The city has agreed to add over 5,000 new classroom seats to its five-year school capital plan at the urging of City Council members.
The proposed amendment, which Mayor Bloomberg has agreed to but will not be finalized for months, increases the number of recommended new elementary and middle school seats from 25,000 to 30,000. Thought the total cost of the original capital plan for 2010 to 2014 has not changed from $11.3 billion, the amount spent on building new seats has.
Though the original plan called for the city to spend $3.8 billion building new seats in 44 buildings across the city, the amendment increases the cost to $4 billion spent in 56 buildings.
“The seats will not require any new funding, but instead will be paid for by reestimating construction costs and through the reallocation of existing resources,” City Council spokesman Anthony Hogrebe said in a statement. According to the amendment, borough presidents and the City Council contributed funds to cover the cost of more new seats.
The majority of the new seats will be located in districts in Brooklyn and Queens, which are home to some of the city’s most overcrowded schools.
Changes to the original plan were made based on more recent information about enrollment patterns and population changes within districts, according to the amendment. As a result, four districts will see slight decreases in the number of new seat, while nine districts will see increases.