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Council member emphasizes the importance of investing in education
0:27:52
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125 sec
Council Member Eric Dinowitz opens the hearing by emphasizing the critical importance of investing in education, particularly in CUNY. He highlights both the moral imperative and the strong fiscal case for supporting higher education.
- Dinowitz cites a return on investment of at least $15 for every dollar invested in CUNY
- He criticizes budget cuts to CUNY as poor financial choices for the city
- The council member pledges to fight for CUNY funding, citing both moral and fiscal reasons
Eric Dinowitz
0:27:52
Thank you, vice chancellor.
0:27:53
I do, before I begin with my questions, wanna highlight some something the provost said, which we have often repeated at these hearings on this committee, is that there is perhaps no better investment than education.
0:28:10
And we as a city have a moral imperative to invest in the future of our city, but this is also a fiscal one where, just to read again, a return on investment of at least $15 for every dollar invested, investments the children of students who engage in the ACE program making upwards of what was a hundred $25,000, 40 3 thousand dollars of additional earnings for students engaged with the ACE program.
0:28:39
So these are smart fiscal choices, which also means that when you cut these funds, when the administration cuts these funds, we are losing out on money for our own city.
0:28:51
So these are poor financial choices when we cut CUNY.
0:28:57
And that is why we and the council are fighting tooth and nail to make sure CUNY gets the funding it deserves, again, not just because of the moral imperative, but we know fiscally, as we talk about a budget, there's perhaps no better investment than our education system and CUNY.
0:29:12
And given that we've had PEGS over the years, in the fiscal twenty five adopted plan, CUNY was allocated 15,000,000 for a partial PEG restoration for fiscal twenty five, bringing the PEG in fiscal year twenty five to roughly 80,000,000.
0:29:31
This PEG restoration was not included in the fiscal twenty six preliminary plan, which has increased CUNY's PEG in the fiscal year twenty six to roughly $95,500,000.
0:29:44
How is CUNY managing to meet the needs of their institution, your institution, and your students without the peg restoration in '26, fiscal year '20 '6?