New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the city will open 78 new schools in the fall, bringing the total number of schools opened by his administration to 656. With the new schools, there will be a record 1,821 public schools in New York City.
According to the New York Daily News, these new schools will hold more students, offer college programs and focus on providing a technical education for students looking for opportunities in a specialized field:
"The schools opening in September will enroll 32,000 students at full capacity and include two high schools that will offer associate's degrees in six-year programs with the City University of New York.
"Education officials also will open seven new career and technical education high schools, including the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering."
Bloomberg's education reform strategy has centered around closing large, failing schools, opting to replace each one with several smaller schools. Since he took office in 2002, the city has closed 164 failing public schools. The New York Daily News reports that education officials see performance improvements in the new schools.
