Chair Lee questions Comptroller on due process case cost containment realism
Lee asks whether $149 million in FY27 due process savings is realistic. Levine notes Carter cases tripled from $500 million to $1.5 billion in six years, supports the mayor's strategy of offering more public school services, but notes it's hard to assess exact savings since additional service spending may precede savings.
And then as we know the due process case cases cost quite a bit.
Have you conducted an analysis of the due process case cost containment savings item included in the executive plan and DOE's budget?
And if so, do you believe $149 million in savings in FY27 is realistic?
Well, first, big picture, we've had such a rapid rise in this line.
In 2019, we were spending $500 million on so-called Carter cases.
It's going to hit $1.5 billion, so a tripling in six or seven years.
You don't really see that in government very often.
It's got to be contained, and I do applaud the mayor for articulating a plan to do that.
It has not really been defined yet.
I think the vision is that we'll offer more services in schools so that people, kids can receive what they need in the public schools and not have to go to the private schools.
That is definitely a good strategy, which I totally support.
But it's a little bit hard to be exact on the savings because you have to account for additional money we spend if we need to spend on additional services.
And it could be that we spend money on services today and don't get the savings right away.
So it's a little hard for us to assess this exactly.
Though, again, I think the mayor is absolutely right.
That we need more services for children with learning differences in the public schools so they don't need to go to the private system.
Okay, perfect.