The city’s teachers union filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday that aims to stop Mayor Eric Adams from slashing the education department’s budget.
The United Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO and a group of individual teachers argue in the suit that the cuts violate state law and would hurt the city’s students.
Adams’ financial plan announced last month would strip $547 million of the department’s roughly $39 billion annual budget, eliminating pre-school seats and reducing hours at the city’s free summer programs for some students. Officials projected more cost savings would be necessary in future years.
The suit cites a provision in state law barring a spending reduction for schools unless overall city revenues decline. The unions argue the city’s planned reduction in education funding comes as budget officials anticipate a revenue surplus for the year.
They also argue the city’s plans to slash the budget undermine students’ rights to a “sound basic education” under the state constitution.
“These cuts are based off of a fiscal crisis that we feel is completely fabricated at this point,” UFT president Michael Mulgrew said at a press conference Thursday.
“We are already seeing more overcrowded classrooms,” he added. “We are seeing supply shortages. We are seeing children with special needs not getting their mandated services. And if these cuts go through, all of these situations get worse.”
Mayor Eric Adams announced the citywide cuts to agency budgets in November, requiring 5% spending cuts for most agencies. In a statement at the time, he said the cuts were necessary because “migrant costs are going up, tax revenue growth is slowing, and COVID stimulus funding is drying up.”
Earlier this month, the city’s Independent Budget Office reported the cost of caring for migrants in the coming years would be less than the figures projected by the Adams administration, and found a smaller overall deficit next year.
But the IBO still warned of major budget shortfalls down the road, including a $7.2 billion gap in 2026 that’s roughly $700 million higher than the gap projected by the mayor’s office.
“The reality is we have huge fiscal problems,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit think tank based in the city. “We have to solve this.”
Adams responded to the lawsuit at an unrelated press conference Thursday, saying he understands the unions have to fight for the interests of their members.
“From time to time friends disagree,” Adams said. “Sometimes that ends up in a boardroom and sometimes that ends up in a courtroom.”
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