After a huge citywide push driven by school chapter leaders, roughly 800 New York City public schools applied for funding to lower class sizes next school year.
“The sheer volume of applications alone dispels the myth that reducing class size in city schools is too difficult a task to take on,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “When members took the lead, we proved undeniably both the desire and the ability to transform city classrooms with the new state law.”
The 2022 class size law requires that New York 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. The new limits are being phased in over five years. Next September, 60% of classes citywide must be in compliance. Currently, 46% of classrooms citywide are under the new limits.
Chapter leaders worked with their school leadership team and their principal to put together a plan for using available space in their school to reduce class sizes. Schools had until Dec. 20, 2024, to submit the plans.
Representatives from the UFT, the city Department of Education and the principals’ union have spent weeks reviewing and scoring the applications based on common criteria. Schools should find out by March if they have been selected for funding and for how much.
For schools whose applications are chosen, the additional money they receive will be recurring from year to year unless there is a citywide financial crisis.
For schools that could not apply for funding due to space constraints, the union is going to push the city to align its capital plan with the implementation of the state law so schools that don’t have the space can increase building capacity.