NYC schools commission deeply divided over complying with class size law

An education department commission tasked with preparing a plan to comply with the state's new class size law is deeply divided amid mounting concerns that the city can't – or simply won't – reduce class sizes as required.

The Class Size Working Group once said it would release a report with final recommendations on Oct. 31. But more than a month later, the recommendations are still not public. Parents, advocates and educators in the working group now say the report will be out in a couple of days.

The delay, multiple members said, is due to divisions among those committed to following the law and those who say it is impossible to implement and will reduce access to the city's most sought-after schools.

“We are at a stalemate,” said member Deborah Alexander, who is part of a faction that objects to the class size law.

“There is a ton of drama behind the scenes,” said member Naveed Hasan, who is part of the group’s majority that advocates compliance with the law. “But it all stems from one root cause. [The city’s Department of Education] does not intend to comply with the law. Because they don’t think they can.”

The law mandates that by 2027, class sizes must not exceed 20 students for kindergarten through third-grade classes; 23 students for fourth- through eighth-grade classes; and 25 students for high school classes.

In a statement, education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said that the city is in compliance with the law, for now.

“The law requires that 20% of classes be in compliance, and we are currently at twice that amount,” he said.

But administration officials have consistently said the city can’t afford to reduce classroom head counts as required because of the need for more personnel, funding and space.

“To fully implement this law, we need the funding necessary to hire additional teachers and build additional classrooms — there is no magical pot of money available,” Styer said.

Parents and teachers have lobbied for smaller classes for years. Research has shown that smaller classes can boost student achievement and dramatically reduce behavioral issues.

But it will be costly.

The city’s Independent Budget Office has said the city would need to hire 17,700 teachers at an annual cost of $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion. Finding additional classroom space could add billions of dollars more to that amount.

Schools Chancellor David Banks asked the nearly 50-member working group to tackle those challenges and offer guidance on implementation.

In September the group presented some draft recommendations to the public, which underscored some potentially necessary tradeoffs.

For example, the group said the city might have to limit enrollment at overcrowded schools, which some parents worry will slash slots at high-performing schools.

The draft recommendations also call for financial incentives to entice teachers to schools in low-income communities that are often harder to staff.

It also recommends moving 3-K and pre-K programs out of K-12 buildings, merging co-located schools, and creating more staggered sessions so that students aren’t all learning together at the same time within crowded buildings.

Members say those proposals would be cost-neutral or save money while strengthening schools and meeting the law's mandate.

“The need to lower class sizes in the public schools has been recognized for over 100 years and if the DOE implements it it will have a transformative effect on our students and our schools, and for many schools and students it will really provide their first opportunity to succeed,” said Leonie Haimson, executive director of the advocacy group Class Size Matters.

But there’s a faction within the group that is unwilling to sign on to those recommendations.

“In terms of actionable, practicable recommendations, it’s more of a wish list,” said Alexander.

Her group of dissenters is especially concerned about the effect of limiting enrollment at popular schools.

“Where are these kids going to go?” said Alexander.

Working group members have noted that some over-enrolled schools are located very close to under-enrolled schools. But parents may not be willing to move their children to schools considered less desirable.

Another problem Alexander’s group has with the law is that it could funnel money to higher-resourced, higher-demand schools, rather than schools in under-resourced communities that often have lower enrollment.

They also question how the city will find enough teachers to staff smaller classes “unless there is some cache of secret high-quality teachers somewhere.”

“We recommend phasing in class size caps, focusing on K to three, focusing on schools with the highest economic and academic need, and… building space first and then reducing the class size for the rest of the school system,” Alexander said.

Alexander’s faction includes members of PLACE, a group that advocates for maintaining selective admissions at schools for high-achieving students. PLACE members have called for some of those schools, which are often overcrowded, to be exempt from the class size law.

“No one is against lower class size,” she said. “We want it to be achievable.”

Frustration is mounting among advocates for smaller class sizes. Haimson said her group’s analysis of city data found that average class sizes went up, not down, this year.

“The trends are going in the wrong direction,” she said.

Right before Thanksgiving, the United Federation of Teachers held a press conference highlighting that some 300,000 students remain in oversized classrooms.

Last week, two advocacy groups wrote a letter to the state calling on officials to require the city to make a “corrective action plan” to ensure the law's implementation.

“The department has made no apparent attempt to stem class size increases since the new law was passed in June of 2022 in any of their policies or procedures, whether it be space, planning, enrollment, budgeting or the capital plan,” said the letter, from the groups Class Size Matters and Alliance for Quality Education.

The state education department did not respond to Gothamist’s request for comment about its response to the letter.