On the one hand, Tokyo is much older than NYC.
On the other hand, the Japanese have a penchant for tearing down and rebuilding things (partially policy-driven).
But thankfully the war ended before it was completely destroyed, as it would have continued being hit otherwise.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo#Postwar_rec...
A lot of countries have significantly newer schools, because a lot of the physical building were destroyed like everything else during the wars, or most people moved into newly developed suburbs and new towns. NYC notably doesn’t includes its suburbs so its share of old buildings is a problem that suburban districts do not have.
If it delivers much worse results at much higher costs for everyone else, that seems like a terrible trade off.
Given that the US can barely handle the meager social security of those with work disability, it's hard to imagine that we could afford widespread, more expensive specialized institutions. And Japan is not exactly doing hot with spending given that they run a 263% debt to GDP ratio.
Japan has a different set of problems, but delivering efficient and cost effective, high quality education is something they get right. And insofar as special needs people are evenly distributed among various countries populations, we should be able to learn from what they do.
And how much does ESL even cost? If it comes remotely near explaining why NYC needs three times as much money as Japan to do a worse job, that seems like a huge downside to immigration that nobody is talking about.