{"id":677227,"date":"2026-03-24T01:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/677227\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T01:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:25:21","slug":"nyc-school-budgets-uncertain-as-officials-weigh-hold-harmless-funding-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/677227\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC school budgets uncertain as officials weigh \u2018hold harmless\u2019 funding cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

During a City Council hearing about Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s proposed budget for New York City\u2019s public schools, one question came up again and again: Will school budgets take a hit next year?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question Education Department officials repeatedly sidestepped \u2014 but the answer may influence the fate of Mamdani\u2019s first budget plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are not many individual issues that we will discuss at any of these hearings that impact our collective vote on the entire $127 billion dollar budget \u2014 that\u2019s how important this is,\u201d Brooklyn City Council member Lincoln Restler said during the budget hearing on Monday. \u201cI really want to make sure we\u2019re not in a situation where we\u2019re seeing school budgets a day before the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

As K-12 enrollment in the nation\u2019s largest school system plunged nearly 10% over the past six years, dropping below 800,000, city officials spent $1.6 billion propping up budgets<\/a>. That money staved off cuts that would typically have been automatic since school funding is typically tied to student headcount. But officials were reluctant to slash budgets while schools were scrambling to catch up students in the wake of the pandemic and the system had billions in one-time federal relief money at its disposal. <\/p>\n

As the pandemic receded and federal funding dried up, however, it became difficult to change course. The Education Department kept school budgets relatively stable even as enrollment ticked down. This year, schools received over $388 million in various forms of relief to offset lower enrollment, the largest single-year sum since the pandemic hit.<\/p>\n

Whether to keep school budgets steady and hold them \u201charmless\u201d for enrollment declines is a politically tricky decision as the Mamdani administration has tasked city agencies to find savings to help fill a multi-billion dollar budget gap. When former Mayor Eric Adams initially began winding down the program<\/a>, the blowback was so intense that City Council members later apologized<\/a> for approving the city\u2019s spending plan, and families made T-shirts declaring that Adams defunded their schools<\/a>. Subsequently, Adams decided to keep propping up budgets. <\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

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Some school funding experts and budget watchdog groups<\/a> say that it makes little sense to keep allowing school budgets to drift away from enrollment, disproportionately benefiting schools that have lost the most students. It\u2019s a problem that was top of mind for multiple city lawmakers. <\/p>\n

\u201cAre we funding empty seats?\u201d asked Queens City Council member Phil Wong. \u201cAnd is there a long term plan to phase this out \u2014 or this is now a permanent policy?\u201d<\/p>\n

But educators and parent leaders have pointed out<\/a> that many schools have come to rely on the money, and abruptly cutting it could force painful cuts to programs such as after-school, art, and music. Plus, cuts are likely to invite backlash, especially as Mamdani vowed to prioritize funding for public schools on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

At the City Council hearing on Monday, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels stressed that \u201cno decision has been made on hold harmless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think about declining enrollment, we see the impact of that across our schools and specifically many of our schools who serve the most vulnerable populations,\u201d Samuels added. The city should be \u201cmaking sure those schools are sustainable and can withstand the impact of the declining enrollment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201chold harmless\u201d funding is a small share of the more than $16 billion the Education Department spent on K-12 schools and instruction this year<\/a>. But on dozens of campuses, the money represents more than 10% of their initial allocations.<\/p>\n

Officials said preliminary school budgets would be available later this spring, potentially leaving little time for lawmakers to negotiate the issue before the June 30 deadline to pass the city budget. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":677228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,133792,40980,405,403,59409,5226,5225,5228,5227,270508,270509,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-677227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-cabinet","tag-chalkbeat","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-public-schools","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nycps","tag-school-chancellor-kamar-samuels","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116281549004742052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}