Advocates urge City Council to baseline education programs, press $450M accessibility and $100M provider asks

Dozens of advocates and school-community leaders told the New York City Council Education Committee in public testimony that the preliminary FY27 budget leaves many essential education programs vulnerable and urged the Council to baseline multi-year funding for services that advocates say prevent instability for students and providers.

Randy Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, said the city must “do more than maintain the status quo,” and outlined specific requests including $100 million to address a shortage of service providers for students with disabilities, $20 million for middle- and high-school reading intervention and $8 million each for behavioral specialists and English language learner instructional specialists. Levine called mandated services “not optional.”

Several witnesses repeated a broader set of Coalition for Equitable Education Funding priorities: restore and baseline funding for restorative justice and the mental-health continuum, stabilize early childhood funding and extend immigrant-family outreach. Andrea Ortiz of Dignity in Schools NY asked the Council to increase restorative-justice funding from $17.6 million to $22.6 million, including $2 million for training and $3 million to support paid student leadership opportunities.

Speakers stressed that annual or one-year grants create instability for programs and undermine the city’s ability to retain skilled staff. Gregory Brender of the Daycare Council of New York urged including cost escalators in renewed contracts and increasing advance payments to 75% of contract value so birth-to-five providers can plan and operate sustainably.

Advocates also pressed for a sizeable capital investment to improve accessibility in school buildings. Ginny Obiofuma of Advocates for Children said fewer than a third of New York City public schools are fully accessible and urged adding at least $450 million to the capital plan so an estimated 45% of schools could be fully accessible by the end of the current plan. “Nobody should be turned away from a school because they can't get in the building,” a witness said.

Multiple speakers noted that these investments carry operational as well as equity implications: travel training and other transition services reduce reliance on expensive yellow-bus routes; baselining reading and special-education funding could reduce litigation over services; and predictable contracts help community-based providers remain viable. Randy Levine said the city should aim to ensure every preschooler with a disability receives needed services and proposed specific line items to fill gaps.

The hearing included many related asks—$2 million to expand travel training, $3 million for interim transportation for foster-care students awaiting bus service, and additional staffing for community schools and student-success centers—underscoring advocates’ argument that a budget “is a moral document” that should align with the needs of students and families. The committee did not take votes at the hearing; witnesses submitted detailed written testimony for Council consideration.