DOE faces a 2 percent midyear budget cut

The Bloomberg administration on Oct. 4 asked all city agencies, including the Department of Education, to cut 2 percent from their budgets for the current fiscal year that ends in June 2012 and an additional 6 percent for the next fiscal year.

The midyear cut to the current budget is projected to save $500 million, while next year’s cut would save $1.5 billion.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in response:

Last week we announced that there were 7,000 oversized classes as the school year began, the largest number in a decade.The schools have taken three years of reductions.  Class sizes are skyrocketing all over the system while afterschool programs are disappearing. The schools just can’t be cut anymore.

The Mayor closed out the last fiscal year with a surplus of more than $3.7 billion.If he is projecting that shortfalls in state and federal revenues are going to hammer the city budget even further, he should join me in going to Albany to fight to make sure the millionaire’s tax doesn’t expire as scheduled this December 31. Keeping the millionaire’s tax would mean $5 billion in additional revenue for the state.