As the Dec. 20 deadline approached, several hundred New York City public schools were working on their applications for funding to reduce class size next school year.
In late October, principals were invited to create a plan and apply for funds, which will be recurring, if their school had the available space to lower class sizes to the new limits in state law. The new application process, the brainchild of a UFT chapter leader, was pushed by the union to avoid a repeat of the previous spring, when the Department of Education allocated state funding earmarked for class size reduction with little or no regard to the situation on the ground in different schools. See our FAQ for additional information »
At an online union town hall on Nov. 20, UFT President Michael Mulgrew urged UFT members in schools with the space to push their principals to apply. “When the DOE and the city say, ‘We have money for class size,’ you need to jump at that opportunity,” he said.
Lisa Maletzky, the chapter leader at PS 174 in Rego Park, Queens, said her growing school is in a good position to take advantage of the new funding thanks to a new extension that opened this school year. PS 174’s funding application proposes adding staff for one to two classes per grade, depending upon enrollment, and cluster teachers. If the application is approved, the school could achieve 100% compliance with the law in the 2025-26 school year.
“It’s all grades,” said Maletzky. “We want to go full throttle.”
Keruby Cedeno, the chapter leader at PS 316 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, said her school is applying for funding to add at least one class per grade in kindergarten through grade 5. The school recently gained the third floor of the building because a co-located middle school moved out, she said. “Right now we’re still kind of doing old class sizes because we have a lot of students and not enough teachers,” she said.
Cedeno is working with the principal and the school leadership team on the application. “We’re all collaborating and creating the best proposal so that our school can get the funding that we need for next year,” she said.
Elechi Osueke, the chapter leader at PS 136 in St. Albans, Queens, said staff at her school are on board with the proposal to add one class per grade from kindergarten through grade 5 and cluster teachers. The upper grades currently have close to 30 students in each class, she said.
“This funding would open up six new spots, and that’s exciting that we can get teachers, we can train them and we can do more as a school,” she said.
The state class size law requires that city public schools reduce their class sizes by September 2028 to a maximum of 20 in kindergarten through 3rd grade, 23 for grades 4-8 and 25 for high school.
About 600 principals reported to the DOE last spring that their schools have additional space that could be used to comply with the class size law, so the union decided to focus on that group first.