Adams Vs. Adams: NYC Mayor, Speaker Go Blow For Blow Over Budget

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy accused the City Council of falsely attacking the Department of Education budget process late Friday night.

Levy said that Adams and city schools Chancellor David Banks are committed to providing every available resource to students so they would have the best education possible and that is what the budget does.

“The city charter is clear: The mayor puts forward a budget, and the city council votes on it — that is one of its most important duties,” Levy said in a statement. “Both sides did their job, except now the Council refuses to stand by its vote and is, instead, repeatedly issuing misleading and irresponsible statements.

“The funding in the budget has been clear for months and was negotiated, reviewed, and voted on by the city council with full transparency. The council knew what it was voting for and knew it was the right decision. And in the months since the vote, our administration has continued to provide them with detailed responses to its questions.”

Levy’s statement is in response to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams' statement released Friday afternoon about a recent court decision on the budget, in which a judge ruled that the school budget process violated state law and ordered a redo, reported Gothamist.

At issue is the DOE cuts to the budget, which many councilmembers, including the speaker, who represents Jamaica, say was far steeper than they realized.

“The Council is considering a full range of legal actions to take in the coming days to ensure DOE permanently restores school budgets, is accountable to the public, and completely transparent about all relevant budget information and detailed accounting of the status of its remaining federal stimulus funds,” the speaker said in a prepared statement. “Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks are risking the health of our school system and students, and they must resolve this issue immediately.

“The Council and school stakeholders have been seeking such a resolution for weeks without a constructive partner at DOE. It is time for DOE to stop the chaos and confusion that its actions have created.”

Levy said that the budget includes more city funding than ever before and is responsibly adjusted to address both declining enrollment and the end of federal stimulus funding, all of which is currently allocated.

“There is no secret pot of funding, and the city council knows this,” Levy said.

“As the speaker said on the day of the handshake agreement, ‘this is a budget, Mayor Adams, to be so proud of … that is good for every New Yorker, every community, and our entire city government.’”

The speaker’s sentiment was different on Friday compared to the handshake agreement, Adams’ spokesman referred.

“The council has been clear that the school budgets should be restored, and the Department of Education (DOE) must immediately fix the problems it has caused for New York City public school students,” said the speaker. “It has become clearer than ever that DOE lacks transparency and accountability and removed hundreds of millions of dollars more from school budgets than it ever conveyed in the city budget.

“Resolving this is about more than just a vote because DOE ultimately controls what happens with school budgets – a resolution must focus on ensuring ongoing accountability for DOE to do right by our schools within its larger budget.”