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SCHOOLS STIFF PARENT COUNCILS TO TRIM FAT IN BUDGET

The Department of Education is nickel-and-diming the parent councils that represent each school district in the name of system-wide budget cuts, angry council reps told The Post.

Already asked to foot the bill for pay raises they give to their administrative assistants, the 34 Community Education Councils are now being asked to pay for assistants’ benefits increase – the equivalent of about $700 extra for a $2,000 pay hike.

Council members are fuming that in their effort to cut $185 million from the current fiscal year budget, education officials are dipping into each council’s meager $20,000 annual allotment.

That money usually goes to reimburse council members – who are volunteers – for expenses.

“It’s just indicative of the way they run the ship – with extremely low regard for parents,” said Christopher Spinelli, president of the District 22 Community Education Council in Brooklyn. He was among several school-council members who asked why big-ticket items – like the $1.3 million paid to the consulting firm KPMG last year to oversee council elections that drew fewer than 3,400 votes citywide – were often immune to budget cuts.

Department of Education officials said cutting budgets from central and field offices was an attempt to minimize the impact of cuts on schools, adding that KPMG’s contract was terminated.