During the New York City Council’s Education Committee Hearing on February 18th, it was brought to the public’s attention that the NYPD has been in conversation with the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to fund two new school police candidate classes at the Police Academy in March and June – potentially hiring 475 new school cops at a cost to the public of $20 million. This news comes despite a political promise made in June 2020 to freeze hiring on the policing division this current fiscal year.
GGE estimates that $20 million could instead fund:
- 283 School Nurses;
- 208 School Psychologists;
- 224 School Social Workers; or
- 197 School Counselors.
GGE mobilized partners to collectively demand Mayor de Blasio stop this proposal immediately. Together, we stormed Twitter to #AskTheMayor why, in the midst of a health-, mental health- and fiscal-crisis, he is prioritizing school cops over young people and directing $20 million away from school communities and towards more policing?
For more information on our Police-Free Schools Campaign, visit our education justice page.
