New York City public schools will not be penalized for enrolling fewer students than projected this fall, the local principals union told members over the weekend.
The policy, known as “hold harmless,” started during the COVID-19 pandemic to help stabilize school budgets as enrollment plunged dramatically. The system has faced pressure to continue the practice ever since.
“We are pleased to share that, through our collective advocacy, every New York City public school will be held harmless for any and all register loss during the 2025-26 school year,” the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators wrote in a Sunday memo obtained by the Daily News.
The announcement was made a day earlier at the union’s annual conference, the largest in its history with more than 1,850 members registered. It was first reported by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news source focused on education.
It was not immediately clear how many schools the policy would impact or how much of an investment the city will need to make to keep the practice going. Last year, principals at under-enrolled schools collectively held onto a total of $157 million in expected cutbacks.
Reps for the school system did not immediately return a request for comment.
The city’s public schools are largely funded on a per-pupil basis.
Every year, budget officials send principals their yearly allotments ahead of the first day of school based on the number of students they anticipate will show up.
Before the pandemic, officials checked in again with schools mid-year to see how many children ultimately registered. Then they clawed back the extra funds as appropriate.
But in recent years, the Adams administration has sometimes let principals hold onto those dollars, sparing schools teacher layoffs and sometimes painful programmatic cuts. Last year, schools did not lose any money, even though they did the year before.
Students this year had already benefited from a funding guarantee over the summer all schools would receive at least as much funding this year as their initial budgets last fall.
The new investment comes after Mayor Adams dropped his re-election bid late September and apparently looks to cement his legacy. Early in his tenure, the now one-term mayor faced intense protests over school budget cuts as federal pandemic aid dried up, and has since backfilled funding for a number of programs supported by those dollars.
It’s also expected to help under-enrolled schools keep class sizes low as the city faces a key deadline to reach 80% compliance with incoming caps between 20 and 25 students. Principals can receive additional dollars for that purpose this year and next.
