Every five years the School Construction Authority and the NYC DOE propose, and the City Council approves as part of its budget process, a Capital Plan for School Construction. The 2009-2014 passed last spring with only nine dissenting votes. Many parents who are believe that this capital plan is woefully inadequate to address the overcrowding facing our schools. Each year we should challenge the amendments that come before our CECs for comment in the late fall and demand more money for school infrastructure.

* Click here for a report by the Manhattan Borough President's Task Force on Overcrowding that analyzes the plan and the demographic trends in our neighborhoods, calling for the construction of at least two times more seats just to relieve current overcrowding.

* Click here for a report by the Manhattan Borough President's Office and here for a report by the Office of the Comptroller, saying that DOE's planning for enrollment increase has not responded to demographic change.

* See below for attached testimony from elected officials and others (add yours!) about the inadequacies of the capital plan.

* Scroll to the bottom of this window for links with more information.


Are you worried about asking for more money for school construction in a time of economic crisis?
Consider these points:

- School construction and repair has a smaller capital budget than at any other time in the last ten years. City capital spending on schools--where school construction money comes from--is actually shrinking, while city spending on housing and economic development, health and social services, and park, library, police, and cultural projects are all increased;

- The state reimburses 50% of school construction spending, so it is a good deal for the city;

- School construction is paid for not out of the city's operating budget, but through municipal bonds, which are amortized over thirty years;

- Economists across the political spectrum agree that infrastructural improvements are an effective economic stimulus, as is seen in our national stimulus policies;

- During the economic downturn of the 70s, the city failed to invest in education and we are still suffering the consequences today, in the form not only of a severely damaged education system but lost productivity, economic growth, equality of opportunity, and neighborhood vitality;

- The current plan is approximately equal in spending to the last, with substantially fewer seats. Why? Why have costs gone up? The economic climate seems to present an opportunity to renegotiate existing contracts and recalculate future cost projections in favor of less expensive school construction;

- The Manhattan Borough President's Task Force on Overcrowding has calculated that the capital plan funds the creation of only one-third the number of seats needed simply to relieve existing overcrowding and reduce class sizes to the levels the city committed to in its class size reduction plan.

- Remember! More than 40% of NYC kids attend overcrowded schools now, and hundreds of kids are on waiting lists for their own zoned kindergartens. The problem will only get worse if adequate construction is put off another five years!

- Read the capital plan here. Will there be any more seats in your neighbhorhood in 2014?
- Click here for a survey of principals: Do DOE figures adequately register overcrowding in their schools?
- Click here for a letter from politicians and parents demanding a better capital plan.