Budget & finance
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced $43 million in funding and other reforms to resolve chronic city payment delays to early childhood education providers. The backlog threatens the rollout of his signature 2-K program.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's first budget boosts college savings accounts for kindergartners tenfold and restores funding for several education programs that had faced cuts.
The $8.9 million New Visions portal helps schools track attendance, graduation progress, and support homeless students. Educators and lawmakers say cutting it could undermine services that Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to expand.
New York City is spending $290 million to prevent budget cuts at schools projected to lose enrollment next year. That’s more than twice what the city spent last year.
In interviews, more than a dozen educators, administrators, and officials described a broken contract system that can make it difficult to quickly get services for kids.
Schools will see steady budgets for the start of the 2026-27 school year, extending a pandemic-era policy that props up schools with falling enrollment.
Chalkbeat wants to better understand what the Education Department’s budget looks like to the people on the ground and where you see the biggest potential savings.
A sweeping re-bidding process for New York City’s after-school contracts has pushed out some beloved providers, triggering protests over a lack of transparency..
Mayor Zohran Mamdani will retain control of the nation’s largest school system through June 2028. The city will also receive $143 million in new funding for homeless students, children in foster care, and English language learners.
Mamdani also vowed to curb soaring private special education costs and boost wages for some early childhood education workers.
After a contentious proposal for an AI high school was nixed earlier this week, over 100 New Yorkers demanded a moratorium on artificial intelligence use in schools. The board meeting lasted seven hours.
The ruling is a setback in the federal government’s push to control school district policies on major culture war issues, including trans rights.
The mayor is backing away from another one of his education policy promises on the campaign trail.
Mamdani said the cuts are needed to help fill a multi-billion budget gap. The Education Department has refused to reveal its full savings plan.
City officials have spent $1.6 billion in recent years on “hold harmless” policies that propped up school budgets amid declining enrollment. Now lawmakers are pressing for answers on whether cuts are coming.
Despite campaigning to end mayoral control, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is fighting to keep it — but his former Albany colleagues aren’t making it easy.
For six years, city officials propped up school budgets despite steep enrollment declines. It’s now up to Mayor Zohran Mamdani to decide whether to keep the policy or wind it down.
NYC needs 6,000 teachers and billions in funding to meet class size caps. NYC chancellor Kamar Samuels and state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa expressed concerns.
Hochul proposed a four-year extension of mayoral control, which would give Mayor Zohran Mamdani control of the city’s schools for his entire first term.
The New York Board of Regents met on Monday to present their budget priorities and asked for an additional $1.1 billion next fiscal year.