New York City Public Schools Face Budget Cuts
New York City is home to the largest public school district in the nation, serving nearly a million students across the five boroughs. For decades, the public school system has been seen as both a doorway to opportunity and a reflection of the city’s deep inequalities. Although recent years have brought modest improvements in standardized test scores, persistent budget cuts and overcrowding have raised urgent concerns about the quality of education. While many New Yorkers recognize schools face challenges, few realize the scale of the problem or the impact on classrooms where resources are already stretched thin. Now, federal and state policies are posing new threats. The Trump Administration recently canceled $36 million in magnet school grant funding after city officials refused to alter policies protecting transgender students. As a result, students in underserved communities are at risk of losing specialized learning. What often goes unnoticed is how these policies and decisions, taken together, threaten years of progress and leave generations of students trapped in overcrowded classrooms fighting for a future in a system stripped of opportunity by the very government meant to protect it.
One of the clearest issues is class size. Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, has long argued that smaller classrooms give teachers the chance to actually connect with their students. She explained that when teachers have fewer students, they can “meet each student where they are and give them the individualized support they need to learn and grow.” But despite a state law passed in September of 2022 requiring class sizes to shrink, Haimson says that city officials haven’t built enough new schools or allowed principals to cap enrollment at overcrowded schools. The result, she warns, is that “hundreds of thousands of students are being denied the opportunity to learn in an environment where they could thrive.” On top of overcrowding, schools are also dealing with shrinking budgets. Melissa Khan, spokesperson for the United Federation of Teachers, says these cuts are hitting the hardest in schools that already have the most need. “Federal cuts are taking away resources from our most vulnerable school communities, making it more difficult to meet our students’ needs,” she said.
The effects of these challenges are easy to see at PS/MS 95 Sheila Mencher in the Bronx. The school serves one of the most underserved student populations in the city according to Jenna Klaus, Chief of Staff for the City Council’s Educational Department, PS/MS 95 has survived in recent years only because of extra investments from the council. These investments cover important programs the regular budget cannot, including: afterschool activities, STEM labs, literacy supports, and updated classroom technology. These numbers tell a story. Only 28% of students are proficient in math, 33% in English, and 35-39% in science. Over 90% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, 21% are English as a Second Language learners, and 22% receive special education services. Without the extra money, Klaus says, many of these programs would disappear, leaving kids without the resources they need to succeed. For families with children enrolled at PS/MS 95 Sheila Mencher, this means a constant worry that the programs their children rely on could be cut at any moment.
Teachers, city leaders, and other educational advocates agree that NYC’s public school system is at its breaking point. Smith, an LRT teacher here at Riverdale who previously worked at a public school, agrees with this testament, stating that “When we weaken public schools, we don’t merely harm the students who rely on them the most; we diminish a public good that belongs to us all. We weaken the very ethos of participation, empathy, and shared responsibility that sustain civic engagement.” Budgets continue to shrink even as the schools become more overcrowded, and federal threats hang over the very initiatives designed to empower students. Every budget cut and every canceled program tells those students that their future matters less. New York’s identity as a city of opportunity depends on believing a better outcome is possible. If leaders of the current administration continue to strip resources from schools, they are stripping opportunities from entire generations. The struggle for public school equality is the struggle for justice, but also the struggle for tomorrow, because the future of New York truly begins in the classroom. Now, more than ever, it’s vital to protect our public schools against detrimental cuts by pushing back against budget cuts and spreading awareness of what’s at stake. Because when schools are undercut, it’s the kids who carry the burden.
