A summary of some new news related to CUNY's and CSI's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. See https://csi-covid19.github.io for the archive.
To add/suggest news, please email John Verzani
As per the directive issued by New York State, training is required for all employees who will be in the City University of New York offices/facilities going forward. This includes employees returning to work according to approved plans and employees deemed essential already working onsite.
All four car caravans will take place from 11 am until 1 pm this Saturday, July 18. The starting point for the Staten Island caravan will begin at 425 BAY STREET. The complete route map will be provided for all participants once you arrive at 425 BAY STREET. Bring signs to put on your car, or we will provide you signs!
July 18th will be powerful! Thank you to those who have already sent an RSVP to join the Caravan Through CUNY Communities in person or on Zoom! We will have hundreds of members in cars or on bikes and many more on Zoom.
The City Adopted budget includes $464.6 million in operating support for the community colleges, an increase of $4.7 million from the FY2020 level. Changes include: $25.3 million in efficiencies beyond the FY2020 level. Efficiency total for FY2021 is $46.3 million.
A $54.3 million proposed reduction to ASAP was addressed through a $34.3 million direct funding restoration to the program and a $20 million increase to the University’s target for savings efficiencies.
The University of Akron this week became one of the first schools in the country to make deep cuts in the number of full-time professors on its staff, with the board of trustees voting on Wednesday to lay off about a fifth of the university’s unionized work force to balance its budget, including nearly 100 faculty members.
The cuts underscore the growing financial crisis sweeping across higher education, which in recent years has struggled with shrinking state support and declining enrollment amid concerns about skyrocketing tuition and the burden of student debt. The coronavirus and signs of declining fall enrollment have only accelerated the financial trouble everywhere including at large state research universities and small liberal arts schools.
7/17 Cuomo Plays Waiting Game on Federal Aid as Small Funding Cuts Threaten to Turn Huge (Thanks to Martin Burke)
Meanwhile, New York’s fiscal outlook is worsening. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported Thursday that tax receipts in June fell $475 million below the Cuomo administration pandemic-revised forecast and some $1.5 billion below last year.
The state also announced that it would not issue a detailed plan for reducing aid until the end of September — six months into the state’s fiscal year and three months after the start of the fiscal year for the city, most school districts and many other local governments.
“The longer cuts are delayed the bigger they will have to be,” argued David Friedfel, state budget expert at the Citizens Budget Commission.
It comes down to budget math: If a school teacher costs a district $100,000 and the budget must be cut by the same amount at the beginning of the year, the district can lay off one teacher. But six months into the year, the district would have to jettison two teachers to save the same amount of money.
McConnell and other Republicans say the roughly $3 trillion bill passed by the House in late May is "dead on arrival" in the Senate. Republicans and the White House are spending the two-week recess drafting and discussing their own measure.
Some key points of the GOP measure are already taking shape: The White House has signaled that it wants a price tag of roughly $1 trillion, while Senate Republicans have drawn a red line on including liability protections for hospitals, schools and businesses to help shield them from coronavirus-related lawsuits.
(I'd call this posturing, but I'm not the editor...)
In addition to liability protections, the forthcoming Republican measure is expected to focus on getting kids back in schools for in-person classes starting in the fall, including helping cover associated costs.
Noah Weinrich, a spokesman for the group’s political arm, Heritage Action, said a bigger focus for conservative lawmakers is opposing more aid to states and local governments, which colleges support to forestall billions in cuts to higher education. But, Weinrich said, "I don't think conservatives will want more aid to colleges without conditions like cutting costs or tuition."