Still guessing at size of state cuts, city grows closer to layoffs
With the clock ticking down toward probable layoffs, school officials say the fiscal picture hasn’t grown clearer in the last month.
Department of Education officials are still aiming to give principals their preliminary school budgets on June 1, Chancellor Joel Klein told City Council today. “That said, things in Albany are changing each day and our situation remains fluid,” said DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte.
As they decide exactly when to release school budgets, officials are seeking to strike a delicate balance. Principals need enough time to plan how to work large cuts into their budgets. But officials are also hesitant to pull the trigger on announcing exact cuts and layoffs too early, for fear of having to retrace their steps if a state budget follows soon thereafter.
City officials are currently anticipating that, unless Albany passes a less austere budget than the governor’s current proposal, the city schools will lose as many as 6,400 teacher positions — 4,400 of them through layoffs — and schools will face cuts that are much larger than the 4.9 percent reductions they saw this year.
Department of Education officials are still aiming to give principals their preliminary school budgets on June 1, Chancellor Joel Klein told City Council today. “That said, things in Albany are changing each day and our situation remains fluid,” said DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte.
As they decide exactly when to release school budgets, officials are seeking to strike a delicate balance. Principals need enough time to plan how to work large cuts into their budgets. But officials are also hesitant to pull the trigger on announcing exact cuts and layoffs too early, for fear of having to retrace their steps if a state budget follows soon thereafter.
City officials are currently anticipating that, unless Albany passes a less austere budget than the governor’s current proposal, the city schools will lose as many as 6,400 teacher positions — 4,400 of them through layoffs — and schools will face cuts that are much larger than the 4.9 percent reductions they saw this year.
