This report provides a budgetary perspective on public education in New York City. It presents facts and figures on the following five areas: (1) understanding the 1975-1976 cuts in the education budget, (2) pupil-staff characteristics of the New York City Public Schools, (3) pupil-teacher ratio and class size, (4) understanding the impact of the fiscal crisis on the Board of Education's budget, and (5) recent management reform initiatives at the Board of Education. In summary, it is noted that New York City's public schools have lost the full-time equivalent services of 31,725 staff members since the onset of fiscal retrenchment. The total school staff reduction of 25% is greater than that of all the city's uniformed services (police, fire, sanitation, corrections) combined. The figures also show a reversal in the long-term trend towards lower pupil-teacher ratios. The drastic reductions in the Board of Education's budget have forced the extensive cuts in schoo system personnel. They have forced layoffs not just among teachers, but in virtually every category of employment. The strategy of retrenchment adopted by the Board of Education of New York City will continue for the academic year of 1976-1977 because of additional budget cuts. This will affect the quality of education offered to the more than one million children in the public school system. (Author/AM)