Busted windows, broken fire alarms and decrepit toilets at hundreds of city schools will not be repaired this year because of cuts to education funding, city lawmakers charged yesterday.
Standing before boarded-up windows at PS 10 in Astoria, Queens, lawmakers blasted a Bloomberg administration plan to cut $1.3 billion from school construction and delay another $781 million.
Education officials shot back that the projects will be deferred only because of Albany’s plan to appeal a state court decision that would send $9.2 billion in capital funds to city schools.
“The mayor has not given education the respect it deserves, nor has he made it his priority,” said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a Democratic candidate for mayor.
Jerry Russo, press secretary to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, accused the critics of “misrepresenting the facts for their own political purposes.”
“There are simply no cuts,” Russo said.