Gotham Schools: Mayor’s budget keeps after-school cuts, counts on teacher evals

By Phillissa Cramer and Rachel Cromidas

The city would spend $387 million more on its schools next year and hire more teachers under the budget proposal Mayor Bloomberg unveiled today.

But it would also slash spending to after-school programs, leaving 27,000 children who currently attend city-funded programs without care.

“I’m concerned,” Bloomberg said about the after-school cuts during a press conference about the budget today at City Hall. He said the programs are “extremely valuable” for working families but had unfortunately fallen victim to scarce resources. “We cannot do everything for everybody,” he said.

Advocates from Upper Manhattan gathered on the steps of City Hall in protest right after Bloomberg’s presentation, and critics of the mayor’s budget said the child-care cuts would prove short-sighted.

Read more at: http://gothamschools.org/2012/05/03/mayors-budget-keeps-after-school-cuts-counts-on-teacher-evals/