nyc cutting 6000 teaching positions

[Hannah Bell]

Leonie Haimson: The mayor's budget proposal passes the buck and puts children last

The mayor tried to pass the buck today to the state and the federal government, blaming them for the elimination of over 6,000 teaching positions. What happened to mayoral accountability?

And yet he added that if the state provided extra funding or mandate relief, he would not necessarily restore these positions, but he might spend it on the police or fire department instead.

He said he was “very sympathetic” to Gov. Cuomo, but he mentioned no sympathy for NYC children, who will have to bear the brunt of these cuts in the form of the largest increases in class size in at least 30 years. While he commented that he would not put city's fiscal "future at risk," he seems all too willing to put our kids' futures at risk instead. This is not a budget which puts children first...

The city's overall spending on contracts has doubled to more than $10 billion in the last five years – with a huge part of the increase for technology. In the next year alone, the DOE plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on technology in its capital plan, with $350 million to buy computers to implement more online learning and testing...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/05/leonie-haimson-on-mayors-budget.html