Cuts less than expected for school programs

Budget cuts won’t hit as hard as expected on city Education Department programs that fund extra counselors, internships and training at hundreds of schools, officials said Thursday.

The Community Schools counseling program, Learning to Work initiative, and Affinity Schools teacher training network will lose a combined $15 million this year — less than the $50 million originally planned, Education Department officials said.

“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the city’s finances and we’ve made every effort to limit the impact on schools and on students, which is why we’ve restored funding to these programs,” said Education Department spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon.

Advocates, nonprofits and students have rallied in recent weeks and months to scale back cuts to the programs, arguing they provide vital support to the city’s most vulnerable students.

Advocates have been especially vocal about the fate of the Learning to Work program, which was slated to lose all $30 million of its funding this year amid steep cuts to the Education Department budget. But officials said Thursday the initiative will be slashed by $10 million instead.

The program funds stipends for students at the city’s transfer and night schools to take on internships, and brings extra counselors to those schools.

Supporters of the program say even though the cuts are smaller than expected, they’ll still have a severe impact on thousands of students.

“The cuts are especially devastating now, two months into the school year, when students who struggle most with remote learning need resources such as counseling and career planning to stay on track to graduate,” said Michelle Yanche, the Executive Director of

Good Shepherd Services.

Students and advocates were on a virtual call Thursday afternoon rallying to defend the program when news arrived that the original $30 million budget cut will be $10 million instead.

“That $10 million ... that’s a gut punch, a real big gut punch,” said Fernando Tineo, division director at Good Shepherd.

“I’m calling on the mayor and the chancellor to reconsider this impending decision and restore Learning To Work for the sake of our city,” he said.

The Community Schools initiative, which partners hundreds of city schools with community based organizations to bring in health and dental clinics, counselors and social workers, was expected to be slashed by $9 million, leading providers to fear nearly 40 schools could lose their extra supports.

Community Schools will instead be cut by $3 million, officials said.

The Affinity Schools network of more than 100 city high schools which get support and teacher training from outside groups like Urban Assembly, was expected to sustain a $4.6 million cut, but will lose $2 million instead.

Education Department officials said the projected amounts of the budget cuts were never final, and an agency spokeswoman said the city was able to reshuffle funds to reduce the cuts. Officials didn’t immediately specify where the savings came from.

They didn’t immediately say what the cuts will mean for the schools that participate in the three programs.

“We are in conversations with impacted organizations and groups to work through some savings that were unavoidable given the current health and fiscal crisis,” said O’Hanlon.

“But in the absence of support from the state and federal governments, we’re still facing tough choices,” she said.