Eric Adams
The new student OMNY cards will roll out during the 2024-25 school year. Previously, student-issued MetroCards were restricted to weekday use during the school year.
Known as “NYC Solves,” the new initiative will see 93 middle schools across eight school districts, as well as 420 high schools, using Illustrative Math this fall.
New York City’s Education Department will establish a new division to support students with disabilities and children learning English as a second language, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday.
Some school leaders are hoping the money can subsidize vape sensors to install in schools and additional substance abuse counselors.
The funding will help keep school budgets afloat, restore hours that had been cut from the city’s popular summer school initiative, and stabilize a slew of other programs.
Roughly 80% of teenagers using the program identify as Black, Latino, Asian-American or Native American, and almost 70% identified as female, according to the city data.
Mayor Eric Adams has insisted all families who want spots in the city’s preschool programs would receive them, despite budget cuts to early childhood education.
Mayor Eric Adams and top police officials continued to claim, with little evidence, that “outside agitators” were behind the encampments.
The smaller budget is largely the result of expiring federal relief dollars, and Adams’ proposal saves a slew of programs that were on the chopping block.
“This decision making was clearly rushed,” one lawmaker said. “It's not best practice, but this is where we are.”
By far, this marks the city’s largest commitment to date to replace the dwindling pandemic aid.
Schools are supposed to give parents of students in temporary housing free MetroCards each month. But problems with distributing them are leading to absences and fare evasion tickets.
Education Department officials aren’t planning to take advantage of the device’s major selling point: allowing students to walk through without removing their backpacks.
The early childhood cuts, if reversed, would be the latest item slashed by Adams in recent months to get restored thanks to what city officials describe as an improving budget picture.
The reversal comes after city officials have struggled to provide a clear rationale for the menu cuts.
Critics say the city still hasn’t provided a satisfactory explanation for why the midyear menu reductions were necessary.
Thanks to a budget cut from Mayor Eric Adams, middle school students will face significantly reduced hours — including no programming on Fridays.
Data from early February showed that 29% of migrant families who got such notices switched to other shelters, while 16% remained in their original shelter.
Nearly 70% of funding for Learning to Work, a program that offers counselors and paid internships, is set to expire in June.
Advocates celebrated Wednesday’s news, but warned it does nothing to reverse the massive cuts already coming from previous reductions, along with expiring federal aid.