As school opens, we renew our search for budget cut casualties

Teachers and students are returning this week to schools changed by deep budget cuts over the summer.

Because of the city’s shrinking coffers, principals were told last spring to cut nearly 5 percent of their budgets for this year. Some schools lost closer to 10 percent of what they had to spend last year.

For months, we’ve been trying to document how the cuts are affecting individual schools. In June, we launched an interactive comment map where principals, teachers, and parents placed flags to show cuts to teaching staffs, arts programs, and after school offerings. One principal, from PS/MS 179 in the Bronx, reported “devastating” cuts at his school.

Now, we’re asking our readers to add to the map with the latest information about how schools have changed because of the budget cuts. Teachers, are you juggling more responsibilities than in the past? Do you have fewer colleagues than you used to have? Parents, is your school offering fewer after-school activities than it did last year? Is your child’s class larger than you expected? What else have you noticed? Visit the comment map here to add details about your school.