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  November 9, 2003
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Making Small Class Size a Reality
By Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

Smaller and less crowded schools and classrooms… state-of-the-art science labs and computers… a wider range of safe and well-maintained schools to choose from. That’s what all our public school students—and their parents—deserve. And last week, our Administration presented a five-year spending plan for the schools that will go a long way toward achieving those goals.

At $13.1 billion, this program—called a capital plan, because it covers construction, repairs and purchases of major pieces of equipment—is the largest ever developed for our schools. More importantly, this plan is not simply about bricks and mortar. Coupled with the improvements we’re making in classroom instruction, it will give our students the resources they need to compete effectively in the 21st century. It will allow us to convert schools that are struggling into schools that are succeeding… eliminate pockets of overcrowding… and permit us to set a deadline for ending split shifts in the high schools, and the use of trailers as temporary classrooms.

The plan is divided into three parts. Some $4.5 billion would be dedicated to “school improvement and reconstruction allocations,” directed at more than 600 of our lowest-performing schools. Many buildings now housing large schools will be restructured to create smaller, independent schools under one roof. Fifty new charter schools would also be established. And funds would be invested in new labs, computers, and security equipment. The second principal element of the plan would be roughly $4 billion for building 76 new schools with some 63,000 new classroom seats in all five boroughs. Finally, the plan also calls for spending some $4.5 billion to upgrade existing schools buildings and keep them in good shape.

Half of the funds for this capital program must come from State government. Those who say that this is unrealistic overlook a crucial fact. The State is currently under court order to end a long and grossly unfair pattern of spending for public school education. It’s one that has systematically denied our City’s schoolchildren the sound, basic education that is theirs by right. State leaders can no longer evade their legal responsibilities to our youngsters—and our capital plan directly addresses some of the worst effects of the State’s longstanding failures in education policy.

This capital plan will now go through a process of public review and comment that will culminate with its approval by the City Council next spring. As that process unfolds, I’d like to ask New Yorkers to keep this in mind: Since getting control of the public schools last year, our Administration has streamlined the once-notoriously inefficient school construction system. We’ve made it more accountable and efficient. As a result, we’re now able to build and repair schools faster and at far less cost. And we’ve improved the quality of the work. So we’re not talking about just throwing dollars at the problems in our schools; we’ve got a sound and effective plan for solving those problems.

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