By Kathianne Boniello
The city budget may be finished, and it seems that funding for Queens school construction is, too — at least until 2005.
Queens Board of Education rep Terri Thomson said Tuesday she had confirmed that none of the $693 million chopped out of the capital educational budget by Mayor Michael Bloomberg would be restored this year and would be rolled over into the next five-year capital plan, which will begin in 2005.
The majority of schools slated to be built in the city’s capital educational budget were Queens projects, she said.
“There is no scenario that helps us here,” said Thomson, who has championed the need for more classroom seats in Queens.
The education budget is split into two different categories: the expense budget, which deals with classroom, school district and administrative costs as well as the city Board of Education, and the capital budget, which includes areas such as school construction. While the expense budget must be balanced each year, the capital projects can be pushed ahead into future fiscal years.
A spokesman for Borough President Helen Marshall said the borough president was trying to find out more details about the fate of the city’s capital educational dollars and whether or not the $693 million capital education budget cut was going to stand.
“If it’s true, it’s really extremely upsetting,” spokesman Dan Andrews said. “Why didn’t we know about this?”
The City Council has been quick to claim a victory with education funding, pointing out that nearly all of the $354 million expected to be cut from the expense budget had been saved.
City Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis), chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, disagreed with Thomson on the status of the education cuts and said the $693 million in capital funds for school construction is not necessarily lost.
Weprin said this week no decision will be made about the $693 million cut to the capital education budget until Bloomberg takes control of the school system July 1.
“It’s just a delay, it’s not an elimination,” he said.
But Thomson said if school construction projects are delayed until the next five-year capital plan, which begins in 2005, “who can guarantee that in 2005 the city will have money for new schools?”
Queens has long been the borough with the most overcrowded classrooms in the city, including the most overutilized high schools of any of the five boroughs.
Weprin said “we do not know what percentage (of the capital budget) will go to Queens. No determination has been made as to what projects will be delayed and what will go forward.”
Weprin said the decision will rest with Bloomberg, who will not consider the question until he officially gains control of the school system.
On June 12 Gov. George Pataki signed historic legislation giving control of city public schools to the mayor. The school governance bill replaced the current seven-member Board of Education with a policy board and gave the mayor the power to choose the schools chancellor, among other responsibilities.
State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), an architect of the school governance legislation, said there was nothing in the bill linking the city’s funding of school construction with Bloomberg gaining control of the schools.
“The capital budget is part of the city budget, there’s nothing new about that,” Padavan said. “It’s got nothing to do with governance.”
The revelation about the city’s capital educational spending came on the same day members of the city’s teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers, overwhelmingly approved a new contract. The contract calls for a roughly 16 percent increase in teacher salaries.
After Bloomberg’s proposed $354 million instructional budget cut for city schools became a political football earlier this year for a relatively inexperienced City Council full of first-time elected officials, the Council managed to restore the majority of the $358 million instructional funding in the final budget, City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) said this week. Increased educational aid from the state also helped bolster city funds for schools.
“We held fast to our belief that New Yorkers wanted education to be the number one priority,” Liu said.
Liu said the Council succeeded in restoring all of the $190 million slated for classroom and school districts, and close to $100 million of the original $164 million expected to go to central administrative costs.
“I’m happy about the fact that the schools were spared,” Liu said. “Now it’s time to actually move on to fixing the schools.”
The councilman praised Queens’ parents for being supportive of public schools and attending numerous city council public hearings and forums held by Borough President Helen Marshall to fight for education dollars.
“When the parents came out…it clearly changed the equation,” he said. “We would have had a much tougher time restoring those budget cuts” without parental support.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
