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Essay Subject: Issues affecting school budget for 1996-1997. Textbook shortage, donations, taxpayers' views, building maintenance, spending cuts.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Issues affecting school budget for 1996-1997. Textbook shortage, donations, taxpayers' views, building maintenance, spending cuts. Paper Introduction: THE MUNICIPAL BUDGET FOR EDUCATION IN NEW YORK CITY: 1996-1997 New York City's budget function is a split calendar year process (Birger, 1996, p. 11). Thus, the budget developed in the first-half of 1996 will finances the functioning of city departments for the last-half of 1996 and the first-half of 1997. Thus, the budget enacted in early-1996 is the 1997 budget. For the 1997 budget, the Giuliani administration is considering reducing the city's police force by 1,000 officers in order to help close a $2 billion budget gap. Considered also were funding reductions in the budgets for transit and education (Birger, 1996, p. 11). Although New York city has had larger budget deficits in the past, the problems appear to be more intractable in the contemporary Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. These, his alliespromise, will generate some 2 , jobs in New York state before the endof the decade. The public school system in New York city budgets only about $35 perstudent for books, compared with as much as $45 per student budgeted byManhattan private schools. In reality, he believes,the city will save a mere $15 million" (Understated, 1996, p. He said schoolsoften present glowing PEP scores; however, 'they (educators) never tell youwhere the reference point is and it's generally an extremely low number'"(Moynahan, 1995b, p. Thus, the budget enacted in early-1996 isthe 1997 budget. Hewas banking on at least $675 million in savings initiated by New York stateto help. Thus, the budget developed in the first-half of1996 will finances the functioning of city departments for the last-half of1996 and the first-half of 1997. Although the New YorkState Education Department found that 1994 performance test scores improvedfor elementary school students in three of five categories, 18 percent ofthird graders could not complete the simplest connected sentences and tenpercent could not meet the writing standards. This situation "leaves Mr Giuliani in a bind. The city administration also attempted to make use of more "one-shotsavings, such as another refinancing of the city's debt (a move so farrejected by Mr Hevesi on the ground that it amounts to mortgaging thecity's future) and securitising some of New York's $2 billion of unpaidproperty taxes. 1). 11). N.Y.C.'s annual budget bedlam: Munis'flat tax factor. For example, the statewide reference pointfor third grade reading is 28% and for fifth grade writing, eight percent.Dunes View Properties (Westhampton Beach) Pres William Ciraco, a formereducator and administrator is critical of this practice. The future of the budget situation for New York City's public schoolsis not encouraging. Bond Buyer, 315(29823), 11. What Mr Giuliani really needs, however, is a strongereconomic recovery-and it is here that state (and federal) policies arelikely to give him trouble. Although New York city has had larger budget deficits in the past, theproblems appear to be more intractable in the contemporary period becauseof the severe budget reductions effected by city administrations since themid-198 s. (27 January 1996). The city's annual budget problems also causeinvestors in municipal bonds to become nervous, which in turn, canintensify the city's budget problems (Birger, 1996, p. 2). K. The bad news for the Board of Education is that the New YorkCity schools will not receive the finding necessary to bring the schoolinfrastructure up to contemporary standards, nor will the Board ofEducation have the funds to improve the quality of student performance inthe city's public schools. And with the recent re-calibration ofScholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, boosting them 1 points, observerswonder if public schools are making the grade" (Moynahan, 1995b, p. 24). The tests measure the minimum competency required forstudents. The city administration does not have a great deal of flexibility inhow the budget can be pared. 11). In addition to corporatedonations, the EBF campaign will include a public appeal for individualcash donations, with advertising space donated by the New York Times (Reid,1996, p. Reid, C. Mayor Giuliani's administration was able to close the gap in thecurrent fiscal year's $32 billion budget-a shortfall of "some $8 million-through another round of cuts in municipal services. Economist, 338(795 ), 24-25. The bottomline is, the cost of education is expensive" (Moynahan, 1995a, p. 11). (15 January 1996). 14). Mr Pataki is cutting deeply into spending onMedicaid and welfare in order to pay for hefty tax cuts. Defenders of the education establishment contendthat: "Boards of education are doing a fairly difficult job. Moynahan, M. In the past, the mayorhas supported Mr Pataki's plans to cut taxes and shrink the state's bloatedMedicaid programme. This ought to be good news for the city: other things beingequal, it should get about 85, of those new jobs" (Understated, 1996, p.25). On the labor side, the city has alreadyreached agreements with the unions to protect jobs, including teachers andother school employees. 1). K. The good news was that the budget for the city's Board ofEducation did not decrease from year-to-year in the 1996-1997 budget. Thus, budget cuts must come from maintenance,construction, and program budgets (Birger, 1996, p. "Each year, NYS schoolsadminister the Pupil Evaluation Program (PEP) tests to third graders formath and reading; to fifth graders for writing; and to sixth graders formath and reading. TheNew York City schools will continue to be budgeted at a level approximating$5 billion. 14).The deterioration of New York City schools has produced conditions "ofcrisis proportions," and is the result of a failure to maintain schoolbuildings was exacerbated in the 198 s, a time when school enrollments weredown (Goode, 1995, p. The building maintenance program in the New York City schools also isin poor condition. 11). REFERENCES Birger, J. (29 January 1996). He has also made modest tax cuts of his own in NewYork city. 1).According to the New York State Education Department, "from July 1991 toJune 1992, 24%, or 246, 7 students enrolled in colleges and universities,were in remedial classes" (Moynahan, 1995b, p. New York City, however, it not permitted legally to incur abudgetary deficit. For the 1997 budget, the Giuliani administration isconsidering reducing the city's police force by 1, officers in order tohelp close a $2 billion budget gap. Postponed and neglected upkeep of many public-schoolbuildings has led to "unnecessarily escalated deterioration, whatever theage of the building or the quality of its structure" (Goode, 1995, p. New York taxpayers, however, tend to take a jaundiced view of suchpleadings, believing that the board of education tends to look to theinterests of teachers' unions more so than to the interests of eitherstudents or taxpayers. Called the Emergency Book Fund (EBF), the drive was initiated byBeverly Chell, vice-chairwoman of K-III Communications, during herparticipation in the Principal for a Day program, which was launched by theBoard of Education and directed by an organization known as PENCIL (PublicEducation Needs Civic Involvement in Learning). Understated: New York. Therefore, cuts will be made to assure that the city'sbudget remains imbalance. Moynahan, M. 316). (22 May 1995a). PFAD couples businessleaders with public-school principals to provide an inside look at theschool system (Reid, 1996, p. Thus, in the New York City public school system, the textbook shortagehas caused the Board of Education and the city's publishing industry tojointly launch a drive to raise money and book donations to provide $19million worth of new books and educational materials to New York Cityschools. 14). 316). The EBF plans to raise $1 million from nonpublishing sources, and will solicit book donations from publishers in aneffort to provide a book to each of the more than one million children inthe public school system. Last month George Pataki, the state's Republican governor, seemedto deliver those savings: his latest budget contained state Medicaid andwelfare cuts that would, he claimed, save the city $955 million. Generally, the statewide reference point - the point wherestudents are rated - is low. Whetherthat will satisfy voters, especially those whose jobs are cut along withtheir taxes, remains to be seen" (Understated, 1996, p. While public education costs continue to escalate, manyhigh school graduates end up in college remedial programs because they areunable to work at the college-level. (9 October 1995). Publishers Weekly, 243(3), 316. Mayor Giuliani ordered city officials to come up with further spendingcuts. Schools "plundered closed-off sections ofbuildings for light fixtures and anything else that could be cannibalized.The combination of widespread cannibalization and neglected maintenance hasleft many schools in such poor condition that when you plug in a computeryou blow a fuse. Statewide, 36.5 percent of high school graduatesreceived Regents diplomas last year and although "Regents earners increased1.5% statewide, the numbers are still below the 1988 level of 47.5% of thegraduates receiving Regents diplomas" (Moynahan, 1995, p. For the New York City schools, the 1996-1997 budget was a good news-bad news affair. THE MUNICIPAL BUDGET FOR EDUCATION IN NEW YORK CITY: 1996- 1997 New York City's budget function is a split calendar year process(Birger, 1996, p. Goode, S. Maintenance gets an 'F.' Insight on theNews, 11(38), 14. Transition to computer-based education is far morecomplex than it would have been with better planning, thwarting thechangeover to electrical systems that can support the sophisticated thermalconditions required by computers" (Goode, 1995, p. Do school boards represent averagetaxpayer? This EBF will send catalogues, along with a$1 credit, to schools that will allow each school to get a free book foreach one they purchase-the equivalent of paying 25 cents for each book.The full program will begin in fall 1996. But finding a way ofclosing the $2 billion gap forecast for 1996-97 will be much harder. 25). But MrPataki's numbers do not add up, says Mr Giuliani. New York taxpayers also tend to be disgusted with the products of theschool system. LI Business News, (21), 1-2. 2). As the city's tax base continues in limbo at best,funding sources also fail to increase as required. Publishers seek $19M in books for NYCpublic schools. Considered also were fundingreductions in the budgets for transit and education (Birger, 1996, p. (29 May 1995b). Public education: Cost vs quality. LIBusiness News, (22), 1-2. But having realised how much havoc the governor's plans couldwreak for the city's economy and budget-and so on his own prospects for re-election next year-Mr Giuliani has started to sound more critical. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.