New York City’s public education system, the largest in the nation, is currently grappling with unprecedented fiscal threats as federal, state, and local budget battles converge, placing vital programs at risk for hundreds of thousands of working-class families.
With ongoing federal funding cuts initiated by the Trump administration, alongside state reductions and budget cuts at the city level, the implications for schools already struggling from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are significant.
Trump’s Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, has recently intensified her assault on education by demanding that states certify they do not fund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, threatening the loss of federal funding if they fail to comply.
New York City has indicated it will not cooperate with this order, which could lead to the loss of $2 billion in federal funding for its schools—equivalent to nearly 5 percent of the city’s $40 billion education budget.
These funds are crucial for supporting many Title I schools catering to low-income students, as well as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) programs that assist around 200,000 students with educational disabilities.
Moreover, McMahon has abruptly ended Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) pandemic funding grants, aligning with the Biden administration’s push for the American public to “move on” from the pandemic, resulting in New York losing $79 million, including $8.4 million earmarked for locally sourced school meals.
Compounding this issue, significant layoffs at the federal Department of Education Office for Civil Rights—including the entire staff based in New York City—are likely to weaken oversight regarding disability accommodations and discrimination complaints filed in the area.
Presently, 146,000 students in New York City live in temporary housing, representing nearly one in eight children in the city’s public schools. This troubling statistic reflects a 23 percent rise from the previous year and underscores the ongoing housing crisis impacting the school district.
Among these students, 60,395 reside in shelters, while approximately 79,000 are “doubled up,” temporarily living with friends or relatives due to economic difficulties, with about 6,900 children living in hotels, motels, or on the streets altogether.
The increase in student homelessness comes amid a broader social crisis in New York City, where one in four residents lives in poverty, which is double the national average. Rising rents and stagnant wages have left many families struggling to afford basic necessities, such as food and transportation.
The Trump administration seems determined to dismantle public education entirely, aiming to erase every gain made by the working class over the past 150 years. Its austerity measures are entwined with efforts to suppress science and critical thinking, subordinating significant aspects of American society to the interests of financial capital and U.S. imperialism.
In response to these threats, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s latest state budget proposal would overhaul the current funding formula, substituting the outdated 2000 Census poverty rate with more recent federal poverty data, specifically the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE).
Additionally, eligibility for free and reduced-price school lunches would be limited to families already partaking in government assistance programs such as Medicaid, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)—all of which are under assault at both federal and state levels.
This proposed change would rely on a federal poverty threshold that is unreasonably low, currently set at $32,150 for a family of four, while the official poverty threshold in New York City for the same family is $47,190, with a realistic estimate of needed income between $120,000 and $144,000 for adequate living conditions.
Moreover, Hochul’s formula does not take into account the notably high cost per student within the city’s schools, which could lead to an annual loss of approximately $350 million for New York City schools.
Her pledges to return “excess” school funding to taxpayers parallel the Trump administration’s efforts to privatize education and entirely eradicate public investment.
Hochul has also expressed a willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration regarding significant priorities, despite voicing public concerns over possible “federal overreach.” It is evident that she intends to collaborate closely with the Trump-Musk regime to impose cuts to essential public services.
As budget discussions continue, the state budget was delayed past its April 1 deadline, primarily due to factional disputes in the state legislature over crime policies, leaving several districts in a state of uncertainty.
State Budget Director Blake Washington acknowledged the potential for continued federal cuts, stating there’s “no bottom” to these reductions, with $91 billion of New York state’s $252 billion budget relying significantly on financial support from Washington.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also taken an active role in pushing austerity measures. Initially, he opposed even the minimal 2022 class size law advocated by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the state legislature, and various advocacy groups aligned with the Democratic Party.
This legislation, which allowed the city five years to reach still overly large class size caps, faced months of resistance from Adams, who instead enforced a comprehensive hiring freeze that resulted in 15,000 city jobs remaining unfilled, thus complicating compliance with the law.
Now, with his reelection campaign as an independent underway following the intervention of the Trump administration’s Justice Department in dismissing his federal corruption charges, Adams is attempting to amend his previous cuts by restoring only 3,700 of the frozen teacher positions—essentially one new hire for every two vacant roles—and a fraction of the funding needed to adhere to class size legislation.
However, this partial reversal is characterized primarily as damage control.
A further damning revelation regarding the 2022 class size legislation comes from a December report released by the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), indicating a shortfall of 70,000 classroom seats citywide.
Notably, the current five-year capital plan facilitates space for only 33,000 additional students, despite estimates indicating that nearly 500 schools serving close to half of all public-school students lack sufficient space to comply with the legislative mandate.
Moreover, only 700 of the 800 schools that applied for funding to reduce class sizes were approved.
While the City Council temporarily restored $423 million in funding for critical areas such as arts education, mental health services, and early childhood programs after federal pandemic stimulus dollars dried up, most of this funding has been allocated for only one year, leaving much of it uncertain for Fiscal Year 2026.
Funding for 3-K seats, special education classes, and extended-day pilot programs is down by $197 million in the preliminary budget, while mental health services have also been significantly curtailed.
The Mental Health Continuum initiative, which incorporates school-based clinics and crisis response teams, is facing a $5 million funding gap for the upcoming year, an especially concerning issue given the record-high youth mental health challenges intensified by years of pandemic-related disruptions.
Simultaneously, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), which governs the public schools and is composed of local political appointees, continues to approve school closures, mergers, and co-locations with charter schools despite opposition.
In just the initial three months of 2025, the PEP sanctioned five school mergers and seven co-locations. These closures and mergers endanger public education, particularly in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, leading to overcrowded classrooms as multiple schools share space or are merged into fewer facilities.
The conversion of public schools into charter organizations diverts millions of dollars in public funds into private hands, fracturing neighborhood communities and undermining the oversight of federally protected educational rights.
The PEP’s structure is designed to minimize direct involvement of the working class in its decision-making processes. The majority of its members are appointed by the mayor, with others designated by the borough presidents, further distancing the board from direct community input.
Accusations have been made against the PEP for routinely bypassing its own limited procedures regarding community participation, chiefly concerning school closures, mergers, and co-locations.
In light of the escalating crisis in education across the city, the union bureaucracy emerges as a major hindrance to mobilizing educators meaningfully against the disassembly of public education. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the UFT’s parent organization, has repeatedly pledged to “work together” with Trump’s appointees, including Linda McMahon, even as she recognizes the administration’s intent on decimating the federal education department and dismantling public schools nationwide.
This inclination among union bureaucrats to partner with those dedicated to privatization and funding cuts is not merely a tactical misstep but may be regarded as a deliberate strategy to suppress independent action by educators.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT, shares a similar outlook. While he has made statements criticizing budget cuts and attacks on public education, he has consistently avoided mobilizing union members for strikes or mass protests, opting instead to channel resistance into legal challenges and backroom negotiations.
His complicity was especially evident when he helped to broker the risky reopening of New York City schools during the pandemic.
Mulgrew, like Weingarten and National Education Association President Becky Pringle, adopts a strategy aimed at preserving the union’s institutional relationships with city and state officials—despite those officials’ complicity in the assaults on public schools.
These organizations stand as the principal barrier preventing educators from actively resisting the ongoing attacks on public education.
The AFT bureaucracy and local affiliates recently showcased their obstructive role in Chicago, where union officials thwarted a strike by 28,000 educators and collaborated with Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson—formerly a Chicago Teachers Union lobbyist—to impose a contract while obscuring the full extent of impending budget cuts at district, state, and federal levels.
The working class must respond urgently to this situation.
The defense of public education, jobs, and the social rights of students and families—alongside the protection of democratic rights for the entire populace against the looming threat of a Trump dictatorship—cannot be entrusted to Democratic Party politicians or union leaders whose interests are closely aligned with those of Wall Street and corporate power.
To overcome the current impasse, educators, school personnel, parents, and all workers must organize independently, establishing rank-and-file committees in schools and workplaces across the city.
The Educators Rank-and-File Committee, allied with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), presents a pathway to unite educators, parents, and workers across varying sectors and national lines to combat austerity, privatization, and the subjugation of education to profit motives.
Only through independent organization and collective action can educators and the broader working class initiate an industrial and political counter-offensive to assert their rights and safeguard the entitlement to high-quality public education for all.
image source from：https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/04/17/gsks-a17.html
