Gabriella Ronquillo ’26

Mayor Eric Adams is currently in the spotlight for allegedly accepting bribes from Turkish businessmen, most notably for an upgrade to business class on flights to Turkey and his acceptance of free high-end meals. However, most striking is his acceptance of illegal foreign campaign contributions for his 2021 mayoral campaign with these same businessmen. In exchange, Adams would prioritize efforts towards their communities, according to his indictment. As part of a wave of NYC government officials resigning, NYC Public Schools (formerly NYC Department of Education) chancellor David Banks announced his plans to resign, which the New York Times article “David Banks, New York City’s Schools Chancellor, to Resign” claims is the result of the bribery and corruption investigation of his brother’s consulting firm. Banks has been supportive of pathways to higher education, boasting in a speech about the openings of two new Bard Early Colleges in the Bronx and Brooklyn in his State of Our Schools speech.

Now, you may be wondering, “Why should I care about the corruption of NYC government officials? Corruption is an inevitable result of the government. ” I partially agree. First, there is no justification for Adams' more-than-questionable budgeting decisions for NYC. Most notably, a scathing article from the NYC Comptroller’s office (the administration that scrutinizes the government’s financial decisions) reported that in May 2023, the Adams administration spent 432 million dollars in a contract with the health services company DocGo that was inexperienced with providing hotel rooms to shelter migrants. NYC funding took an unnecessary hit from this contract, as the government ended up paying for nearly 10,000 unused hotel rooms. Unfortunately, the NYC Public School system takes the biggest hit from the government’s poor spending decisions.

BHSEC Manhattan has lacked funding in recent years, leading to a protest by Bard students during the 2022-23 school year after NYC Public Schools’ budget cuts. According to the NYC Chancellor’s Office 2022-23 School Year Financial Transparency Report, each student at this school receives over $5,000 less in funding than other schools in District 1. The only substantial change in funding happened last year when the school received $300,000 from the City Council for school bathroom renovations which have yet to begin. Most of the budget being spent during the 2025 Fiscal year for NYC Public Schools, as described in the NYC Public Schools 2024-25 School Budget presentation, is Fair Student funding, a method used by NYC Public Schools to determine funding for a school based on the needs of the student population. Students' needs are weighted, which means that one need, such as special education, requires more funding than another, such as academic intervention. What is most troubling about this policy is that schools that don’t have a high average student need do not receive this funding. This policy disadvantages the Early College model because the policy does not consider how to support public school students that have the opportunity of a rigorous education by taking college courses, which requires funding to sustain because of the quality of education the courses require, which includes college level textbooks and books for Seminar. Furthemore, the exclusive nature of this funding for schools with the most students that check one of the “need” boxes of the funding stream overshadows the needs of individual students at the Early Colleges, perpetuating the struggle for student success and a path to higher education that the Fair Student funding program attempts to resolve. To support the Early College program, Bard relies on grants and support of outside organizations. NYC Public Schools predict that they will spend over $31,250 per student, a stark difference from the $16,493 spent per student at Bard in the 2023 Fiscal Year.

This article isn’t intended to make you pessimistic about all the aspects of NYC government, but it is important to acknowledge how Bard is currently in the shadows of the NYC Public School system.One day, it will be recognized when the public school system strives for academic rigor to be the standard, not the goal, towards which funding is allocated.