When New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy ordered $150 million in program cuts the week before classes were to begin, it meant a deferment until next year of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s $31.5-million plan to create small 300-book libraries for each of the city’s 21,000 K-8 classrooms.
The cuts, announced August 29, amount to 1.3% of the system’s $11.5-million budget, the New York Times reported August 30. They eliminate over 2,300 jobs and will result in the reduction or elimination after-school sports and arts programs, lab equipment, computer software, and teacher training.
Levy blamed the cuts on what he called “a significant shortfall” in revenue the board of education had expected from the city and state this year. The Times said Giuliani accused Levy of “trying to get attention” and that he claimed the cuts were “intended to help other political campaigns” in the current mayoral race.
Posted September 3, 2001.