To the Daily News, Dec. 17, 2007

Dec 17, 2007 10:48 AM

To the Editor:

Robert Gordon ("Smaller classes: the wrong investment for city schools," Opinion, Dec. 13) misses the point in arguing against class size reductions. Now that the city and state have agreed on goals of 20 students in kindergarten through third grade and 23 students in grades 4 to 12, the debate whether to lower class size is over - what remains is the question of how. Yes, lowering class size costs money, but sustained academic improvement can't be achieved on the cheap. Classes in the city's private schools are half the size of those in public schools. That's because kids learn more in small classes and good teachers want to teach in them. Aren't our 1.1 million public school kids worth the investment?

Randi Weingarten President, United Federation of Teachers