The Administration for Children's Services lists assistance to prevent the need for foster care as one of four components of its child welfare service system. The transition from a system that emphasizes foster care to one that focuses on preventing the need for foster care has been unsteady. This report looks at changes in the city's foster care and preventive services programs over the last decade, including enrollment, spending, and funding.
In 2009 the state law granting the Mayor control of the New York City public school system was renewed. That renewal included a requirement that the New York City
Independent Budget Office "enhance official and public understanding" of educational matters of the school system. The law also requires the Chancellor of the school system to provide IBO with the
data that they deem nevessary to conduct their analyses.
Just days after the events of September 11, 2001, President Bush and Congress promised that $20 billion in federal aid would be provided to help New York City
recover from the attack. Given the unprecedented scale of the destruction-physical, economic, and emotional-no one had real estimates of what the needs
and costs would be. As a result, the federal promise was loosely defined. Assistance was provided for immediate relief but a large portion of the aid was to flow to New York
over time as specific uses of the assistance were determined.
Web text supplement - Delays and disagreements over planning and financing the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, as well as a weak market for
downtown office space, marked much of the first half decade following 9/11.
The release last week of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's preliminary budget for 2012 and financial plan through 2015 prompted renewed concerns
over the agency's fiscal outlook. Transportation budget analysts have been praticularly critical of the amount of borrowing in the plan and the assumption of no wage increases
for the authority's workforce.
IBO's comparison of enrollment data for this school year with last school year for kindergarten through eighth grade finds that average class sizes are already on the rise.