Mayor Eric Adams has insisted all families who want spots in the city’s preschool programs would receive them, despite budget cuts to early childhood education.

Council members questioned officials as the looming expiration of federal COVID relief money threatens to shave $808 million from the Education Department’s budget.

Under state law, schools must conduct at least four lockdown drills each year. Lawmakers and advocates say that’s “excessive and ineffective.”

Before the pandemic, at least 137 schools serving roughly 70,000 students did not have a school nurse, according to one estimate.

Listen as student reporters speak with Banks about New York City’s Hidden Voices curriculums, school integration efforts, and more.

“It's a fundamentally wrong and unfair practice,” one student said, calling it “affirmative action for the wealthy.”

“This decision making was clearly rushed,” one lawmaker said. “It's not best practice, but this is where we are.”

Almost 75% of the city’s high schools do not have student publications, according to a 2022 study.

Studies show students who complete federal financial aid applications are far more likely to attend college.

“There’s still time to see if we can get this worked out,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said of her push to include New York City’s mayoral control governance system in the budget.