In recent years the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) has identified three priority concerns for the New York City public schools:

Crowding- too many students in schools that lack adequate space for them;

Crumbling- too many buildings that are not adequately maintained and require major renovations;

Computers- too many students lacking sufficient access to computer technology that is essential for learning skills required in the modern economy.

Last August the Commission prepared and released background data documenting trends in these three areas of school operations. As school opens for the 1999-2000 year, the CBC is making available updated information relating to the magnitude of these problems, and highlighting changes in the most recent year. These new data reveal that:

1. Crowding- The majority (59%) of students attend public schools that are filled beyond their capacity. This figure declined in the past two years, but progress is being made at a snail’s pace–under current policies it will take at best more than a decade to solve the crowding problem.
2. Crumbling- Maintenance spending remains inadequate — at 90 cents per square foot, it is less than one-third the rate for private sector facilities. This causes school conditions to worsen each year, yielding a backlog of renovation needs that is evident among at least nine of every ten school buildings. It would require $6.4 billion to repair this neglect, but the Board allocated $3.3 billion for such renovations in the five-year capital plan they adopted last May. Consequently, the prognosis is for continued crumbling.
3. Computers- Recent improvement in providing access to computers for public school students continued last year, bringing the ratio of students to computers to 11 students per computer. However, this lags the availability in the rest of New York State by about five years, and it is still far worse than the six students per computer that prevails in the rest of the state.

Data describing these issues and trends more fully are presented below.

 

Crowding

1. In the past school year 55 percent of New York City’s public schools were crowded (operating at or above capacity) and 59 percent of the students attended crowded schools.

• Among elementary schools, 58 percent of the buildings with over 60 percent of the students were crowded.
• Among middle schools, 30 percent of the buildings with 35 percent of the students were crowded.
• High schools have the worst conditions - 62 percent of the buildings with 73 percent of the students were crowded.

2. Crowding was mitigated somewhat last year because the Board of Education added a net total of more than 12,000 seats, while enrollment grew less than expected.

• The Board added 16,832 seats in elementary schools, enabling the percent of students in crowded buildings to fall from 62 percent in 1997 to 60 percent in 1998.
• The Board reduced capacity in middle schools by about 11,000 seats between 1997 and 1998. The share of these students in crowded buildings rose from 32 percent to 35 percent, but crowding is still the least severe at this level.
• Among high schools the share of students affected by crowding decreased from 82 percent to 73 percent.

3. Schools in Queens are the most crowded. Fully 76 percent of the buildings with 79 percent of the students were above capacity.

• In Queens elementary schools, crowding was particularly severe–84 percent of the students attended crowded schools. Elementary schools were 19,353 students over capacity.
• Similarly, among the upper grades in Queens, 83 percent of high school students attended crowded schools, and these schools were 15,473 students above capacity.

4. The five-year capital plan approved by the Board in May of 1999 allocates $1.1 billion to complete construction of about 27,000 new seats initiated in prior years and another $1.7 billion for construction of an additional 32,953 seats. However, all the construction to be initiated under the new plan will not be completed at the end of the five years. Therefore, the increase in capacity by fiscal year 2004 will be 49,482 seats or just about half of last year’s shortfall. In districts where enrollment growth is expected to continue, conditions are not likely to improve in the next few years.

 

Crumbling

1. Inadequate maintenance is a major cause of the crumbling condition of the public schools, and the pattern of neglect has not been reversed. Adjusted for inflation, the Board’s maintenance spending per square foot rose last year from 86 cents to 90 cents, but this still falls below the inadequate figure of the early 1990s and is only about one-third of average maintenance spending in the private sector (about $2.50). According to the New York City Office of Management and Budget, the Board’s maintenance spending in fiscal year 1999 was only about 29 percent of that needed to maintain its assets in a state of good repair.

2. A history of neglect has left the Board’s physical plant in dismal condition. The latest (May 1998) building condition survey found that, of the more than 1,100 schools, 758 needed major roof work, 424 needed new parapets, 288 needed new windows, and 796 needed masonry work. Another 20 percent of the system (231 schools) needed complete exterior modernization.

3. The interior components of schools were also in poor shape - 754 schools needed new electrical systems, 584 schools needed new pipes, 719 schools needed climate controls, 516 schools needed heating plant work, 150 schools needed coal boilers replaced, and fully 1,002 low-voltage electrical systems needed upgrading. Another 81 needed full interior modernization.

4. According to the Board’s estimates, it would require nearly $6.4 billion to repair and renovate the existing school buildings. By contrast, the recently approved five-year capital plan allocates less than $3.3 billion for such work. Only about half the needed exterior repairs, and only about one-third the needed interior renovations, are funded.

 

Computers

1. The Board has made steady progress reducing the ratio of students to computers. In 1998 (the most recent year for which there is data) there were 11 students per computer, down from 21 students per computer in 1990. However, only 41 percent of these computers are classified as "new generation" (those having 486 or more powerful processors or an equivalent Macintosh).

2. Despite this progress, New York City only now is reaching a ratio that the rest of the state achieved five years ago.

3. New York City’s ratio of 11:1 in 1998 was almost twice that of the rest of the state (6:1), and is a long way from the Board’s stated goal of 8:1 for elementary and middle schools, and 6:1 for high schools.

4. It is doubtful that the Board will to continue to make significant progress. In June of 1997, the Board estimated that reaching its technology goals would cost $2 billion. The recent capital plan traded technology enhancements for construction of new capacity, and the amount dedicated to technology is only $300 million over the next five years.