Public school principals expected that they would receive their budgets for the next school year a week ago, but the Department of Education has not delivered any news, and it is not expected to do so until next week — a silence that is leaving open the possibility that the Bloomberg administration could cut a deal with critics demanding more funding for education.
Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget cut projected increases to schools along with every other agency.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein predicted that would mean more than $300 million in program cuts, and principals said they have been preparing to cut their budgets by about 5%, or thousands of dollars.
Principals have been told that they will not receive final budgets for another week, a union official who is a Brooklyn principal, Brian de Vale, said.
The delay could be a result of the complexity of divvying up funding, given restrictions from the state on where a certain pot, known as Contracts for Excellence funds, should go.
But it is also raising hopes that the Bloomberg administration may move to insulate schools from the rough economy.
Mounting pressure from the City Council could make such a compromise necessary. Forty-six members of the council have signed a resolution opposing cuts to the classroom proposed by Council Member Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn.
Yesterday the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, called cuts to the classroom "totally unacceptable." Ms. Quinn also offered a blueprint for a compromise, suggesting that the administration find money to restore classroom cuts by shaving from expensive contracts.
A spokesman for the mayor, Stuart Loeser, said of Ms. Quinn's speech, "These proposals are things we'll negotiate with the council through the budget process."
The president of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, a regular ally of the Bloomberg administration who represents the business community, said the administration should consider Ms. Quinn's advice. "I've never seen a government agency that didn't lose money in the procurement process that they could recapture," Ms. Wylde said.
Ms. Quinn joins a group of critics that have been holding regular rallies, airing television and radio ads, and handing out fliers to protest budget cuts.
The president of the teachers union, Randi Weingarten, yesterday applauded Ms. Quinn's step toward joining the group. "The council is really stepping up," she said.
Pressure also has come from Albany, where lawmakers including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver say the city is defaulting on a promise to increase funding that Albany kept.
School officials point out that since 2002 the city has actually increased its school spending by more than the state; the city's increase was $4.6 billion, or 79%, compared to the state's increase of $3.1 billion or 55%.
In her speech, Ms. Quinn pointed out that $3 billion of the Department of Education's more than $7 billion budget goes to contracts.
More than $1 billion of the pot goes to transportation contracts, which are receiving extra scrutiny after a federal indictment charged four Department of Education employees with accepting bribes from bus companies.
School officials said 43% of contracts are impossible to cut, such as payments to private schools for special education services the public system cannot provide.
Tax increases on the wealthy, such as a so-called millionaire's tax proposed by Democratic Assembly members, could be another way to increase revenue for schools.
Ms. Quinn said yesterday that given gloomy economic forecasts for the 2010 budget, she "would not take off the table" a proposal by Democratic Assembly members to raise income taxes on those making $1 million a year.
The speaker also has supported a planned property tax cut and $400 tax rebate for this budget season. But she said yesterday she would not rule out eliminating those tax breaks in 2010.
