A report released by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. ahead of the first day of school proposes major fixes to the School Construction Authority (SCA), the body tasked to build new schools across the city, pointing out “inefficiencies” at a time when the borough’s public school districts are grossly overcrowded.

After examining the SCA, which was created in 1988, Diaz Jr.’s office outlined 10 recommendations needed to streamline the authority. Among them is greater transparency, citing the lack of information that came out of a task force created by the New York City Council last year that studied the SCA’s procedures.

“The Task Force met only twice over its six months in existence; the first meeting was not open to the public. The SCA identified only two sites among city properties suitable for school construction; the SCA refused to provide its data to the public, and the report that the Task Force issued was less than two pages long, not available to the public and not even reviewed by all members of the Task Force before it was submitted,” read the report.

The recommendations include ending the practice of educating students inside trailers, studying the environmental impact of building a school in a neighborhood, improving projections for student enrollment, identifying more sites for gifted and talented programs, recruiting more property brokers to scout for schools, piloting a privately-managed request for proposals process for the design and construction of a new school building, leasing more space to alleviate school overcrowding, greater communication on the status of projects and the public, and enforcing enrollment caps at high schools.

Diaz Jr.’s calls for reform go back to 2001 when, as a member of the state Assembly, he voted in favor of mayoral control of schools, which gave New York City mayors greater oversight of the SCA, including the power to make appointments to the authority’s board.

A spokesman for the SCA rebutted all of Diaz Jr.’s recommendations, citing it has already worked toward greater efficiency. “We welcome the Borough President’s report in that it reasserts that we are doing something right,” said Kevin Ortiz. “Each of the his SCA-specific recommendations are things we already do.”

Among them is its progress in removing 208 of 354 original trailers across the city, with an additional 72 identified for removal, working with city agencies to determine environmental impacts, providing five-year projections, issuing requests for proposals for expanding the real estate side of the SCA, working with in-house personnel on real estate matters, leasing over 300 locations across the city, providing quarterly progress reports, and holding public meetings on the status of projects across the city.

The SCA is attempting to address overcrowding in the Bronx by currently building three schools in the borough, including two as a result of the Jerome Avenue Rezoning, and building four annexes including one at P.S. 33 in Fordham and another at P.S. 46 in Kingsbridge Heights.