FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 7, 2018

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assemblymember Catherine Nolan today announced that the Smart School Bond Act Review Board approved $400 million in expenditures for New York City to replace Transportable Classroom Units and to modernize pre-kindergarten classrooms.

"New York's children deserve to have access to the highest quality education from the very beginning of their schooling," Speaker Heastie said. "This Smart Schools funding will get New York City's students out of trailers and into real classrooms, giving them the tools and resources they need to succeed at school and in their futures."

"Schools in my district have been terribly overcrowded for years," Assemblymember Nolan said. "Improving these awful, outdated, dangerous classrooms has been my goal as chair of the Education Committee. I am delighted and grateful. I look forward to our continued successes in securing funding to benefit all of our students."

Of the $783 million that New York City was allocated through the Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014, $300 million will be used to replace Transportable Classroom Units, and $100 million will be used to build or modernize 36 prekindergarten classrooms. This will allow New York City schools to move students out of temporary trailers and into classrooms within the schools.

The $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014 was approved by voters in the 2014 General Election. School districts can use their funding on four general areas: technology, pre-kindergarten space, high-tech security and instructional space to replace temporary classrooms. These general areas include interactive whiteboards, computer servers, tablets, computers, high-speed broadband or wireless internet connectivity for school and communities, and capital projects to construct, enhance or modernize educational facilities to accommodate pre-kindergarten programs to replace transportable classroom units, as well as capital programs to install high-tech security features.