City budget vocabulary: Fair Student Funding is another name for city tax levy dollars for school budgets. It is the MOST IMPORTANT funding stream schools directly rely on to hire teachers, counselors, social workers, art/music in addition to buying technology for students.

The city created the FSF formula over a decade ago and each school receives FSF% based on student enrollment and the city formula. (We passed a bill aiming to make the formula more fair for marginalized students)

Why does this all matter? The city administration is slashing over $280 million in Fair Student Funding in their budget plan. What does this mean for schools, particularly in marginalized communities? Loss of many teachers = dramatic increase in class size

Loss of social workers/counselors (which weren’t enough to begin with) = a dramatic increase in unaddressed trauma our students are experiencing, which directly impacts their academic and social/emotional growth

Loss of art/music/athletic programs (which weren’t equitable to begin with) = directly hinders academic growth in addition to slashing positive outlets/mentors our students rely on

Loss of tech and supplies funding = Exacerbates the deep inequity marginalized students are already experiencing by lack of tech access during remote learning

Most schools in NYC do not receive 100% of what they are owed by the city’s own FSF formula pre-pandemic due to NYS lack of funding and city choices. The base floor schools receive is around 90%, but that could mean $1 million shortfall for a school.

The city administration aims to cut budgets of schools they claim are “well-funded” at 100% FSF or more. Let me explain why that is problematic for some marginalized communities. PS 25 in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn receives 192% FSF. It is not a rich school.

They receive a higher percentage because student enrollment is low due to lack of support and negative perception during Bloomberg era. The city funding is higher to retain staff to serve students and the school is showing promise. Cutting them from
192% to 95% shuts them down.

A renewal HS in QNS which moved to RISE,used extra FSF they got (every Renewal school was promised 100% FSF) to hire bilingual social worker which made huge impact for traumatized immigrant students. School made progress but social worker position now on chopping block w/FSF cut

These are just some of the many schools serving marginalized student populations that will be decimated by draconian $280 million school budget cuts. How do I come up with that number? City proposes $100 million FSF cut next school year. They forget to mention few more things

The city administration froze all current school budgets without giving schools ability to rollover to next school year. Estimated total is $100 million. Responsible school communities planned ahead to serve student needs in March, April, May, June & beyond & all $ is now gone

School communities also planned to serve students this summer with additional academic support. The estimated total of that support was approximately $41 million +. That funding also in jeopardy. We are identifying additional direct school budgets cuts that directly hurt students

NYC has over 200,000 students with IEPs and pre-pandemic City was unable to comply with numerous legal mandates to serve our most vulnerable. If draconian school budget cuts advance, this is mandated education services & time our most vulnerable will lose and never will get back