It’s back to the drawing board on New York City’s education budget for the upcoming school year.

A judge on New York State supreme court, Lyle Frank, indicated he will overturn the city’s budget on procedural grounds — sending it back to city council for a vote, where it is likely to fail. 

The $31 billion education budget includes $215 million of cuts since the previous year. Left-leaning parents launched a lawsuit to halt the cuts last month, which Judge Frank is expected to rule on Friday.

Mayor Adams and his schools chancellor, David Banks, argue these cuts are necessary given the decline in student enrollment in the city’s public schools. That total is about 100,000 less than were enrolled in 2020.

Judge Frank upheld an injunction from a lower court blocking the budget. State law dictates that the city’s school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, must approve the education budget before the city council does. 

This year, budget negotiations ran long, and the city council approved the budget before the school board.

At a hearing Thursday, the judge “asked for language that would allow lawmakers to reconsider the city education budget,” Gothamist reports. 

The budget is unlikely to pass a second vote. Last month, 41 of the council’s 51 members — including those who initially voted in favor of the budget — called on the mayor and chancellor to restore the budget cuts.

“We are demanding that you restore the funds ahead of the looming major decisions within the month that allow schools to adequately and fairly plan for the school year,” the council members wrote. “The DOE’s school budget policies are disrupting school communities in every borough, and we cannot afford for them to continue.”

At a rally in July, three council members even apologized for voting in favor of the budget.

“I’m sorry to every parent, to every teacher, to every student in my community that I didn’t step up and fight back the way that I should have during this budget process,” Council Member Lincoln Restler said.