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Report Card on School Year Spending
While
the majority of the citys 1.1 million students have put away their
schoolbooks for the summer, the Board of Educations (BOE) budget
books remain open and under scrutiny. Based on current information,
the Independent Budget Office (IBO) projects that when the boards
books are closed they will show a modest $150 million increase
in spending during city fiscal year 2002. This increase 1.3 per
cent over the previous year was less than the rate of inflation.
The 2002 spending boost stands in contrast to the previous four
years, a period in which city, state and federal funding expanded
the education budget by $3.5 billion an average yearly increase
of 9.4 percent.
Last
years spending increase proved inadequate to keep up with rising
costs, especially for teachers and other staff. In response, BOE
imposed per-student spending cuts and took steps to reduce other
costs.
The
mandatory cost increases the board faced in city fiscal year 2002
were $262 million
for salary increases (after the new teachers contract), $58 million
for increased health insurance premiums and $15 million in cost-of-
living allowances for pupil transportation contracts. The BOE
also incurred significant expenses as a result of the attacks
on the World Trade Center, including relocation costs for Lower
Manhattan school and crisis counseling expenditures throughout
the system. Conversely,
it is estimated that the board saved some $32 million as a result
of a drop of 7,100 students system-wide and the correlated decrease
in staffing needs.#
Independent
Budget Office (IBO)
Education
Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001.
Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919.Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express
consent of the publisher. © 2002.
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