Judge rules NYC must redo public school budget

NEW YORK - A State Supreme Court judge ruled Friday that Schools Chancellor David Banks violated state law when he did not allow parents and educators to give their input on the budget cuts before submitting the cuts to City Council for approval, authorizing a re-do on education funding.

The ruling is a victory for parents and teachers who fought the city on the issue, saying that the more than 200 million dollars in proposed budget cuts for city public schools could have had a crippling effect.

"If these cuts had gone through, it would've meant over 50 million dollars in losses in my local community school district alone," said Reyhan Mehran, a parent from Brooklyn.

For Paul Trust, a teacher who was part of the lawsuit and has children in the city public school system, the cuts simply would've taken too much away from students. 

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"The students are losing their art programs, their music programs. They're losing guidance counselors. They're losing social workers.  They're losing beloved classroom teachers," Trust said. 

The ruling, by Judge Lyle E. Frank, is likely to throw public school finances in New York City into further uncertainty.

"It's a major victory," said Attorney Arthur Schwartz, who represents teachers and parents in the lawsuit. "What the city cannot do is cut programs.  They can't lay off any teachers. They can't reduce anything in any of the schools."

In the past, Mayor Adams defended the cuts because of declining student enrollment.

Now, City Hall is appealing the judge’s ruling even after the Mayor announced yesterday that he would comply with whatever the judge decided. 

The first day of school is September 8th.