State Of The Borough: Over 18K New Seats Coming To Queens Schools

ASTORIA, QUEENS -- A $1.9 billion capital project will add more than 18,000 new seats to Queens' notoriously overcrowded schools in the next two years, Borough President Melinda Katz said.

Katz made the promise during her annual State of the Borough Address at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School in Astoria on Friday. Adding more infrastructure for Queens schools - which have more overcrowding than any other borough - topped a list of lofty goals she'd set for the borough to accomplish by 2030.

"Most of the boroughs are below capacity, but we exceed capacity at 108 percent on average," Katz said of the more than 238,000 students enrolled in Queens schools. "To be frank, our schools haven't kept up with the growth of our families."

Queens' elementary schools in particular are "bursting at the seams," on average housing around 116 percent of the capacity they are designed to hold, Katz said. The borough's high schools, at an average of 113 percent capacity, aren't far behind.

The most overcrowded high school in New York City is Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows, whose student population now more than doubles the school's maximum capacity, Katz said. Queens schools are also among the most underfunded in the city, she said.

"We have the most kids and we get the least amount per kid," Katz said. "To stay competitive and meet the growing demand, we have been busy building schools."

All those factors played a roll in Queens receiving $1.9 billion from the School Construction Authority - the largest capital investment among the five boroughs - to create 18,632 new seats in its schools by 2020, she said.

But Katz said even with the thousands of new seats, Queens is on track to be the only borough that's still over capacity, especially in its elementary and high schools.

"Queens is a borough of growth and a borough of families, and with that we must make sure we have the infrastructure to support our families," she said.

Katz said to meet the needs of that growth, Queens needs a greater share of the city budget for its schools.

"There should be more per pupil spending across the city, and we'll be working with administration to get even more than the 18,632 seats already heading our way," she said.

It was among a handful of lofty goals Katz set forth in her State of the Borough address as part of her vision for the borough by 2030.

"It’s clear that we need more, and our families deserve more," she said.

Katz said by 2030, she hopes investments into the borough's infrastructure through the last four years will begin to pay off, especially in its schools.

Temporary classroom trailers will be a thing of the past, she said. Students from 77 of those trailers were able to rejoin their classmates in permanent school buildings this year, and Katz hopes the remaining 124 trailers left will soon follow.

More Queens libraries are also on the list, said Katz, whose goal is to have expanded, renovated or new libraries open in Hunter's Point South, Rego Park, Corona, Glendale and Far Rockaway by 2030.

Katz said she hopes to develop the Rockaways into a borough hotspot by then, with reconstructed parks and a Beach 88th Street that's "more resilient than ever before."

The borough president also touched on affordable housing, saying she wanted to set aside thousands of NYCHA units specifically for seniors who want to still live independently. She envisions Willets Point as a home to tens of thousand of affordable housing units, with housing on all 61 acres of the historic development area funded by a professional soccer stadium Katz has long campaigned to put up on the area.

"I'm dreaming a little bit," she said.

Lead photo by Frank Franklin II/Associated Press.