New York City’s Education Budget Has Jumped Over 40 Percent In 10 Years. Here’s Why.
Michael Bloomberg may have been the education mayor, but Bill de Blasio is spending a lot more money on it.
City spending on education has grown from nearly $17 billion in 2008 during Bloomberg’s reign, to a projected $24.3 billion for next year. In the last five years of Bloomberg’s tenure, education spending increased 13 percent; by the end of his first term, spending under de Blasio is projected to jump 27 percent.
That boost, according to a new Independent Budget Office analysis of the city’s preliminary 2018 budget, is largely attributable to two main categories: spending on staff salaries and payments to charter schools and non-public schools often used for special education.