The number of city schools designated as “persistently dangerous” by the state has grown this year by 11 to 25, it was announced today.

At a press conference this morning, Mayor Bloomberg seemed displeased by the new list of unsafe schools, released yearly by the New York State Education Department. “We are working very hard to make sure that all schools are safe,” he said. “Crime in schools is down.”

He added, “We certainly aren’t perfect. We will continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing.”

Schools with two successive years of serious incidents — such as homicide, sexual offenses, and possession, use, or threatened use of a weapon — make the list. Five city schools fell off the list from last year, while nine stayed on, and 16 were added.

The expansion is a result of more rigorous reporting, not more crime, the state’s education commissioner, Richard Mills, said. He expects more schools to be added to the list in coming years as teachers and administrators perfect their reporting strategies, he said.

“I can think of three schools, I believe they were in New York City … where reporting simply wasn’t accurate,” he said. “We reviewed those schools and helped them. Those particular three schools ended up on the list this year.”

The dangerous schools list is mandated in the federal No Child Left Behind law, which also requires that students attending persistently dangerous schools be offered the option to transfer to another school in their district with less violence.

In 2006, 624 students requested transfers from schools on the list, and 130 transferred. All of the students were given the option to transfer, a Department of Education spokeswoman, Dina Paul Parks, said.

With the expanded list of troubled schools, the number of students who can transfer before classes begin September 4 should increase. Ms. Parks said the city education department will give assistance to schools that have been placed on the list, including more training and assessments that will begin next month.

Critics of the list, including the president of the teachers union, Randi Weingarten, have said it undercounts the number of dangerous schools, and a state audit found widespread underreporting.

Ms. Parks suggested the list ignores progress in several city schools. “We continue to differ with the state regarding how to distinguish between merely disruptive behavior and behavior with the potential for harm,” she said, pointing out that four of the newly added schools are in the city’s special education district, which caters to children with severe emotional and behavioral problems.

Mr. Mills compared the state’s list to others across the country, saying that more violent schools are reported in New York than anywhere else in the country. New Jersey, he said listed only four last year, as did Texas.

Sixteen city schools have been added to this year’s list, compiled from 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 data:

PS 14
PS 723
Powell Middle School
MS 399
PS 47 American Sign Language
JHS 44
IS 49 Bertha Dreyfus
MS 296 South Bronx Academy
PS 90 Edna Cohen
MS 298 Academy for Public Relations
MS 002 (District 17)
Jamaica High School
MS 571
PS 368
PS 36
PS 169

Nine city schools remain on this list from last year:

PS 94
PS 811
PS 12
PS 17
PS 754
PS 140
PS 9
PS 752
Samuel Tilden High School

Five city schools were removed:

JHS 78 — Roy Mann
PS 109
PS 370 Jim Thorpe
PS 721
Hillside Hospital PS 23 (Queens)