Incoming Schools Chancellor David Banks' promise to take the budget axe to the DOE bloated bureaucracy at its Tweed Building headquarters.
J.C.Rice
The Issue: The city Department of Education budget, which grew by $10 billion under Mayor de Blasio.
Re “Dept. of Ed. goes on a $10 billion bloat trip” (Dec. 26), the conclusion is inescapable that the purpose for enormously increasing Department of Education spending in past decades has been to employ a burgeoning and entitled bureaucracy, rather than to properly educate children.
While the budget has increased exponentially, over $10 billion in the last seven years alone, the number of students has decreased. Reading and math levels and test scores have not improved much either.
A spokesperson says that DOE has “put students first,” but the facts show exactly the opposite. It will be up to the new schools chancellor, David Banks, to right the ship, and the course seems clear.
Marc E. Kasowitz
Manhattan
I don’t think your front page headline “Fat Educats” will come as a surprise to many.
How was it possible for Mayor de Blasio to be elected and then re-elected? All with the help of the DOE staffers and their big bucks.
Of course, in turn he has been extremely generous to them with raises and many new hirings, which give new meaning to the word “bloated.” Will this never stop?
Bunny Abraham
Manhattan
Education is imperative to succeed in the global economy. Under Mayor de Blasio, it appears to have been a political patronage boondoggle.
This waste of resources created a bureaucracy that failed the students of the city, which was also a contributing factor in the middle-class exodus.
With high immigrant enrollment, New York City’s education system has to be a foundation for successful integration into American society.
Safety and education are two critical responsibilities for local governments — de Blasio failed on both.
Ed Houlihan
Ridgewood, NJ
If anybody expects new Schools Chancellor David Banks to change the culture of the DOE, don’t hold your breath.
The last thing a bureaucrat will do is fire another bureaucrat. The bloated DOE will get fatter, not leaner.
Charlie Honadel
Venice, Fla.
The Issue: Karol Markowicz’s column on why she and her family are leaving New York City for Florida.
Karol Markowicz’s column on Sunday was a home run (“New life state of mind,” PostScript, Dec. 26).
Her heartfelt words expressed the frustration toward the total lack of consideration for our children. Sentence after sentence spoke nothing but the truth.
I am sorry to see her and her family leave New York, but happy for a brighter future for her children. Karol is a true advocate for children and the future of our country.
Alice Daly, Mahopac
Bravo to Karol Markowicz for making a very difficult decision to move out of New York City. A mother bear will do whatever it takes to protect her cubs.
If my children were still school-aged, my family and I would have been in Florida from early on in this pandemic.
COVID is an insidious virus, but what is so striking to me is that if you question any supposed “following of the science” you are attacked.
Where is the dialogue? Can’t there be more than one way to tackle this pandemic?
We should have followed the model of putting all efforts into protecting the elderly and those with comorbidities. Children should never have been put through such abuse.
Agatha Nadel
Glen Head
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