As I reported previously, at a SCA board meeting on March 20, 2025, during the public comment period, I pointed out that the board had lacked the necessary three members required by law for nearly two years. Three members are required at all times by the state law that established the SCA in 1998, but after Lorraine Grillo resigned from the board in August 2023, no replacement was made. I also pointed out to the board on that occasion that the SCA lacked a whistleblower policy, along with many other legally required policies, according to the 2025 report of the NY State Authorities Budget Office.
Though Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg, the Chancellor’s representative on the board, dismissed my concerns, a third member to the board was appointed two weeks later, Liz Bergin. Then, less than two months after that, the SCA board approved a Whistleblower policy at their May 15 meeting,. Though the SCA General Counsel Nadine Rivellese called this an “update”, the previous policy was never posted or provided to the NY State Authorities Budget Office, or to me when I requested a copy.
Last month, on Nov. 20, 2025, I again spoke an SCA board meeting, and explained there were still serious deficiencies in the transparency and accountability required of the SCA board and the agency as a whole, including the following:
Failure to comply with the state and city laws requiring transparency and full funding: According to their board minutes, the SCA board had never discussed the class size law or the challenges it presented in terms of creating space for smaller classes. Nor did they discuss the reporting required.
The class size law requires an “annual capital plan for school construction and leasing to show how many classrooms will be added in each year and in which schools and districts to achieve the class size targets.”
In addition, Local Law 167, passed in 2018, requires the SCA to explain where school seats are needed by district, subdistrict and grade level, as well as the demographic data and methodology used to make these projections.
Yet fewer than half of the seats are funded compared that the number that the SCA testified last year are needed to reach the goals in the class size law. Of those seats funded, fewer than two thirds are identified as to district, subdistrict or grade level.
Failure to comply with their own capital plans: I also explained how the SCA has never fully spent the funding allocated for new capacity in the last three five-year capital plans—plans that were approved by the City Council. Instead, the cumulative shortfall is about $4.6 billion over 15 years.
No policies on time, attendance and salaries: As the NY Public Authorities Office reported, the SCA lacks required policies on time and attendance, as well as salaries. Acting Deputy Chancellor Kevin Moran who has replaced Dan Weisberg as the Chancellor's representative on the board, seemed to listen intently to my critique, especially compared to Weisberg who was dismissive when I spoke at their March board meeting.
I sent my comments as a letter to the SCA board the next day. A month later, SCA Vice President and General Counsel Nadine Rivellese replied in a letter which is posted here, along with my response to some of her more questionable assertions.
Two of her claims are indeed true: the ultimate responsibility for the SCA’s underfunding, lack of transparency and failure to comply with the law lies with Mayor Adams, who appoints all three board members and controls their budget.
Moreover, as she also pointed out, there are other ways to create more space in overcrowded schools than just capital construction. But none of those other methods have been sufficiently employed by the DOE and the one that has the most potential and would likely save more than a billion dollars for staffing and construction costs has been rejected: balancing enrollment between nearby schools. .
We are about to have a new Mayor who appears far more focused on the benefits of reducing class size in the public schools. Let’s hope Zohran Mamdani, along with his Chancellor and appointees to the SCA board, are focused on addressing these fundamental flaws in the agencies' transparency, planning and funding.
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