Teachers, administrators, parents and students had been on pins and needles while awaiting the 2014 New York City budget plan. Next year’s budget has big implications for the future of education in NYC.
One major issue on the table is how teachers will be evaluated and how that fits into the year’s budget.
The verdict is now out. New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg has announced the adjusted figures for fiscal year 2013-14 as an update to his $70 billion budget he had presented in January. The mayor and City Council were able to alleviate a lot of the worries.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
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The budget makes space for the funding of hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money for schools. It had been a point of contention that, until recently, the city had not come up with a proper system to evaluate teachers. That left the funding on uncertain terms. It has now been settled, thankfully, and the money is secure.
While that is good news for schools, teachers will still have to weigh in on whether they feel the new evaluation system is fair or not.
Along with school funding, the budget allocates money for child care and after-school programs that were on the chopping block. These are programs that low-income families rely on.
Some other programs that received good news were libraries, pools, fire stations and NYCHA, who had lost millions in funding during the sequester. Luckily they were spared $58 million to put toward public housing and maintenance of senior centers.
“Our Administration’s final budget reflects the commitment to sound financial management that has helped keep our city on firm financial footing, and to the services and programs New Yorkers rely on,” Bloomberg said at a press conference with Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
So, who are the winners? Education, public housing, libraries and after-school programs came out on top.
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