The effects of NY state budget cuts on NYC public schools

Introduction

It has been a hot argument that the newly adopted budget (2011) for state NY attacks severely on the working class. At the same time, the budget offers relaxation for wealthy people and business as they taxes are significantly reduced (Guelpa, 2011). The working class will be paying for the financial crisis faced by the country, as huge budget cuts have been made in the budgets allocated for education, health care and other public services. This essay describes the potential effects on the NY public schools as a result of NY state budget cuts.

Discussion

Education in New York State has been affected by the budget cuts, throughout the American history. Each year, new policies are made and new legislations are put forward which assure the budget cut in for the education sector. There are several positive outcomes of budget cuts on the school districts; for examples the authorities get a chance to monitor that how their budgets are being distributed, how they can reduce the cost of their operations and activities. Thus, as a result of budget cuts, the school authorities become able to efficiently plan the resources, and increase their operational efficiency by involving the minimum possible cost (Coleman, et.al, 2011, p.1). However, the budget cuts only remain justified up to a certain extent. The budgets should be allocated to the education sector and to the district schools, while keeping all their needs and expenses in mind. The authorities while allocating budget should consider that the student studying in public schools should not be affected by any means. Over the period of past few years, it has been noticed that the State offers unjustified education budget cuts, which affects the public schools, colleges, universities and ultimately their students. in the following, the essay discusses some of the ways in which public schools have been affected by the budget cuts of 2011.

The NY state budget allocated for education has been cut by a large amount of $1.4 billion in 2011 (NYSSBA, 2013); also the budget cut for education has been proposed as $1.4 billion for the next year. As a result of this budget cut, various teachers' associations have shown their concerns for the teachers to be laid off. According to estimate made by the state's principal teachers union (NYSUT), nearly 18000 to 20000 teachers are at the risk of being laid off. The larger cities will have to face the major layoffs, for example, the teacher layoff estimate for Rochester is 900, while for Yonkers the layoff estimate is as high as 700. To accommodate the layoffs, many state and district school authorities have been planning to increase the class sizes, to limit the extracurricular and sports activities and to offer fewer electives as compared to their past practice. Obviously, there will be no tutoring, after school and arts program which have been assisting the student and developing creativity in them (Change.org, 2013). All these strategies would directly affect ...