After nearly two months, Schools Chancellor David Banks is moving forward on a pledge to create a budget task force, the Department of Education said Saturday.
Banks has not yet set up the “team” he promised to address complaints about the “Fair Student Funding” formula, which largely determines how much money schools get.
“I’m prepared by next week to start to organize and plan to fix this mess,” he declared at a public meeting May 18.
On Saturday the DOE told the Post, “We will soon begin inviting participants and start meeting in the next several weeks.”
The group will include parents, Panel for Educational Policy members, an industry expert, DOE staff, and community volunteers, the department said.
Meanwhile, Gale Brewer, Upper West Side City Councilmember and chair of the Oversight and Investigations committee, said she wants to figure out how to restore $215 million in DOE funding cuts proposed by Mayor Adams and adopted by the City Council.
“We’ve heard from scores of parents concerned about these cuts — on top of the thousands of emails and calls my office alone has received,” Brewer said. “In the context of the city’s $100-plus billion budget, $215 million is a drop in the ocean–and the money ought to be found.
“I’ve convened a group of budget watchdogs, including the Comptroller’s Office, the Independent Budget Office and the Citizens Budget Commission, to help find the funds,” Brewer said.
Mayor Adams says student enrollment losses forced the DOE to cut school budgets. In addition, The Post reported that the city reduced the per-pupil allotment that schools will receive next year. Principals have been forced to slash programs and let teachers go.
Additional reporting by Cayla Bamberger