'Detrimental Harm:' Park Slope Teacher Sues NYC Over School Budget Cut

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A longtime Park Slope music teacher who lost his job after the City Council passed a budget slashing public school funding is among a group of parents and teachers aiming to overturn the recently-adopted budget by suing the city on a technicality.

The lawsuit — filed this week by two New York City parents and two teachers, including Paul Trust, a music teacher at Park Slope's P.S. 39 — claims that city officials violated protocol by voting on the $215 million budget cuts before the budget received the requisite Board of Education approval.

Although schools Chancellor David Banks — one of the defendants named in the suit — issued an "emergency declaration" on May 31 calling on the Council to adopt the budget prior to the Board of Education public hearing, he didn't give an adequate reason as to why, the lawsuit contends.

Instead, Council Members voted on the budget ten days before the hearing, and didn't get the chance to factor in the voices of nearly 70 parents, teachers and education advocates who spoke to the "consequence and irreparable harm" of the budget cuts, the suit contends.

Laura D. Barbieri, an attorney for the firm that filed the suit, told Chalkbeat that by voting on the budget ahead of the Board of Education hearing the Council violated protocol.

"We are talking about a simple procedural mistake," she told the outlet.

In light of the so-called protocol violation, the Council should be required to vote again on the budget, according to the suit.

In the meantime, the suit contends, the court should restore last year's school funding and temporarily stop school budget cuts, which went into effect July 1.

'Detrimental harm'

After losing at least $50,000 in funding from the budget cuts, P.S. 39, for instance, was forced to discontinue its "beloved music program," causing many students to feel "upset and angry," the suit reads.

Trust, who has worked at P.S. 39 since 2009 and is one of three teachers at the school who lost his job over the cuts, is worried about how eliminating the music program will impact students' development.

"These programs allow students to have creative outlets in school and learn skills that many children would not have the opportunity to acquire otherwise," the suit reads, noting the importance of arts education on child development.

"[Cutting this program] will detrimentally harm not only the teachers who will be excessed, but also the students who will suffer from not being provided the well-rounded education that they not only deserve but are entitled to," the suit reads.

Pushback and possible reversal

The lawsuit comes amid increasing pushback against the budget cuts from teachers, parents and even Council members who voted in favor of the budget — Park Slope's representative among them.

"I want to start by acknowledging how deeply regretful I am of my budget vote," said Park Slope's Council Member Shahana Hanif at a rally outside City Hall Monday morning covered by City and State.

"I made a decision that I thought would best equip me to have a seat at the table and the tools to fight back against and restore the cuts. It’s clearer than ever that the table and the entire process in this body is severely broken."

Hanif is among a group of progressive Council members who supported the budget, but have since apologized for their votes and called on Mayor Eric Adams to restore public school funding cuts.

While experts say the lawsuit might not be enough to reverse the budget cuts, the City is nearing a deal to restore $250 million to schools that faced the enrollment-related budget cuts, NY1 reported Wednesday.

The funding, which sources told the outlet is "close but not yet finalized" could come from the remaining $5 billion in federal COVID stimulus funds — an action that other local politicians, former Mayor Bill de Blasio among them, have already called for.