The letter reiterates the importance of investing an additional $450 million in this November’s 2025–2029 Capital Plan Proposed Amendment—for a total investment of $1.25 billion—to improve school accessibility.

Although it has been more than 35 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, only about a third of New York City public schools are fully accessible. When schools are inaccessible, students often have to travel long distances on an already overstressed busing system to receive their education and miss out on opportunities to build formative relationships with students in their own communities. Inaccessible schools also raise employment challenges for educators and staff with physical disabilities while limiting opportunities for relatives and community members with physical disabilities to attend important gatherings like PTA meetings or school plays.

A decade ago, the situation was much worse, with fewer than one in five schools fully accessible as of 2018, so we are encouraged by the City’s progress with the funding thus far allocated to school accessibility and appreciate the $800 million allocated in the 2025–2029 Capital Plan to continue making additional schools accessible. However, while the City should be taking steps to accelerate the timeline for eliminating physical barriers to full inclusion in our public schools, the allocation in the current Capital Plan does not even allow the City to keep pace with the progress made under the last Capital Plan, once inflation is taken into account. At the current level of investment, it would take ten five-year capital plans to reach full accessibility. That’s 50 more years of inaccessibility and exclusion, contrary to the promise of the ADA. Conversely, $1.5 billion in sustained funding for school accessibility would cut that time in half.