NO SUGARCOATING THE STATE OF NYC ECONOMY BUT WHERE'S OUR BAILOUT?

The city economy is in freefall.

This is from the Independent Budget Office's latest report released today:

The Covid-19 pandemic and the public health restrictions imposed to help limit the spread of infections have delivered a severe blow to the economy, leading to very large and abrupt job losses that are unprecedented in their scope and pace. Given the staggering job losses, IBO assumes that the U.S. economy has entered a recession, even if not yet captured in the official statistics. As the economy contracts, tax revenues will follow suit, particularly economically sensitive revenue sources such as income and sales taxes.

IBO estimates a $9.7 billion drop in NYC tax revenue and a loss of 475,000 jobs. Plugging this multi-billion dollar budget hole is going to be a real challenge.

For the schools, Chalkbeat NY gives us this information today:

About 80 city schools out of roughly 1,600 receive more than 100% under the formula, according to the most recent city data. It was not immediately clear to what extent other schools would also be asked to make cuts. It is also unclear if the mayor would keep his promise to ensure schools receive at least 90% of what they’re owed. City Hall officials did not immediately answer those questions.

The $100 million cut to fair student funding represents a roughly 1.6% reduction to that funding source. Fair student funding represents the majority of most school budgets.

Some are probably thinking that the federal government needs to bail out NYC as the current economic issues are no fault of the people.

The private sector is getting a generous bailout. For example, the airlines.

From the NY Times:

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has reached an agreement in principle with major airlines over the terms of a $25 billion bailout to prop up an industry hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Treasury Department said that Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, SkyWest Airlines and Southwest Airlines would participate. The program is supposed to help the companies pay their workers and was created as part of the economic stabilization package that Congress passed last month.

I've said before that teachers and others in the New York area should not be bashful now and should be demanding the federal government make our schools and our entire city whole.