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Q&A
Addressing class size reduction and space challenges in schools
1:48:20
·
4 min
Council Member Hanif raises concerns about schools lacking space to meet class size reduction requirements. Deputy Chancellor Emma Vadehra explains the DOE's plans and funding allocation to address these challenges.
- 500 schools currently lack space to fully comply with class size laws, but many can still make progress
- $6 billion in funding is allocated for new capacity projects over the next five years
- About a third of the planned new seats have already been sited, with more in the process of being identified
- Some schools may need classroom conversions, annexes, or entirely new buildings to meet compliance
Shahana K. Hanif
1:48:20
Wonderful.
1:48:21
Thank you.
1:48:22
According to the DOE, five hundred schools do not have the space at their current enrollment to meet the class sizes class size law required, including 15 schools in my district, and an analysis by Class Size Matters finds that these 500 schools enroll nearly half of all non d 75 students as well as at least over 250,000 students in poverty, a 30 Hispanic students, 50 seven thousand English language learners, 40 two thousand black students.
1:48:59
What are the plans to provide these 500 schools with sufficient space so they are able to lower class size?
Emma Vadehra
1:49:10
So hi.
1:49:11
Thank you for the So I do wanna clarify one thing about that list because I actually think it's really important.
1:49:17
That is schools that can't get all the way to compliance.
1:49:20
It doesn't mean they can't make progress.
1:49:23
And so I would say when we say we've provided funding for seven fifty schools going into next year to hire additional teachers, assistant principals, do room conversions, some of those schools are on that 500 schools list, so there's progress they can make to lower class size within their current capacity.
1:49:41
There's some schools where there is not progress they can make, but it's not the full 500.
1:49:46
So just so we're planning that, we are supporting those schools to get as far as they can within their current space through our plan for next year.
1:49:56
In terms of the space they need, touched on this a little bit earlier, but SCA currently has a bit over $6,000,000,000 in their budget that's just for new capacity projects around the city in the next for the next five years.
1:50:12
So their current capital plan.
1:50:14
About a third of those seats, which is about 11,000 seats, have already been sited, and they're off and running in terms of they found the space, and they're actually building.
1:50:25
Another
Shahana K. Hanif
1:50:26
aware there was there isn't any space.
1:50:29
Are you referring to the schools that don't have space?
Emma Vadehra
1:50:31
Yes.
1:50:32
So what SCA is so SCA has about $6,000,000,000 that's just for new capacity.
1:50:36
They have other things in their budget, but that's just being used for class size compliance.
1:50:41
And that funding is being prioritized for schools and communities that don't have space to reach class size compliance in their current buildings.
1:50:50
So that could mean a school that needs an annex or something, or often in many cases, could mean a new school building altogether, and that's where that funding is going.
1:51:02
So about a third of those have been cited.
1:51:04
Another
Simone Hawkins
1:51:05
Cited as in
Shahana K. Hanif
1:51:05
they're they've been
UNKNOWN
1:51:07
They found the place.
Emma Vadehra
1:51:08
The gonna do the thing.
1:51:09
Okay.
1:51:09
Yeah.
1:51:09
Sorry.
1:51:10
Yeah.
1:51:10
Yeah.
UNKNOWN
1:51:10
Yeah.
1:51:10
So about a third of
Emma Vadehra
1:51:11
those SCA knows what they're doing, where they're doing it, you know, when they're already working on it.
1:51:16
Another 7,000 or so seats.
1:51:20
We've worked with SCA to identify the communities with the greatest class size need that we know, and they're searching for sites there and looking at what are the specific buildings that are not gonna be able to reach compliance.
1:51:35
What do those buildings need?
1:51:37
Do they need an annex?
1:51:39
Do we need to be looking at a new site?
1:51:41
What is needed in that subdistrict specifically to reach compliance?
1:51:45
And so that's what they are prioritizing next.
1:51:48
The only other thing I'd say is there are a few schools even on that list that just need a classroom or two.
1:51:54
They don't need a whole new thing.
1:51:56
Mhmm.
1:51:56
And that is something they could ask for funding for, as the chancellor said, through our planning process for next year to do a room conversion, and we were working on some of those as well.
Shahana K. Hanif
1:52:07
And what do you anticipate the timeline of the 500 schools or the ones that have are the hardest to make any progress with?
Emma Vadehra
1:52:17
It will depend on the specifics of where they already are in the process and where they're getting to.
1:52:23
But they still have a few billion dollars left that hasn't been assigned that they're looking to assign to specific sites.