Instead of wasting millions of dollars on a facelift for a 116-year-old Queens building unfit for disabled children, the city should build a new state-of-the-art school like it’s doing for kids in Staten Island, a City Councilman contends.

The School Construction Authority will break ground this summer on a $78 million building for the Richard H. Hungerford School in Sunnyside with every amenity for children with special needs.

The bright new 300-seat building on the Michael J. Petrides campus, expected to open in September 2021, will boast Braille signage in every room, elevators, ramps, and a high-tech sound system for the hearing-impaired.

The classrooms are designed for small groups, and most will have their own restrooms. A mock apartment and culinary space will focus on independent living. There will be physical therapy and speech therapy rooms, and a  nurse station on each floor.

In contrast, the dilapidated PS 9 Walter Reed in Maspeth is located in an industrial zone, surrounded by forklifts and trucks that kick up dust and spew diesel fumes.

It is not wheelchair accessible, has bad acoustics that makes noise painful for autistic kids, only one bathroom per floor, and a gym that doubles as the cafeteria.

After calling PS 9 “safe, clean and comfortable,” the city Department of Education last week admitted that one of two kindergarten classrooms inspected had peeling or cracked lead paint. Three more first-grade classrooms will be inspected this summer, and repaired as needed, spokeswoman Danielle Filson said.

The classroom was one of 900-plus citywide found with the toxic hazard. When ingested or inhaled, paint chips and dust can cause lead poisoning and brain damage.

Meanwhile, the city has spent $14 million in capital funds on exterior repairs — still underway after two years — and inside improvements, but the building is still shabby.

“This is a money pit,” said City Councilman Robert Holden, whose district includes PS 9. “It’s not worth it to keep pouring money into this building — in this location.”

Holden called it “an insult to Queens” not to give its special-needs children equal treatment to those in Staten Island.

Still, it took a lot of fighting to win the new Hungerford building, said Maritza Adorno-Sabato, a PTA mom at the school. The principal and parents repeatedly complained about poor conditions — including a “nauseating” sewage backup. An expose in the Staten Island Advance newspaper finally spurred official action.

“We’re very loud people and we’re adamant to get what we want,” Adorno-Sabato said.

In response to the Post’s coverage of PS 9, special-needs parents have piped up on Facebook.

“That building should have been torn down and the students and staff should have been moved,” one wrote. “No amount of interior improvement will fix the health hazards of the dust from the industrial area that surrounds it.”

Another mom agreed, “Hidden in a dirty industrial area. It’s awful.”

SCA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said a new site for PS 9 is not under consideration.

“We are looking at providing funding for additional enhancements to the school at this time,” he said.