Today, Brownstoner ponders whether recent school budget cuts will threaten PS 321’s style. More to the point, he wonders what will be the effect on local real estate.

So how does all this circle back to real estate? This is no doubt overly simplistic, but is it possible for the budget cuts to make some would-be Slope buyers (who often move to the neighborhood because of schools like P.S. 321) reconsider, or think about shelling out for private school instead? Or do the strong voices of parents at P.S. 321 affirm the lure of the school and neighborhood?

Put that way, the budget cuts could be a good thing for the neighborhood—and PS 321. The school is already crowded. This year there are ten kindergarten classes. On the tour I was leading this morning, one OTBKB reader asked me, what happens when those buildings open on Fourth Avenue.

Good question.

Can the school acomodate that influx of students? It seems to me that District 15 needs another public school. Otherwise PS 321 is going to have to add a fourth floor or a new quonset hut in the backyard.

Do the budget cuts really threaten PS 321’s quality? Yes and no. That discretionary funding does add a great many bells and whistles to the school like literacy intervention, special teachers, paraprofessionals, school supplies, books, and furniture.

A school needs discretionary funding to run smoothly.

Of course, parents and teachers are upset. And they have good reason to be. But the thing that makes PS 321 great is the quality of its teaching staff, the administration and the curriculum that they’ve spent years developing.

Still, there is much to worry about. Budget cuts could affect one of the sacred proponents of the school: small class size. That’s what it’s all about. Small class size makes for better teaching and better learning, there’s no way around it. The kids get more attention; the teacher has more time to work with and know each student.

Intervention services and help for struggling learners are other important elements in the success of a PS 321 education.

In her letter to parents Principal Elizabeth Phillips writes,

“I fear what this means for next year in terms of class size, intervention services and arts programming, which is where we put the largest amount of our discretionary funds.”

Larger class size, less art, and intervention services. Say it isn’t so. If the budget cuts affect these important things, there will be much consternation among parents, administration and staff.

It’s hard to say what these cuts will mean in the long run. The school has been through budget cuts before and it has persevered. PS 321 is a strong, resilient and vital institution that will continue to prosper in spite of these DOE obstacles.

.