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The council should reject these disruptive and unnecessary mid-year cuts, reaffirm the promise of universal 3-K, and tell Mayor Adams to focus on fixing the administrative rot that has decimated city agencies during his first year in office.

The New York City Department of Education announced today that FY24 federal stimulus money will be used to hold all New York City schools harmless for register changes, a temporary reversal of the administration policy announced earlier this year. In the face of months of denial and inaction by the Adams administration, the intense public pressure applied by education advocates and allied council members was decisive in winning this temporary policy reversal, adding limited resources for schools serving new asylum-seeking families and saving hundreds of other schools from the additional mid-year cuts that the Adams administration had originally planned. The DOE announcement underlines the fact that the policy reversal is temporary and they plan to continue mid-year cuts again next year.

After advocates and council members rallied on March 16, 2022 with The People’s Plan against Mayor Adams’ proposed austerity preliminary budget, the City Council released its official response that endorses many of the demands made in the People’s Plan letter signed by over 100 community groups and advocacy organizations as well as 12 council members. This alignment signals a united front around critical issues going into the first budget fight of the new administration.