News: Banks to ask for school cash

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Banks to ask for school cash

Feb 01, 2024

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By Madina Touré, Nick Reisman, Jeff Coltin and Emily Ngo

Presented by

With help from Irie Sentner

David C. Banks talks at a podium with microphones.

New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks will use the bully pulpit to advocate for a four-year extension of mayoral control before it expires. | Christian Williams Fernandez/New York City Public Schools

New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks is headed today to Albany, where he’ll lobby lawmakers on two of Mayor Eric Adams’ top concerns: A costly class size mandate and mayoral control over public schools.

Banks, who is set to testify at a legislative budget hearing, will use the bully pulpit to advocate for a four-year extension of mayoral control before it expires June 30. He’ll also ask for more money to comply with a state law mandating smaller classrooms.

“We’re gonna need more help, specifically as it relates to implementing the class size law,” Banks told POLITICO in a phone interview. “Those are kind of the two big-ticket items for the testimony: ability to deliver on the class size law together with our request for an extension of what I refer to as mayoral accountability.”

He said the class size law would cost between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion — the price of hiring 10,000 to 12,000 teachers. And he warned of possible cuts to programs in order to meet the requirements in future years — though state lawmakers have insisted they’ve already sent the city extra money.

When he greets state lawmakers, the chancellor will make the case for allowing Adams to continue running the school system, emphasizing achievements like a new reading curriculum mandate. Banks pointed to his and Adams’ backgrounds as graduates of the public school system.

It all comes amid a surprise twist: Some lawmakers are threatening to withhold an extension of mayoral control if the mayor fails to obey the class size law — a development the chancellor voiced concern about, even as he insisted the mayor will comply.

“I’ve heard this myself, there are a lot of people that want to tie the two together, which I think is unfair,” Banks said.

He and Adams are grappling with growing displeasure with the policy that began in 2002 to shift power away from local school boards, with state education officials listening to hours of testimony at a series of hearings while the state Education Department prepares an official review of mayoral control, due at the end of March.

After attending most of those hearings, the chancellor was adamant the backlash is over policies implemented under previous mayors. He touted steps he took after consulting families, including expanding gifted and talented programs, updates to a school funding formula to help schools with disadvantaged students and changes to the special education system.

But none of it may matter if he and the mayor cannot convince legislative leaders — with whom Adams has not had a great relationship — to continue mayoral control for four years. And a few key voices in the debate — state Sen. John Liu, who chairs an education committee, and teachers union president Michael Mulgrew — are hardly on Team Adams.

Banks argued altering the Department of Education’s governing body — the majority of whose members are mayoral appointees — is “tantamount to not having mayoral accountability.”

But Mulgrew, head of the influential United Federation of Teachers, argued for exactly that in January, telling POLITICO: “There has to be more people not beholden to him than are beholden to him on that committee.”

Another issue Banks will bring to lawmakers’ attention: Soon-to-be-expired federal stimulus dollars former Mayor Bill de Blasio used to finance popular programs like 3K and a summer learning and enrichment program. — Madina Touré

HAPPY THURSDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

A message from Amazon:

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WHERE’S KATHY? Making a transit-related announcement in Manhattan.

WHERE’S ERIC? Appearing live on La Mega 97.9 F.M., delivering remarks at the New York City Department of Education’s Symphony of Brotherhood concert, making a sanitation-related announcement and hosting a roundtable with Muslim women on World Hijab Day.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The mayor believes in libraries. He also believes in God.” — Ingrid Lewis-Martin, senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, at an annual interfaith breakfast.

ABOVE THE FOLD

January 25, 2024 — New York — Governor Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at the New York Building Congress luncheon in New York.

Gov. Kathy Hochul wants voters to contact their members of Congress to push for a final agreement on President Joe Biden's immigration deal. | Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON: Gov. Kathy Hochul gave a fervent endorsement Wednesday of the proposed immigration deal President Joe Biden has embraced and wants to get through Congress, calling it a fix for the migrant crisis facing New York.

And she wants voters to contact their members of Congress to push for a final agreement.

“I would encourage everyone to press their members of Congress from this state, in particular, to step up and call on the speaker in Washington to bring this to the floor and push for this compromise,” she told reporters during an unrelated event in the Albany suburbs.

Hochul has stepped up her public lobbying for an immigration deal in Washington over the last month as New York City continues to face an influx of thousands of migrants.

She and eight other governors previously wrote a letter to Biden and top Congressional leaders urging a compromise that includes money for states to provide migrant support as well as a boost in deportations for people who are not eligible to remain in the U.S.

“What’s on their desks right now can be a game changer for the state of New York and the city of New York as we’re trying to deal with this unprecedented crush of humanity, the likes of which we’ve never seen,” she said.

Hochul’s fulsome support for the proposal is, in part, what’s to be expected of a Democratic governor who has been a staunch ally for Biden. But it also comes as the migrant crisis has become an increasingly thorny issue for her party in an election year.

New York GOP Chair Ed Cox blamed Biden and Hochul after two police officers in Times Square were injured while attempting to break up a disorderly crowd. Hochul told reporters she would be supportive of deporting the suspects.

“I think that’s something that should be actually looked at,” she added.

The push also comes as Hochul has proposed spending $2.4 billion for migrant aid that would go toward emergency shelter facilities as well as legal assistance. That’s a $500 million increase from money spent over the last 10 months.

There are concerns the money being spent on the migrant crisis will become a recurring expense for New York.

“We have to get our arms around that and it has to start with stemming the flow of people coming here,” Hochul said. — Nick Reisman

CITY HALL: THE LATEST

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announces the appointment of Kathleen Corradi as the city’s first-ever citywide director of rodent mitigation, also known as the ‘rat czar' during a press conference.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams named Kathleen Corradi as the city’s first-ever citywide director of rodent mitigation, also known as the "rat czar." | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

CZAR WARS: Did Scott Stinger have a personal Russian Revolution? The all-but-declared mayoral candidate ripped into Adams’ penchant for creating new offices led by “czars” in a CBS 2 interview.

“When there’s a crisis, you know what they ask for? ‘We need a czar.’ We have a rat czar. We have a public realm czar. We have czars that look at czars,” he said. “They’re all fired on day one. And I’m sure they’re nice people. The czars are gone.”

But Stringer wasn’t such a Bolshevik when he was running for mayor in 2021. He “vowed to appoint an ethics czar,” to deal with that crisis. And running for comptroller in 2013, he pledged to “appoint an IT czar to monitor technology projects.” A review of press releases suggests he never followed through on that.

“It’s true, I’ve advocated for two czars in 30 years of public office,” Stringer told Playbook. “But when I become mayor, all of the Adams administration czars will be reappropriated to city agencies.” He added that the mayor’s plan for a Department of Sustainable Delivery seems duplicative, and the transportation commissioner should have a problem with it.

“Under the Adams administration, New Yorkers are enjoying cleaner streets and vibrant, new public spaces across the city,” Adams spokesperson Charles Lutvak responded. “We’ve brought on the best people for the right roles, and they’re ‘Getting Stuff Done’ for New Yorkers every day.” — Jeff Coltin

DEPORTATION: The mayor said Wednesday that asylum-seekers who commit violent acts while in New York should be deported. His comments came during a televised interview on PIX 11 in response to a question about several young migrants who attacked a pair of NYPD offices in Times Square.

“Those who are breaking our laws, we need to reexamine the laws that don't allow us to deport them because they are doing violent acts,” Adams said. “We cannot create an atmosphere where you're going to bring violence in our city.”

Adams noted that the vast majority of asylum-seekers are waiting to get work permits and are not committing violent acts. — Joe Anuta