NYC schools bring back controversial pandemic-era policy and experts warn it is rewarding failure

New York City public schools with fewer students than anticipated this fall will not have their budgets slashed, officials announced Wednesday — reverting to a controversial pandemic-era policy.About half of the system’s 1,600 schools would have seen cuts totaling $157 million had the mid-year budget adjustments proceeded as planned, the city Department of Education said.The other half, which saw an increase in students, will get an $146 million total influx.“Our top priority is to ensure that every school leader has the resources and support to carry out their school’s mission and put our children on a path to lifelong success,” Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said in a statement.Individual school funding is allocated during the summer based on the city’s projections of how many students are expected to fill seats.

The city spends about $30,000 per student.During the COVID-era pandemic, City Hall implemented a policy, known as “hold harmless,” that used federal stimulus dollars to stabilize budgets, meaning schools wouldn’t lose money even if they had fewer students enrolled.Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to go back to the policy was slammed by critics as “rewarding failure” — with some noting the move seemed purely political.“The school system is structured to reward failure and penalize success and this ‘hold harmless’ provision is a prime example.It rewards failure instead of penalizing it,” Eric Nadelstern, who was deputy chancellor for instruction at the DOE under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then-Chancellor Joel Klein, told The Post.“It’s a nod to the UFT, so fewer teachers are laid off mid-year,” Nadelstern referring to the powerful United Federation of Teachers union representing most New York City public school educators.Ken Girardin, research director of the non-profit government watchdog group Empire Center for Public Policy, said “hold harmless” protects the status quo, not students or taxpayers.“At so...