Politics
City Council candidate Christopher Marte calls
for budget amnesty for public schools
BY MEGAN MCGIBNEY
What started off as a
rally has turned into
a petition for budget
amnesty for lower Manhattan’s
public schools.
On the steps of Tweed Courthouse
Feb. 4, Christopher Marte,
the City Council candidate for District
1, organized a rally demanding
that the Department of Education
(DOE) give budget amnesty to the
city’s public schools. The event was
also attended by political candidates
and education activists from
lower Manhattan, both in-person
and via Zoom.
Originally, the rally was meant
to be just that: a rally. But according
to Marte’s campaign manager,
Caitlin Kelmar, the event attracted
so much interest and so many RSVPs,
that it was decided tolaunch
a Change.org petitionto further the
call for budget amnesty.
“We’re here because our schools
are facing a budget crisis that nobody
is talking about,” Marte said
at the start of the rally. “Underenrollment
during a pandemic
is not a fair reason to cut funds.
DOE needs to relieve stress from
the lives of our teachers, principals,
parents, and students who are already
dealing with so much. We’re
calling for amnesty because it’s the
DOE’s job to protect high-quality
public education.”
With enrollment dropping all
over the city, 60% of public schools
are experiencing a defi cit,due to
DOE funds being returned after
each school found out how much
of a student body it had lost this
school year.Many schools in School
District 2, which covers such
neighborhoods as Midtown East,
Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and
Clinton, are also seeing a defi cit.
Marte, and the rest of those who
FILE PHOTO
spoke during the rally, said the
defi cit cannot be when more funds
for resources are needed.
“We will not stand for one more
cut to our children’s education or
their futures,” said Mar Fitzgerald,
a co-founder ofFamilies for
Real Equity in Education (FREE).
“Our schools must emerge from
this pandemic fi nancially sound
and best positioned to meet
the learning needs of our city’s
students, particularly our most
vulnerable.”
The end of Fitzgerald’s speech
was met with chants of “Fund our
schools!” from both those at Tweed
Courthouse and those on Zoom.
Other speakers also called for
amnesty, citing how in 2010, budget
amnesty was given to public
schools during the economic downturn
during the recession. They
also called for the need for more
funding, including Erik Bottcher,
the City Council Candidate for
District 3, and Dr. Cheryl Wu,the
other co-founder of FREE.
“An entire generation of young
people are going a year or more
without a proper education or
socialization,” said Bottcher. “We
won’t know what the full impact of
this is yet for years to come. What
we do know is, now is the time to
allocate additional resources, to
help our kids catch up and get back
on track.”
This story fi rst appeared on our
sister publication newyorkcountypolitics.
com.
Manhattan lawmakers on the move
Maloney Applauds NYS
Making 9/11 Community
Eligible for COVID Vaccine
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan,
Brooklyn, Queens) released a statement
on Friday after Governor Andrew Cuomo
(D) announced that starting on Feb. 15,
New Yorkers with 9/11-related cancers and
other diseases will be eligible to received the
COVID-19 vaccine.
Maloney had previously called on the
State to expand vaccine access to members
of the World Trade Center Health Program
(WTCHP) on Jan. 13.
“9/11 responders and survivors, who have
9/11-related medical conditions that increase
the risk for severe COVID-19, need and
deserve access to the COVID-19 vaccine,”
she said. “They live with these pre-existing
conditions because they were exposed to
the toxins in the air at and around Ground
Zero after our government told them it was
safe. After 9/11, our country made a promise
to ‘Never Forget’ – this is how we put that
promise into action.”
Nadler, Lofgren Commend
Biden Admin for Efforts
to Strengthen Refugee
Program
U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan,
Brooklyn) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) released
a joint statement last Friday, commending
President Joe Biden (D) for signing an Executive
Order to reinstate and strengthen the
U.S. refugee program.
The order, which Biden signed a day prior,
raises the annual cap on refugee admissions
to 125,000 for Fiscal Year 2022.
“The Trump Administration reduced
refugee admissions to historic lows and
decimated the refugee program,” said Nadler
and Lofgren. “We are greatly encouraged to
see that the Biden Administration is aligned
with our recommendations and that they are
beginning the process of rebuilding this historically
bipartisan program and returning
the United States to its leadership position
on the world stage.”
Al Taylor Voices Support for
“New Deal for CUNY”
Assemblymember Al Taylor (D-Harlem,
Washington Heights) released a statement
last Friday in support of new legislation to
reform and revitalize the City University of
New York (CUNY).
The CUNY New Deal, sponsored by State
Senator Andrew Gournardes (D-Brooklyn)
and Assemblymember Karines Reyes (DBronx),
was written with three key goals in
mind:
Increase the ratio of full-time professors
to full-time students, in order to make class
sizes smaller; Make CUNY tuition free for all
in-state undergrad students; And allow the
university to hire more academic advisors
and mental health counselors.
“As a proud CUNY graduate, I fully support
the new deal for CUNY,” said Taylor.
“So many New Yorkers would not be where
we are today without the opportunities
CUNY afforded us. We must do everything
we can to ensure future generations enjoy
those same benefi ts..”
Chin Coordinates Lower
Manhattan-Wide Distribution
of Food to Community Pantry
Councilmember Margaret Chin (DBattery
Park City, Chinatown) announced
the expansion of food pantry networks in
Lower Manhattan.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis,
Chin began coordinating with UA3 to address
food insecurity in her district. The
coordination culminated in the creation of
the Community First Food Pantry, which
operates out of an empty storefront on
Grand Street. To date, Community First has
moved over 9,000 gallons of milk and over
2,000,000 pounds of produce to families in
District 1..
This story fi rst appeared on our sister
publication newyorkcountypolitics.com.
10 February 11, 2021 Schneps Media
/Change.org
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