Down 136,000 Students in Just Four Years, NYC's Public Schools Manage To Spend Billions More

[Kamaji]

Down 136,000 Students in Just Four Years, New York City's Public Schools Manage To Spend Billions More

Look for these budgetary swindles at a failing K-12 system near you.

MATT WELCH
8.11.2023

In just four years, according to newly released enrollment figures, the municipally operated portion of the New York City public school system has lost more than 136,000 students, or roughly the same population as the entire city of Pasadena, California. And yet not only has the annual Department of Education (DOE) budget increased over that time—by $4 billion, no less—the schools are set to go on an expensive hiring spree, thanks to a new statewide class-reduction law.

If that sounds like government dysfunction bordering on the openly malfeasant, well, welcome to New York. Sadly for the rest of you people, the pathologies and policies and tactics on display in the five boroughs are being emulated in big cities all over the country.

The four-year, 14 percent reduction in enrollment, coupled with the budget hike, means that per-student spending in city-administered schools has grown by 22 percent, to more than $31,000, according to the DOE. Yet that's almost certainly an undercount.

The Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan nonprofit watchdog, in April put the estimated per-student cost this fall at $38,000, with more growth projected on the way: "more than $41,000 in fiscal year 2026," and then "adding unbudgeted yet likely collective bargaining costs, per-student spending would reach nearly $44,000 in fiscal year 2026."

A key driver of these imminent cost increases is a five-year class-size reduction mandate signed into law last year by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. Beginning this fall, 20 percent of NYC-operated classes must stick to 20 kids from kindergarten through third grade, 23 students from fourth to eighth, and 25 for high schoolers. The New York City Independent Budget Office in July estimated that full compliance (when applied to 2021–22 budget/enrollment numbers) would require hiring 17,700 new teachers, and an additional annual budgetary bump of between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2023/08/11/down-136000-students-in-just-four-years-new-york-citys-public-schools-manage-to-spend-billions-more/

[Kamaji]

[Fishrrman]

When it drops to 20,000 students, they'll STILL be spending as much.
Or... more.