MANHATTAN – Mayor Michael Bloomberg went after teachers yesterday, proposing to slash 6,166 educator jobs in his 2012 budget.
The mayor said the state’s $4.6 billion budget gap was so dire that layoffs are inevitable.
Teacher’s union chief Michael Mulgrew said the cuts were a “bogus strategy,” adding, “The mayor’s insistence on teacher layoffs becomes more and more bizarre.”
Even as he carved money from the city, Bloomberg chastised the federal and state government for stripping city programs like homeless shelters and senior centers.
“You started these programs, you funded them, people got used to them,” he said, addressing lawmakers in Albany and Washington.
“You shouldn’t be cutting back.”
