Bloomberg’s $65.7 Billion New York City Budget Proposes 6,000 Teacher Cuts

[The Northerner]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a $65.7 billion fiscal 2012 budget to the City Council that contains no new taxes and would cut more than 6,000 teaching positions.

Reductions in state and federal funding will mean fewer jobs and services, the mayor said. Although 10 rounds of agency cost-controls since 2008 have trimmed spending by $5.4 billion a year, that hasn’t overcome increasing fixed and state-mandated expenses, including pensions rising to $8.4 billion in 2012 from $1.5 billion in 2002, he said.

“We are in better shape than most cities,” Bloomberg said in a City Hall news conference. “But we are not an island. We are not immune to the realities in Albany and Washington. And the reality is, both places are keeping more of our tax dollars to close their own budget deficits.”

The teacher cutbacks -- the most since the 1970s fiscal crisis, mayoral aides say -- became necessary after Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature enacted a $132 billion budget in March, closing a $9.8 billion deficit in part by cutting $4.6 billion that the city had received for schools, Medicaid and social services, Bloomberg said. The Medicaid cuts cost the city another $2.2 billion in federal matching funds, he said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-06/bloomberg-proposes-65-7-billion-2012-nyc-budget-with-6-000-teacher-cuts.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Darn Those Teachers And Their 93 Nissans!

That was my favorite sign from Wisconsin.