Mayor Adams restores some education funding, his third budget cut reversal in 3 days

New York City Mayor Eric Adams restored education funds for a summer program and community schools Friday — his third announcement in three days walking back budget cuts he previously said were necessary due to the cost of caring for migrants.

The city will cover an $80 million gap in summer school funding left by expiring stimulus funds and reverse $10 million in cuts to community schools, which offer social services for students and their families. Some $500 million in cuts to the education budget remain in place, according to the nonprofit organization Advocates For Children of New York.

The restored funding for community schools is for the current fiscal year, while that for the Summer Rising program is for next fiscal year starting in July, a NYC Department of Education spokesperson told Gothamist.

“Our administration is prioritizing investments in our young people’s futures, but we need to also be honest about the fiscal challenges ahead," Adams said in a statement. "Without additional support to fund the asylum seeker crisis from our state and federal partners, we will have massive budget gaps we will need to address in the next fiscal year."

Schools Chancellor David Banks said he continues to “ring the alarm” about the challenge of supporting programs that rely on stimulus dollars going forward. He added the goal is to provide full hours to students participating in Summer Rising, but education department officials said there would still be reduced hours for middle schoolers because of budget pressures.

Earlier this week, Adams announced he was restoring funds to the sanitation and parks departments, avoiding cuts that would have removed 9,000 litter baskets and eliminated 1,400 seasonal parks jobs. He also reversed cuts to the NYPD and FDNY in part to maintain the number of uniformed officers.

The moves walked back deep budget cuts the mayor had ordered across all city agencies due to migrant costs and expiring federal aid in November.

“Needless cuts to community schools and Summer Rising would have been devastating,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers union, in a statement Friday. “This is a step in the right direction. Now the city needs to walk back the other proposed education cuts.”

The mayor has also called for eliminating vacant seats from the city’s free preschool programs. Many education investments supported by stimulus money, including special education, social workers and school nurses, are still expected to run dry.

Adams’ critics have said for months the cuts were too deep, with members of the City Council and City Comptroller Brad Lander arguing the mayor was underestimating revenues and overestimating the deficit.

In a statement Friday about his latest funding reversal, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Councilmember Justin Brannan, who chairs the Council's finance committee, said they welcomed the news but remained concerned about other education cuts, including the city's 3-K preschool program.

"There are outstanding deficiencies with the Administration’s management of 3-K that the Department of Education must work to address, rather than cutting funding support for this essential lifeline for working families across New York City," they said. "Our children deserve responsible budget management and not to have the programs they rely on politicized in a process that is based on overly exaggerated estimates."

Adams defended his initial round of cuts, saying the city still faces a projected $7 billion deficit next fiscal year. But he said “smart planning” and “strong fiscal management," including new limits on migrant care, made it possible to restore some programs.

“We are not out of the woods,” the mayor said.