Member-only story
Mayor Proposes to Slash Budget for Breakfast in the NY Classroom
Anti-hunger advocates are not pleased
As school districts in Newark, Los Angeles, and Dallas have built support for programs that ensure schools serve breakfast in classrooms, New York City has its version on the chopping block.
In a move that has angered anti-hunger advocates, Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed cuts of $24 million from the Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) program for New York City public schools, part of the $629 million in agency cuts in his 2020 executive budget.
The cuts would be broken down over four years, with $6 million each year in “savings from the BIC budget by allowing flexibility in implementation,” reads the Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2020.
City Council and de Blasio have a June deadline to approve the new budget.
The BIC program has led to an increase in kids eating breakfast at school. Since the year before the program launched in the 2014–15 school year through 2017–18 school year — the most recent data available — more than 79,000 additional children are eating school breakfast in NYC.
Deputy press secretary for the Office of the Mayor, Raul Contreras, said the city “is not eliminating breakfast,” but giving principals a choice. An “opt-in” would allow schools to serve breakfast in the classroom. An “opt out” option may require children to get to school before the bell — usually 20 minutes before the start of the school day — to eat breakfast in the cafeteria; breakfast service could potentially end at the start of school.
The $6 million in savings per year would come from “fewer costs associated with bringing breakfast to the classroom and cleaning it up,” said Contreras. “Either way, breakfast will be served.”
New York City Council member Mark Treyger, chair of the education committee and a former teacher at New Utrecht High School, said he would fight the budget cuts.
“The majority of our public school children experience poverty and food insecurity,” he said. “There may be valid concerns about cleaning and implementation, and those can be fixed, but you do not drop the ball on this program. It is a complete cop out that will exacerbate food…
