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School Budget Showdown?
May 27th, 2008

In his six years as schools chancellor, Joel Klein has testified before City Council many times, with his comments sometimes met with skepticism if not outright hostility. But Klein received a particularly chilly reception this morning when he went before the finance and education committees to defend the administration’s plan to cut approximately $99 million in classroom spending. (For background on the cuts, go here.)

Klein came armed with a Power Point presentation and with the word “supplant,” which he used frequently and in as many forms as possible (though “supplantation” seemed to be his favorite). Council members came prepared with questions and fervid promises of support “for the children of the City of New York.” Despite repeated admonitions, the audience hissed Klein and cheered his critics. When protestors in the balcony refused to end their chants of “Chancellor Klein, don’t cut a dime,” the sergeant at arms escorted then from City Hall.

Amid all this theater, it became apparent that the dispute over school spending remains a major barrier to the mayor and council reaching agrement on a budget by the end of June.

Perhaps most importantly, Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she could not “in good faith” support a budget that cut classroom spending. Acknowledging the straitened economic picture, said, “Even in that climate, even with that reality, there are some services that have to be protected.”

Councilmember Lew Fidler agreed. “There generally a sense in this council that this budget is not going to pass if there’s a dime of cuts in the classroom,” he said.

Several members questioned whether the economy reality was as grim as the administration contended. (For more on revenue projections, go here.) Instead, they cited reports of a budget surplus, which by their reckoning, erases the rationale for any cuts in school spending.

One member, John Liu, suggested that if money was indeed that tight, the mayor might want to take a second look at the $400 property tax rebate he sends homeowners every summer. “We need to look at what we really need,” Liu said.

Much of the questioning — and a lot of the derision — centered on Klein’s effort to blame the state government for the city’s plight, despite a marked increase in state money for city public schools. Klein has said that because Albany has put restrictions on how the city can use the money — with an emphasis on helping disadvantaged schools — he cannot enact relatively modest across-the-board spending cuts. Instead, he argued, he must slash as much at 6 percent at high-performing schools. (This is were supplanting comes in, in case you were wondering.)

“I asked for discretion so that I can treat all students equitably,” Klein said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that most state officials dismissed his idea last week.

‘What you’re trying to do in my opinion is hold a gun to Albany,” said Councilmember Robert Jackson, who chairs the education committee. “If I was a legislator in Albany, I would be enraged that you were trying to hold me hostage.”

In addition to being unlikely to succeed, the chancellor’s gambit was “divisive,” according to Councilmember Mike McMahon, who said, “We have to avoid pitting the high-needs child against the low-needs child.”

And if the high-needs kids get more, several council members declared, so much the better. The state money, the result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, was designed to provide all students in the city with a sound basic education “The funds are to bring all the schools to equal standing,” said Councilmember Melissa Mark Viverito. Using it to plug holes in the budget from Bloomberg’s cuts, she continued, “is something we would not support because that is not the intent of the funds. I would ask the state not to consider or entertain that.”

Klein did have one defender, Councilmember Peter Vallone, who put all the blame on Albany. The state does not deserve any praise for increasing education money to the city, he said, since the city pays $14 billion more in taxes than it gets back from the state. “It’s like a thief taking your wallet, giving you a dollar back and saying, “look how much I give to charity.’”

By Gail Robinson on May 27, 2008, 3:41 pm
In category: Albany, Education, Finance
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3 Responses to “School Budget Showdown?”

  1. Gotham Gazette - The Wonkster » Blog Archive » Chancellor or Commissioner? Says:
    May 28th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    […] Press NYC Blogs  » Wonkster Recent Posts Chancellor or Commissioner? School Budget Showdown? To Be Poor in New York Post-Holiday Crime […]

  2. Larry Littlefield Says:
    May 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Did anyone mention the relationship between in-school spending going down as total spending goes up and all those teachers who suddenly will receive an pension and benefits at age 55 rather than 62, right now?

    Anyone at all even ask a question about what that will cost?

    Anyone?

  3. gail Says:
    May 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    None of the council members did.

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