Fearful of United Federation of Teachers election-season backlash, Mayor Adams has OK’d “hold harmless” school funding.
Before the mayor’s about-face, about half the city’s 1,600 public schools were looking at mid-year budget adjustments totaling $157 million because of declining enrollment.
Yet the other half, which saw an increase in students, will still get $146 million in added cash.
It was only last year that Adams ended the de Blasio “hold harmless” policy, imposed under the excuse of the pandemic and (temporarily) paid for by a deluge of federal aid.
This is madness: The city Department of Education spends about $30,000 per student; there’s no reason to spend even more on schools that are teaching ever-fewer kids.
No reason except for the fact that those schools would need to lay off teachers to meet their new budgets, and the UFT is outraged at the thought of losing a dime in dues.
Yes, the union would manipulate the City Council into fighting these cuts, a battle the mayor doesn’t want as he faces a tough re-election campaign and federal corruption charges.
But the UFT will be gunning for Adams anyway: It wants him replaced by a de Blasio-style progressive who’ll jump when union chief Mike Mulgrew barks “frog.”
Sorry, Mr. Mayor: You won your first term by vowing to stand up for common sense and against “progressive” lunacy.
You need to make better choices than surrender.
