Record $101B NYC Budget Passes City Council Despite School Controversy

NEW YORK CITY — A gargantuan $101 billion New York City budget got its final approval by City Council members late Monday night, weeks ahead of deadline and in spite of an 11th-hour fracas over school funding cuts.

The 2023 budget passed 44-6 and officially breaks a record as the city's largest. Elected city leaders didn't waste time touting what it will fund for New Yorkers.

Mayor Eric Adams — who reached an early budget agreement last week with his (no-relation) City Council counterpart, Speaker Adrienne Adams — praised it as a "Get Stuff Done" budget.

"With upstream investments to promote public safety, give young people real opportunity, support our human and legal services providers, offer relief for working families, improve our public spaces, boost affordable housing, combat food insecurity, and so much more, this budget promotes an equitable recovery for New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs," he said in a statement.

But a $215 million decrease in public school funding prompted six progressive City Council members to cast "no" votes after days of escalating protests, including one in which former mayor Bill de Blasio participated.

Advocates and dissenting Council members decried what they called cuts to education while NYPD funding remained essentially flat, among other criticisms.

"Not to mention, it’s really f---ing hard to vote on a budget that cuts budgets for our public schools," Council Member Chi Ossé tweeted. "Yesterday, I had principals calling me telling me that they had teachers crying because of a $1 million dollar cut their school was getting.

"I can’t live with that."

The furor prompted Council Speaker Adams to respond hours before the final vote. She said one-time federal stimulus funds ran out as city officials switched back to a pre-pandemic school budget formula.

That formula is tied to enrollment, and a drop of 120,000 students left caused a "deeply concerning" impact on some schools, she said.

"While schools with increased enrollment received proposed school budgets with funding increases due to the formula, other schools received lower proposed budgets without the stop-gap of federal funding that could lead to the loss of important services," she said in a statement. "Our focus must be on equity, ensuring schools and students who have historically been underserved are prioritized."

Mayor Adams said he'd commit to restoring all funding in the fall if enrollment rebound.

And it appears Speaker Adams didn't brook any dissent over the budget — the New York Daily News reported that she will exclude the six Council members who voted "no" from receiving funds from a program that gives $100,000 for discretionary public safety projects in lawmakers' districts.