Brooklyn schools are already feeling the effects of budget cuts to be implemented in September.
At a rally at I.S. 303 on West Avenue, principals of local schools offered details about how students will suffer because of the upcoming cuts, which range from one to six percent of a school’s budget and translate to thousands of dollars lost.
“I will not be able to fund any of my music, theater, visual arts programs because of these cuts,” said James Harrigan, principal of P.S. 229 at 1400 Benson Avenue.
That’s been a common report from many local schools. After-school programs and teacher training workshops have also been limited or eliminated totally.
One of the most alarming effects of the budget cuts has been excessing, which means that teachers are informed that their schools can’t afford their salary in September so they should begin to look for new jobs.
“It disheartens me. I have teachers coming in and saying they’ve been excessed. That hurts,” said Shana Marks-Odinga, an organizer for the Alliance for Quality Education, an organization lobbying for additional funding for city schools.
A side effect of excessing is often an increase in class size because fewer teachers are available.
“Nine teachers in my small school will be excessed,” said Madelene Chan, principal of P.S. 90 at 2840 West 12th Street.
Geof Sorkin, a dean and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) chapter leader at I.S. 259 in Dyker Heights, said the school lost $120,000 during the first round of budget cuts and will lose another $450,000 in September.
As a result, there’s been a “reduction of hours in after-school intervention programs, arts, physical education, and the chancellor’s favorite – test prep,” Sorkin said.
The Mark Twain School for the Gifted and Talented lost $953,989, announced Principal Carol Moore.
“That does not include the $300,000 state magnet” funding that the school may eventually lose, she explained.
“I do not believe it is fair to our children,” Moore said.
Instead of taking money from schools, parents and educators suggested the city Department of Education (DOE) slash funding from its administrative and bureaucratic costs at its Manhattan headquarters at Tweed Courthouse. They say pricey consultants should be the first to go.
“Why don’t we take the body weight index of Tweed because it is completely bloated,” Harrigan said.
The DOE says it cut $230 million from the bureaucracy and sent the money to schools during the last two fiscal years.
