Mayor Adams on Tuesday poured cold water on Schools Chancellor David Banks’ optimism that preschool cuts could soon be reversed, just 24 hours after the chancellor said he had “great confidence” there was money to undo the reductions.
The Education Department’s early childhood division is facing two rounds of cutbacks for next school year that, combined with a looming fiscal cliff as federal pandemic aid expires after this school year, amount to an almost $263-million funding gap.
Adams, whose administration is currently using almost $1 billion of the temporary dollars to fund education programs, did not back his own chancellor’s sunny assessment.
“This is an emotional time for all of us,” Adams said at a Tuesday City Hall press briefing, “and I think the Chancellor has a right to display that emotion. But at the end of the day, he’s going to do what’s best for the city of New York.”
“I want my team to be authentic with their emotions, but, at the end of the day, if we are unable to identify the money, he’s going to carry out the direction that’s coming from the entire team,” the mayor said of Banks.
Banks at a hearing on the education budget Monday said he had “great confidence” that the city will have “really good news around early childhood” — and that Adams was on the same page.
“Parents of New York City are waiting to see if these cuts are going to be restored,” Banks told the City Council’s education committee. “I’m fighting for that to happen. And I believe that is exactly what is going to happen in the coming weeks.”
The Department of Education did not immediately return a request for comment.
