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Council Member Eric Dinowitz's opening remarks on CUNY's FY2026 executive budget
0:03:48
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135 sec
Council Member Eric Dinowitz, chair of the committee on higher education, provides opening remarks for the fiscal year 2026 executive budget hearing for the City University of New York (CUNY). He outlines CUNY's budget, highlighting increases from the previous year and restored funding for some programs, while also noting concerns about unfunded programs and the impact of federal policies on higher education.
- CUNY's FY2026 executive budget totals $1.48 billion, an increase of $114.3 million from the previous year.
- Funding has been restored for programs like CUNY ACE, ASAP, and STEM institutes, but other essential programs remain unfunded.
- Dinowitz expresses concern about the impact of federal administration policies on CUNY students and faculty.
Eric Dinowitz
0:03:48
Thank you, chair Brandon, and welcome to the fiscal twenty twenty six executive budget hearing, the City University of New York jointly with the committee on finance.
0:03:57
I'm council member Eric Dinovitz, chair of the committee on higher education, and importantly a proud CUNY alum, the son of a CUNY alum, the brother of a CUNY alum, the husband of a CUNY alum, and today, special today, the co chair of a CUNY alum.
0:04:14
I wanna thank and I wanna thank finance chair to Brandon for holding this joint hearing today.
0:04:20
CUNY's fiscal twenty twenty six executive budget totals $1,480,000,000 which includes close to 1,000,000,000 in personal service funding to support 6,024 full time positions.
0:04:34
The budget also funds other than personal services for $426,000,000.
0:04:39
CUNY's fiscal 20 20 6 executive budget is a hundred and $14,300,000 greater than the $1,370,000,000 budget we adopted last year.
0:04:50
The difference mainly due to the baseline restoration funding of about $96,000,000 from the program to eliminate the gap.
0:04:59
In addition, the budget does restore funding for several programs such as CUNY ACE, ASAP, and STEM institutes, long priorities of this council that we have often had to fight tooth and nail for in the budget.
0:05:11
However, many other essential programs remain unfunded including CUNY Reconnect, CUNY Flex, Access and Inclusion, Application Fee Waiver, and Free Commuting Pilot Program.
0:05:25
It is imperative that CUNY is granted adequate funding to support our students and their needs.
0:05:33
I look forward to hearing about CUNY's programs for our students with disabilities such as CUNY LEADS and CUNY Unlimited.
0:05:41
Given this federal administration's policies on higher education, their attack on our students, we remain alert on the financial and policy implications that our students and faculty will be impacted by, and on the detrimental impact this can have on the future of our city.