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Members of the ARISE Coalition and Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) sent a letter [PDF] to Mayor Bill de Blasio asking that the City include a major investment in the FY 2020-2024 School Construction Authority Five-Year Capital Plan to make at least one-third of schools accessible to students, parents, and teachers with physical disabilities. Currently, only one out of every five City schools is fully accessible; as a result, students with physical disabilities find themselves automatically shut out of the majority of schools because of architectural barriers. 

We estimate that reaching this target would require an additional $750 million over five years. While we would like to see the school system fully accessible to individuals with physical disabilities, this funding would go a long way toward integrating students with physical needs into NYC’s schools and would have a significant impact on their lives.

On May 24, the ARISE Coalition, along with several ARISE members, testified ​before the New York City Council Committee on Finance, urging the Council to negotiate a final budget that included additional funding for school accessibility. Read those testimonies [PDF].

On May 15, members of the ARISE Coalition and Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) wrote to Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council, urging them to ensure that the final FY 2019 budget includes the City Council’s recommendation for an additional $125 million for school accessibility projects. 

The 2015-2019 Capital Plan allocates only $100 million over five years for improving school accessibility and $28 million for ensuring that a number of schools can serve as accessible emergency shelters. Together, that represents less than one percent of the total funding in the Plan. Furthermore, the City has already spent the vast majority of this funding, leaving little, if any, funding for accessibility projects in the coming year. New York City cannot be the "fairest big city in America" until students, families, and teachers with physical disabilities have equitable access to the City’s schools.

Read the letters [PDF].

Thanks to all of you who were able to join us at last week’s panel discussion and speak-out on school accessibility.   Our excellent student panel (Joshua Stern, Aaron Philip, Emma Albert, and Abraham Weitzman), Dayniah Manderson, who moderated the panel, and April Coughlin, who shared information and data on the need to empower students with mobility needs all provided valuable information and insight.   Download copies of the factsheet [PDF] and powerpoint [PDF] given out that evening to help families and individuals make sure they know their rights in this arena. 

​To read more about the event in the press, see pieces in Chalkbeat and WNYC.  

​Finally, even if you couldn’t make it last week, but you have a story you want to share about school accessibility, you can always reach out to ARISE or our wonderful co-sponsor, Parents for Inclusive Education, at mmoroff@advocatesforchildren.org or at pieNYC@gmail.com.

The ARISE Coalition delivered testimony to the New York City Council on the 2018 Budget calling for increased funding to improve school accessibility.  View our testimony [PDF].