NYC Budget Overstates Need for Cutting Teachers, Monitor Says
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s $65.7 billion budget overstates by more than 1,600 the number of teaching positions that need to be cut, a city budget monitor said.
Bloomberg’s plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 contained no new taxes and would eliminate more than 6,000 teaching jobs. Savings from teachers who retire or resign could be almost $104 million more than the budget assumes, the Independent Budget Office said. City estimates don’t reflect the fact that salaries of teachers who leave voluntarily are likely to be higher than those who are fired, the IBO said.
“Savings cited by the mayor and the schools chancellor from these reductions significantly overstate the number of layoffs needed to meet the budget target,” the IBO said on its blog.
The IBO’s finding may strengthen the City Council’s hand in negotiations with the mayor over the budget, which must be approved by the council. City lawmakers have pledged to restore some of the proposed teacher and social-service cuts in the budget.
Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Bloomberg, said the IBO’s calculations were wrong because savings from attrition come from not hiring a new teacher at a lower salary to replace a retiring teacher.
“We’re removing the expense of the replacements,” said LaVorgna. “At no point in time in the budget do we have an expense for all these people who are retiring.”
Closing Deficit
Bloomberg’s budget proposes bridging a $4.6 billion deficit by using $3 billion in surplus, cutting teachers and reducing social services. The cutbacks became necessary because of a $1 billion drop in federal aid and reductions by New York state, which had to close its own $10 billion deficit.
Bloomberg’s budget assumes that at least 2,000 teachers will leave voluntarily and 4,166 will be cut. The IBO estimated that the average salary of a teacher who leaves voluntarily is $64,731. The city calculated the savings from attrition by assuming the average salary of a replacement teacher is $54,000.
The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
To contact the reporter on this story: Martin Z. Braun in New York at mbraun6@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page