Adams admin. restores school programs’ funding with $32M investment

June 4, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CITYWIDE — THE CITY SCHOOLS WILL GET A $32 MILLION INVESTMENT to protect vital long-term programs that were previously funded with federal stimulus money, Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials announced on Tuesday, June 5. This is several investments towards the city’s budget to further support young people and families, and made possible because of the administration’s strong fiscal management, and better-than-expected revenues, the mayor said. They include $32 million to protect programming that was previously funded with temporary stimulus dollars and $20 million to extend the city’s popular Summer Rising hours. The first investment protects important long-term DOE programs that had been funded with short-term COVID-19 stimulus funds. The new funding includes $10 million to maintain teacher recruitment efforts deemed critical to meeting state-mandated class-size legislation standards; $6 million for Restorative Justice programming designed to reduce the reliance on suspensions or punitive discipline across city schools; $5 million for digital learning resources for students and teachers ($5 million); $4 million for tutoring support for kindergarten through second-grade literacy and sixth through eighth-grade math education at select schools across the city; $4 million for Computer Science education programs that offer access to computer science-related college and career pathways; $2 million covering “Civics for All” resources; and $1 million for parent and family engagement resources.

These investments are in addition to the $514 million in stimulus-funded programs that the city protected in the Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget. Moreover, as a measure to combat COVID-19-related learning loss, Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams also announced a “Hold Harmless” policy for the city schools’ initial budget allocations for the 2024-2025 school year to maintain stability.

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