NEW YORK, NY May 27, 2008 —Schools Chancellor Joel Klein was grilled over proposed school budget cuts at a fractious City Council hearing, where at one point dozens of audience members were escorted out for interrupting the meeting.

Many of the council members criticized Klein for lobbying Albany to change the law to lift restrictions that regulates how $63 million of school education money should be spent. Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell argued that the change would take money away from the lowest performing schools to buffer cuts at better performing schools.

KOPPELL: I hate to say it, but to some degree you're pitting the parents of the more successful students against the parents of the less successful students.

But Klein defended the request. He said that an across-the-board, equitable 1.4 percent cut at all schools would buffer the blow to some schools that could otherwise face up to 6 percent cuts.

KLEIN: But we really don't want on the one hand to destabilize any school even as we cure these inequities.

The budget must be finalized by June 30.