Taking a chapter out of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism ….
New York city Mayor Bill de Blasio cited the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced a series of cuts to New York City’s budget on Tuesday, including hits to school budgets and some of the mayor’s core education priorities such as expanding free pre-K to 3-year-olds. Here is the perfect example of our friends being our worst enemy… Rather than figure out a progressive tax, fed stimulus, job creation, fee reallocation, etc….
…. our leaders make the choice to cut where we should be spending more ... truth is starting to catch up real time with what is happening in our political system today ….
Some $121 million in education department cuts will go into effect this fiscal year, taking aim at professional development spending, which had already been a target of rollbacks, and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature “Equity and Excellence” initiatives, which aim to address disparities in the country’s largest system.
The biggest single cut to the education department’s budget will take effect next fiscal year: $100 million will come out of the “fair student funding” formula, a city funding stream that directly finances school budgets and is designed to funnel more money to the highest-need schools. That represents a roughly 1.6% reduction to that funding stream.
chalkbeat.org/...
NYC rolls out $1.3B in budget cuts with big hits to education and social services ….
City Hall detailed its plans to whack $1.3 billion from its spending plans Tuesday as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to capsize the Big Apple’s finances with billions in lost tax revenues and massive new costs to treat the sick.
The cuts stretch across the massive municipal bureaucracy, including education, transportation, social services and benefit programs, according to a detailed list released by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.
“Many of these cuts are responsive to our current reality of suspension of non-essential operations, while maintaining our commitment to Pre-K for All, health care, access to food, workplace protections, critical Thrive services and public safety,” said City Hall spokeswoman Laura Feyer.
The cuts include $46 million from the Fair Fares program that provides half-priced Metro cards to poor New Yorkers — cash available since so few people are using mass transit during the outbreak.
City Hall also slashed $124 million from the summer youth employment program because it’s “unclear if feasible at all as a practical health matter.”
nypost.com/...
New York DOE hit with $264 million in budget cuts due to COVID-19
The startling budget slash — which will impact programs ranging from early education to teacher training — is part of larger $1.3 billion spending drawdown across a slew of strapped city agencies.
The cuts include $100 million in Fair Student Funding money, a formula that determines how much individual schools receive based on factors like poverty and disabled student populations.
To shave another $43 million in costs, the city will delay the establishment of 3-k programs in four city districts that were slated to get them next year.
Sagging coffers will also save $67 million in teacher development spending that will “eliminate redundancy” and increase efficiency, according to a spokesperson.
The coronavirus crush will also hit several key elements of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Equity and Excellence initiative, including summer school programs and mentorship initiatives. Those cuts will total $49 million, according to the DOE.
nypost.com/…
De Blasio slashes funding for 3K, recycling and youth employment in first round of cuts
The expansion of 3K, a key recycling initiative and youth employment programs are some of the items on the city's chopping block in its first, $1.3 billion round of budget cuts, the de Blasio administration announced Tuesday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has governed during six years of unprecedented municipal prosperity, increasing the budget by around $20 billion and headcount by 30,000 in the process. One of his most popular and effective programs was the expansion of early childhood education, but even that is being curtailed as the city reels from the economic strain of the coronavirus.
“Sadly, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting revenue losses to the city, we must take significant action to preserve our ability to provide basic operations and continue to fund life-saving measures,” mayoral spokesperson Freddi Goldstein said in a statement.
www.politico.com/…
for those that need a refresher of the concept of Disaster Capitalism here is a short clip from Naomi Klein, author of "No Logo", and Alfonso Cuaron, director of "Children of Men", present a short film from Klein's book "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"