GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

this again

Advocates gear up for annual after-school budget cuts battle

Screen shot 2013-03-06 at 5.03.23 PM

If Mayor Bloomberg’s budget proposal goes through, the city would offer only 35 percent as many after school spots next year as it did in 2008.

That scenario is relatively unlikely, given the City Council’s history of finding funds to fill the city’s after-school budget gaps. But the proposal still illustrates the Bloomberg administration’s lack of commitment to after-school and child care, according to the Campaign for Children, a coalition of 150 nonprofit and community groups formed last year to oppose the cuts that Bloomberg planned.

The campaign held a rally outside City Hall to oppose this city’s plans to cut tens of thousands of after-school and child care seats.

The City Council averted last year’s proposed cuts — 30,000 after-school slots and 6,500 early childhood slots — with a last-minute funding restoration in what has become an annual ritual.

But the funding was only for one year, and now, Bloomberg has proposed cutting even more slots: 37,000 across the city’s three after-school programs and 10,000 in child care programs.

Exhibit A at the Campaign for Children’s rally was a graph that charts the toll through this year on one kind of after-school seat: those offered by the city’s Out-of-School Time program, which Bloomberg created early in his tenure.

Emma Woods, a spokeswoman for the Campaign for Children, said the graph highlighted the fact that even after the City Council steps in, some seats do disappear, meaning that fewer children can be accommodated in city programs.

“It’s not just restored fully every year,” she said. “We are really losing services — and they’re important.”

  • Scooby

    Great job, “education mayor”! You made billions over the course of your time as mayor, yet childrens’ public school programs have dwindled and been cut over the years.

    Congratulations. Your legacy is corruption.

  • vanna

    It has been reported that the bloomberg administration has spent 10 million dollars on outside resourcing. Why doesn’t the mayor just cut his spending and put the money in the classroom??

  • http://www.facebook.com/edea.krammer.3 Edea Krammer

    That’s not a good statistic! What would be this world without a civilized and respectful youth as the engine of this world?! I’m starting to doubt that we can never be assured what our grandchildren’s children will be… tsk!
    KRK25GA.com

Tips, questions, feedback?

Contact us at .

Word from Our Sponsor

Follow GothamSchools

RSS
Subscribe to the daily email digest:

Chalk It Up

Recent Comments

0 comments so far today

Events Calendar

Archives

May 2013
M T W T F S S
« Apr  
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031