NYC Schools Face Funding Shortfalls As They Step Up to Meet Needs of Migrant Students

Comptroller estimates DOE should allocate at least $34M in FSF to enroll migrant students at individual NYC schools, many of which saw budget cuts this year 

New York City School Chancellor David Banks gave an update today on the Department of Education’s efforts to welcome newly arrived immigrant children. The NYC School system has enrolled more than 5,500 new migrant students, and is working to provide transportation, food, language assistance, and mental health services to these new students.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander issued the following statement regarding the support needed for individual schools to be able to serve the new students joining their classrooms:

“In the past several months more than 19,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, including 5,500 students who entered the public school system. These children – who have little English proficiency, varying degrees of grade level readiness, possible special education needs, and extreme trauma to overcome – need extensive academic and social emotional support. Chancellor Banks, the NYC Department of Education, parent volunteers, and the dedicated education professionals in our schools deserve praise for working hard to welcome them with open arms and rising to this challenge.

“In order to meet the needs of these students and schools, my office estimates that NYC Schools need at least $34 million in Fair Student Funding.

“Yet this year, over three-quarters of public schools experienced nearly half a billion dollars in Fair Student Funding cuts that caused loss of staff and programming. Schools where enrollment exceeded DOE projections this fall are already operating at a deficit of staff, and now face even greater shortfalls as they take in new students who they were not budgeted to support.

“The Department of Education must move swiftly to provide schools with the necessary funding to support students from migrant families. We cannot wait until the mid-year budget adjustments to begin to hire the staff needed at schools that are seeing entire classes of new students arrive.

“Schools doing this critical work to embrace these new students cannot stretch their current resources until federal funding arrives. The City should immediately allocate $34 million of Fair Student Funding to enable principals to staff up to serve their new students.”

BACKGROUND:

The Comptroller’s office’s new analysis finds that DOE would need to allocate at least $34 million in Fair Student Funding (FSF) to schools to support these new students. This $34 million does not include the estimated $10 million in programmatic funding needed for Universal Pre-K and 3K seats for newly enrolled students or the funding that might be needed for children with disabilities who likely do not have IEPs, which could represent up to $5 million more once they are evaluated.

At the individual school level, PS 124 in Brooklyn, located across the street from two family shelters, budgeted for 215 students, yet has more than 35 new migrant students as of this month. We estimate PS 124 should receive at least $223,000 in additional FSF for their new students. So far the school has only received an additional temporary guidance counselor, but no new funding or bilingual teachers or staff.

PS 16 in District 11 (where the Chancellor visited today) received a psychologist intern, an ENL teacher, and district level supports, such as an extra Students in Temporary Housing (STH) coordinator, support from the Office of Food & Nutrition Services, and language access support from the Family and Community Empowerment team (FACE). PS 16 is operating out of its FY 2023 FSF budget allocated in June – which was cut nearly $90,000 from the previous fiscal year based on our analysis.

The Comptroller’s FY 2023 Schools budget analysis is available here.