mayor.

In the case of Gov. Spitzer, we believe that he did not want to go back on his commitment to public education. But we also believe that budgeting the full amount that he proposed and the Legislature passed in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity agreement last year should take precedence over other budgetary considerations.

The additional funds are important to maintaining and improving our public schools, especially to lower class sizes, which is one of the top priorities for educators and for parents.

In the case of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal, the cuts are actual reductions, not just lower increases. And while some of the cuts are in the central administration, like reducing costs when purchasing supplies and by eliminating some teaching positions for English as a second language, the brunt of the cuts will have to be borne by the schools. That comes to about $100,000 per school.

UFT President Randi Weingarten was highly critical of the plan. “Instead of looking at all the test-driven materials or looking at the bus contract or looking at other kinds of things where there is fat in the system, the first thing they do is make the schools pay for it,” she said. “The chancellor should be the champion of the schools, not cut into the schools.”

We call on the City Council to restore the cuts in order to ensure that no children in the city will be deprived of any — even what the Department of Education might consider peripheral — education services.

We also call on the state Legislature to restore all of the expected increase of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement funds. They should be included in the Contract for Excellence — which school districts must sign in order to receive the additional funding — to ensure that they are spent on methods proven to improve education, like reducing class size and reforming middle schools.

At the same time we should also include funding under the Contract for Excellence to provide universal prekindergarten classes and to expand career and technical education.

Even in bad times and even when there are many demands on our limited tax dollars, we should resolve to make the right choices so that it is never our children who suffer. Providing the best schools, the best support and the best climate for learning must always be our paramount priority.