No Budget Cuts for NY Schools

I am writing to ask that you make no further funding cuts, especially not regressive cuts, to New York’s public schools.

The coronavirus pandemic has shuttered schools, forcing students to rely on remote learning to continue their education. Teachers and parents are doing their best, but hundreds of thousands of students across the state, including those who are homeless, have limited or no access to remote learning. Even kids with access are at risk of falling behind. Meanwhile, students with disabilities and kids who are learning English can’t get the support they need and are entitled to.

Any cuts to our schools will further widen the opportunity gap, and devastate communities of color, and poor and working class New Yorkers.

So far, the schools seeing the biggest drop in funding are the ones that receive the most state and federal aid. But those schools disproportionately serve poor students of color, students with disabilities, and English Language Learners who need the most support.

Cuts to education means fewer teachers, counselors, school nurses, arts classes, after-school programs, and other support systems for students who rely on them to get by. Kids who are dependent on the school system for a fighting chance will lose it.

I understand that the coronavirus has put the state in an impossible financial position. But we cannot balance the state’s budget on the backs of poor and working class students and their families. That decision will hurt us all in the long run.

The coronavirus has exposed how deeply unequal our society already is. Slashing funding to our state’s poorest schools will make things even worse.

We should not be making cuts to schools that can least afford them.