TESTIMONY
Nina Kubota, President and CEO of the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA), on Strategies to Comply with Class Size Requirements
0:25:19
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7 min
Nina Kubota discusses the SCA's plan to manage class size compliance through a 5-year capital plan, detailing four strategic approaches.
- Emphasizes the legislative impact on over 500 schools, necessitating around 85,000 new seats to maintain class size guidelines.
- Outlines four main strategies for compliance: repurposing existing school spaces, leveraging ongoing capital projects, undertaking limited capital investments, and constructing new schools.
- Highlights obstacles in funding and real estate, noting the complexity and expense of new constructions.
- Stresses the necessity of collaboration with city and state partners to fund and implement these strategies effectively.
- Acknowledges the SCA's role in balancing state-of-good-repair, modernization needs, and compliance with class size requirements amidst financial constraints.
Nina Kubota
0:25:19
Good afternoon to hear Joseph, and then City Council Committee on Education.
0:25:24
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on this very important issue.
0:25:29
I would like to give an overview of what we've done on the capital side related to class size and go up into a little more detail on what the deputy chancellor touched upon in her testimony regarding how we are planning for compliance via the 5 year capital plan.
0:25:45
Since the passage of the legislation, we've been working to analyze our analyze the schools in our system, working with our partners at New York City Public Schools And the Class Size Working Group.
0:25:55
And taking in other data points to determine how many schools would be impacted.
0:26:00
The best method to reduce class size in order to stay in compliance and as most people want to know determining how much it will cost.
0:26:09
In addition to the class i's working group, New York City Public Schools And the SEA have put together a Cross Departmental team to develop a range of capital strategies that target schools based on each school's level of need.
0:26:22
This team includes representatives from New York City Public Schools Deputy Chancellor of Operations, Office of District Planning, office of space planning, office of student enrollment, and the capacity and real estate units at the SCA.
0:26:36
The team meets regularly to review data discuss potential options, and identify appropriate strategies for individual schools.
0:26:44
This includes evaluating prospective sites for new construction.
0:26:48
As mentioned previously, we currently estimate that over 500 schools are impacted in roughly 34100 classrooms.
0:26:56
Or about 85,000 seats will be needed.
0:26:59
Through this team and the work over many months, we have developed 4 main strategies that can be implemented on the capital side to comply with class size requirements.
0:27:09
Let's talk about the first method, which is to repurpose existing space in schools.
0:27:15
It is important to understand that this exercise will inevitably involve trade offs.
0:27:20
With the results of the principal survey was conducted by New York City Public Schools, we are identifying a subset of schools where principals and our data agreed.
0:27:30
That additional instructional rooms can be created within buildings to support compliance.
0:27:35
Our next step is to survey each of these school buildings and confirm that space can be repurposed to create additional classrooms without significantly compromising school programming.
0:27:46
Upon confirmation, we will initiate capital projects to create the additional needed classrooms.
0:27:52
These projects are less capital intensive and time consuming than constructing new facilities.
0:27:57
And we will continue leveraging room conversion projects when feasible.
0:28:02
The second strategy is actually already underway.
0:28:05
Dozens of capital projects were in process prior to this law that will bring roughly 27,000 additional seats online to help with school overcrowding.
0:28:14
We're working with our partners at New York City Public Schools to make programming decisions that will allow us to extend the impact of these projects on surrounding schools.
0:28:24
To the maximum.
0:28:26
As an example, in district 20, we have 3 new buildings slated to open this September to alleviate preexisting overutilization in the surrounding schools.
0:28:36
The 3rd, while potentially limited, can be beneficial to a number of schools that need only an additional classroom in order to comply, but don't have the space in their building.
0:28:46
This limited capital investment Intervention will support the cost of administrative programming or operational changes.
0:28:54
To be clear, this approach is not proposing an extensive change on on admission or programming policy.
0:29:00
For instance, perhaps an alternative could be adding a particular specialty program at school b to draw more students to that school to alleviate the overcrowding from school a.
0:29:12
In order to facilitate that program, perhaps a new science lab or other type of space needs to be constructed at school b.
0:29:18
That is the type of capital investment that could occur in this scenario.
0:29:23
The last strategy is the one everyone most readily associates with the solution to class size, building new schools.
0:29:31
While we all recognize that there will be a need for new construction, this represents the most time intensive, challenging, and expensive path to compliance.
0:29:41
This strategy has 2 obstacles, funding and real estate.
0:29:45
We recognize both our funding limitations and that appropriate properties at the right location are even harder to come by.
0:29:54
This is why we cannot rely solely on new construction.
0:29:57
It must be coupled with other strategies to maximize its effect.
0:30:01
This is why the capital construction is just one piece to solving for class size compliance.
0:30:08
However, this doesn't mean that work isn't happening in this area.
0:30:12
We know that many of the districts that will have a large number of schools out of compliance have also been the same districts that historically have had high level of seat need.
0:30:22
We will continue our work to identify available properties in those districts.
0:30:28
As potentially feasible sites are identified from our brokers or from suggestions from council members or community members.
0:30:34
They will then be brought to the Cross Departmental team to assess how they can potentially support the surrounding schools.
0:30:41
We have identified several sites for further evaluation and due diligence.
0:30:46
Furthermore, while some sites might not be located in areas of traditional need, we are looking at everything from the lens of class size compliance.
0:30:55
We review sites to see if they can help a nearby school or schools that that can only comply through new construction.
0:31:03
These solutions are not easy and will come with trade offs.
0:31:06
Our current estimates range between 22,000,000 to 27,000,000,000.
0:31:11
I know that we've seen that number fluctuate and to be honest, as we refine our data and assign a particular solution to specific school.
0:31:19
These estimates will likely change again especially with dynamic enrollment patterns.
0:31:25
We fully recognize that our current capital plan is not funded at that level.
0:31:28
But the current $4,100,000,000 in new capacity funding represents a down payment towards this mandate.
0:31:36
This also represents about a quarter of our fiscal year 25 to 29 capital plan, which will total $17,000,000,000.
0:31:44
We have a portfolio of more than 130,000,000 square feet of space with the average age of our buildings exceeding 70 years.
0:31:52
The need to keep our facilities not only in a state of good repair, but also modernized, always surpasses the resources available.
0:32:01
We strive to allocate and utilize the limited resources optimally to maximize the impact on our facilities, school children, and communities.
0:32:11
Allocating funding to other programs is critical to our mission of providing successful and well balanced education to all of our students.
0:32:18
Such as athletic fields and pool upgrades accessibility program and technology improvements as well as supporting our sustainability and greenhouse gas reduction efforts through electrification.
0:32:31
We continue to work with our city and state partners to seek additional funding sources to allow us to implement the 4 strategies I outlined for you today.
0:32:40
We welcome your partnership in this effort, and thank you as always for your collaboration and support of our schools.
0:32:46
I thank you again for allowing me to testify, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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Emma Vadehra, COO and Deputy Chancellor for Operations and Finance, New York City Public Schools on Class Size Reduction Compliance Efforts in New York City Public Schools
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Khalek Kirkland, Superintendent of District 23, on Managing Class Size Regulations in Brownsville