Twenty-one school construction projects moved closer to the chopping block after a city education panel last night approved a proposal to cut $1.8 billion from the five-year, $13.1 billion capital plan for city schools.

The 10-2 vote by the Panel for Education Policy came over the objections of some city officials, including more than two dozen City Council members, who said amending the capital plan would send the wrong message to Albany. Mayor Bloomberg has led an aggressive push to pressure state lawmakers to comply with a court order to send billions more in funding for city schools.

While most city officials have united behind the mayor’s fight against Albany, the administration’s decision to push through cuts to the capital plan drew opposition from council leaders, who just two weeks ago stood with the mayor when he announced the project delays. For the administration, the amendment is an effort to hold state lawmakers accountable for city funding that has never arrived. Council members say they want more time to lobby Albany before slashing projects.

Twenty-nine council members, including the speaker, Christine Quinn, urged the committee to either reject the budget-cutting amendment or delay a vote until after the state budget is finalized this spring.

“It makes absolutely no sense to pass an amendment that acknowledges the money ain’t coming,” a council member of Brooklyn, Lewis Fidler, told the panel. He likened the amendment to sending up a white flag of surrender.

The amendment’s approval was virtually assured heading into last night’s vote, as Mayor Bloomberg controls eight of the 13 education panel members. The five borough presidents pick the others.

Earlier in the day, the presidents of Manhattan and the Bronx said they had instructed their appointees to reject the proposed cuts.

“To voluntarily cut the capital program tonight will send a very bad message to Albany,” the Manhattan president, Scott Stringer, told reporters outside City Hall. “We want to be much more vigilant. We want to be much more strong in how we continue going forward.”

The amendment moves to the council, where it now faces majority opposition. Ms. Quinn would not say whether she would urge members to reject it, which could open a significant rift with the Bloomberg administration. Ms. Quinn said she hoped the state would come through with the money before the council has to act on the amendment.

The $13.1 billion capital plan won approval in 2004, but officials say the plan’s funding is dependent on $6.5 billion in state aid. In a ruling on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit last year, a state judge directed Albany to pay the city an additional $5.6 billion a year for schools, including $9.2 billion over five years for capital projects, such as construction of new buildings. Governor Pataki is appealing the decision.

Mr. Bloomberg announced the cuts in an appearance with Ms Quinn and other education officials earlier this month. The mayor said that unlike last year, when the city advanced the state’s $1.3 billion share of capital school funding, the city this year could not afford to do so. Instead, he proposed the amendment slashing 21 school construction projects out of the capital plan to cover $1.8 billion in city schools funding that was not included in Mr. Pataki’s budget.

“We need to build schools, and we need Albany money,” Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday.

The city says the 21 projects that now will not begin this year would have added nearly 15,000 classroom seats. Dozens of other planned renovations are also at risk for delay.

For the mayor, cutting $1.8 billion from the capital plan is part of a strategy to heighten political pressure on the city’s representatives in Albany during an election year. Republicans hold a nine-seat majority in the state Senate, and the mayor has said he would back candidates across party lines who would help the city secure more schools funding.

“If we just sit here and say please and they don’t give it to us and there’s no penalty, there’s no reason why they’d ever give us money,” the mayor said yesterday. “They’re going to give money to other parts of the state that hold them accountable. New York City’s got to learn to hold its legislators accountable.”