NYC parents, teachers file lawsuit to block school budget cuts

A group of New York City public school parents and educators filed a lawsuit Monday to block the Department of Education from cutting school funding, arguing the city flouted state law by passing its annual budget without the approval of an education oversight panel.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, asks a judge to temporarily halt the hundreds of millions in cuts and eventually require the City Council to recast its vote on the budget.

“The explicit language of State law requires that these egregious budget cuts be halted and reconsidered by the Mayor and the Council, because the law was not followed,” said Laura Barbieri, lawyer for the plaintiffs and a special counsel at Advocates for Justice.

Advocates, families and educators have been pushing back against the cuts — which DOE officials say are necessary because of falling enrollment — since the budget was passed in June. Protesters showed up at an unrelated Mayor Adams press conference on Monday to press him on the issue, with one hollering “restore the cuts” while the mayor was talking.

But the legal action represents a new front in the battle.

The suit cites a state law requiring the Education Department to submit an annual “budget estimate” to a panel for educational policy for approval.

For eight of the past 10 years, including this year, the DOE has sent its budget to the education panel for approval only after it’s been adopted by the mayor and City Council — making the panel’s vote meaningless, according to the suit. The DOE has also issued “emergency declarations” to temporarily approve the schools budget before the panel gets to vote for 12 of the past 13 years, the suit claims.

Schools chancellor David Banks defended issuing an emergency declaration in May, arguing the DOE needed more time to gather public comment on the budget estimate before giving it to the panel, according to the suit.

But Barbieri countered “no emergency justified the Chancellor’s ignoring the proper procedure.”

Adams’ spokesman Jonah Allon said “while enrollment in public schools dropped, the city has maintained the unprecedented commitment to keep every school from every zip code at 100% of Fair Student Funding. We are reviewing the lawsuit.”

With Michael Gartland