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184 New Public School Seats Funded for Upper East Side
Following Local Law 167 Authored by Council Member Kallos
New York, NY – An additional 184 public schools seats for the Upper East Side were proposed by the School Construction Authority, increasing the total from 640 to 824 new seats. The new seats follow the first report of Local Law 167 of 2018 authored by Council Member Ben Kallos, to provide transparency around where the city plans for new school seats.
“We need more school seats, especially with all the new construction throughout Manhattan,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “As far as I’m concerned we should be building new school in every new large development. The fact is that we’ve demonstrated the model at multiple new buildings in the neighborhood. When I got elected, the Upper East Side was slated for no new seats, despite overcrowding, and I thought something was wrong. With new found transparency around the planning processes, our need for seats was confirmed and now we are getting the seats we need for every child to get a world class education.”
Council Member Kallos has been successful in his advocacy to win more seats from the Department Education for the Upper East since his election in 2013. When he took office in 2014 there were only 154 full day seats. After years of advocacy, the need has been met with a total of 1,122 seats for four-year-olds.
Due to his advocacy and work with local parents, just a year ago the City announced plans for 640 seats for grades K-8. The School Construction Authority announced its plan to spend an estimated $92.85 million for 640 new K-8 school seats right here on the Upper East Side as part of its proposed 2020–2024 capital plan released in November 2018. The 184 new schools seats were added to the original 640 for a total of 824 in the School Construction Authority’s proposed 2020 – 2024 capital plan release in November 2019.
With 414 seats built at new prekindergarten centers, 276 free prekindergarten seats at community based organizations, and these 824 new K through 8 seats this puts the number of new public school pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade seats that have been planned, funded, or built on the Upper East Side, Roosevelt Island and Midtown East since 2014 to over 1,500 new seats.