Ahead of School Year Kick Off, Comptroller Levine Finds Just 48 NYC Public Schools Take Advantage of City Program to Create More Outdoor Space for Students

 

Improvements to “School Streets” Could Provide Cost-Effective, Fast, Safe Access to Outdoor Space for 324 Schools

As nearly one million New York City students prepare to return to school on September 10, just 48 New York City Public Schools (NYCPS), serving approximately 27,000 students, use the City’s “School Streets” program to turn adjacent streets into additional outdoor space for PE, recess, outdoor learning, arrival, dismissal, and other activities, according to a new analysis from the Office of Comptroller Mark Levine.  

The limited reach of the program comes as hundreds of schools face constraints on outdoor space: while the City does not maintain comprehensive data on outdoor space available for school activities, 371 NYC public schools serving almost 200,000 students – nearly one in four public school students citywide — lack outdoor physical education space. Yet 324 of those schools have an adjacent street likely eligible to become a School Street, highlighting the potential for the cost-effective Department of Transportation (DOT) program to reach more students. 

The report, The Right-of-Play: Expanding “School Streets” Access in NYC, finds that the 5-year-old School Streets program is governed by a cumbersome and lengthy approval process that, if streamlined, could better serve principals and school staff while expanding much-needed outdoor space for students. This space can be crucial not only for physical education and recess, but also for improving safety during arrivals and departures and creating opportunities for parents, staff, and students to connect as a school community. 

“Students spend much of their day at school, and kids need to move, play and get outside in order to thrive – but too many New York City schools lack the outdoor space to give students those opportunities,” said Comptroller Mark Levine. “Regular physical activity and time outdoors not only support their physical health but also their mental health, focus, and ability to learn.  We should make it as easy as possible to put that space to use. School Streets are a simple, low-cost solution to expand outdoor space, and we should make it as easy as possible for principals, parents and school staff to take advantage of it if they want. ”  

The Schools Streets program – which launched as a Covid-19 outdoor learning initiative in 2020 —  has seen low participation since it moved to DOT in 2021.  Many school principals report limited familiarity with the program, while others find DOT’s application process overly burdensome. 

The process requires developing multiple plans and letters of support, followed by a minimum 90-day review by DOT. Just 48 NYCPS schools had School Streets in the 2025-26 academic year.   

The report found that:  

• Only 74 schools took part in the program during the 2025-26 academic year: 48 NYCPS, 14 private, 10 charter, and two childcare programs.  

• Of 1,156 school buildings reviewed, 93% have an adjacent street likely eligible for School Streets – meaning an initial review didn’t find any major public safety or emergency concerns. 

• Of the 371 schools without outdoor physical education space, 324 have an adjacent street likely eligible for School Streets. 

• Schools using the program showed a commendably equitable distribution in terms of demographics and other factors.  

• The City lacks a publicly available dataset that identifies the total outdoor recreation space available to students at each school for recess and other activities. 

The Comptroller’s Office offered several recommendations to more efficiently deliver School Streets for young New Yorkers:  

• Shift Application Responsibility to Agencies. DOT and NYCPS should take the burden off individual principals to assess potential School Streets’ safety and viability, engage other agencies and community partners, and work with administrators on an implementation plan. 

• Proactively Assess Principal Interest Across NYCPS. This joint effort should first gauge how many principals potentially want a School Street. This can be done through existing NYCPS outreach, such as the Principal Annual Space Survey, after which the agencies can engage these administrators to see if they have an eligible adjacent street and are interested in joining the program.  

• Prioritize Schools without Outdoor Physical Education Space. Buildings without a dedicated area for physical education should be targeted to potentially take part in School Streets.  

• Set Clear, Ambitious Annual Expansion Goals. DOT and NYCPS should jointly set targets to deliver School Streets to as many students as possible every year.  

• Assess Citywide Outdoor Recreation Space Inventory. New York City currently only keeps data on how many schools have outdoor space used for physical education. NYCPS should expand this data set to understand how many schools have outdoor space that can be used for activities like recess. 

You can read the full report here: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/the-right-of-play-expanding-school-streets-access-in-nyc/