After School Budget Cut Outcry, Adams Frees Up $150 Million In Funds

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams will free up about $150 million in additional funding for public schools after facing harsh pushback over a steep cut in the recent city budget, city officials said Wednesday.

While no new funding was announced, the move will give schools more flexibility to use $100 million in federal stimulus money, and free up $50 million that had been set aside for schools that appeal their budgets.

Passed in June, the city's record $101 billion budget for the next fiscal year included a $215 million drop in public school funding, prompting several progressive City Council members to cast "no" votes.

Adams's administration had said the cuts were necessary due to a 120,000-family decrease in the city's school system over the past five years. The funding cut almost immediately caused staff reductions and pared-down programming at many schools, WNYC reported.

Adams announced the freed-up funding in a statement along with schools Chancellor David Banks. Though he continued to defend the cuts as necessary given the enrollment drop, he said the city was listening to feedback.

"We always said we would meet the needs of our students, and after hearing from principals and other community leaders that they need additional time to adjust to the decline in enrollment, we are announcing greater flexibility in this year’s school budget," Adams said.

"Still, we also must acknowledge the changing conditions that so many are unwilling to recognize and, just as importantly, that there is no hidden pool of city money or additional federal stimulus funds, as has been previously inaccurately reported, that we can tap."

The most recent twist in the funding saga came last week, when a judge temporarily barred the budget cuts from taking effect. (The city appealed that ruling.)

Adams has also said he is negotiating with the City Council to restore some of the lost funding.

While a vast majority of the Council voted for the budget that included the cuts, many of those same members protested the cuts weeks later, saying they had been misled by the Department of Education.