Community Board 2 committee ranks school capital and expense priorities, adds 3‑K expansion

Community Board 2Schools & Education Committee members reviewed school capital and expense requests for fiscal year 2026, heard updates on council funding already awarded to local schools and voted to add expansion of 3‑K programming to the committeeexpense priorities.

Committee Chair Patricia Lariat presented a draft list of district needs and said several schools had received recent allocations: “Harvey Milk High School ... received a 128,000, from Carlino Rivera for upgrades. 75 Morton received a 125,000 for a play yard upgrade. PS 41 received a 135,000 for a play yard upgrade. PS 3 received 50,000 ... for technology upgrades,” she said. Committee members and a council representative also discussed other requests such as accessibility upgrades and sensory‑friendly design elements at schools housed inside shared buildings.

Nicole Bark, the council representative present for a council office, said she had arranged a School Construction Authority (SCA) site visit for one school and relayed SCA guidance on sensory hallways versus sensory rooms: SCA staff told schools that hallways pose egress and code issues but that a dedicated sensory room — typically a converted classroom rebuilt to SCA standards — was feasible.

Committee members debated how to classify sensory items (capital versus expense) and whether smaller, nonstructural sensory installations could be purchased without a capital renovation. They discussed the CEQR (City Environmental Quality Review) process and requests to allocate funds to support site finding and environmental review for new school locations. The committee also kept a standing item asking for funding to create a 100,000‑square‑foot school near Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place on land reserved in a 2012 rezoning.

In business session the committee voted to add a proposal to allocate funds to expand 3‑K programming to its expense priorities and to reorder expense items (including a higher placement of a recruitment/retention program referred to as "Men Teach"). Committee members called for advocacy in executive meetings and confirmed they would present the final ranked list to elected officials for FY26 funding consideration. The vote to include the 3‑K expansion was recorded as unanimous; no detailed roll call or numeric tally was given on the record.

The committee planned to finalize the ranked list in business session and forward it to the district manager and council offices for follow‑up.