The New York City Department of Education announced on Tuesday (May 28th) the new compliance plan for the 2024-25 school year for the small class system, requiring classrooms in each school district to increase by 3% to meet the small class system standards. To achieve this goal, New York City is immediately investing $182 million in public schools.
Principals have the flexibility to choose strategies to achieve this goal, including using the new funds to hire teachers, repurpose space, optimize teacher schedules, reallocate existing funds, and even utilize online teaching methods.
According to the Department of Education’s small class requirements, by September 2028, the class size in all public schools must be limited to between 20 and 25 students. Data released by the Department of Education shows that schools in the Bronx district have the highest compliance rate, reaching as high as 54%, while Staten Island has the most overcrowded classrooms with only 24% meeting the standards. Popular schools have 62% of classrooms meeting or fewer students than the required number, while schools with lower demand have more students per class, with only 25% meeting the standard.
“We have outlined clear and feasible steps in the 2024-25 school year to reduce class sizes,” said David Banks, the New York City Schools Chancellor, in a statement. “In addition, we are providing strong teacher recruitment support for high-need schools by allocating $182 million in funding.”
The Department of Education estimates that to fully implement the small class system plan by the 2027-28 school year, New York City will need additional space in a total of 540 schools, and will need to hire between 10,000 and 12,000 teachers, including over 3,000 special education teachers.
In 2022, the New York State Legislature passed the New York City Class Size Reduction Law, setting new limits on class sizes in public schools in the city. The law sets specific compliance standards for the next five years, starting from a compliance rate of 20% for the 2023-24 school year, increasing to 40% for the 2024-25 school year, and reaching full compliance by 2027-28. Based on current progress, New York City’s public schools have already exceeded the plan set for 2025.
Since the introduction of this law, parent organizations have held opposition. The public school parent advocacy organization, “PLACE NYC,” led the way with an open letter opposing the setting of enrollment caps on class sizes.
On the 28th, Jean Hahn, the Vice Chair of “PLACE NYC,” commented on the Department of Education’s new plan on the X platform, saying: “Remember the unprecedented education crisis caused by online teaching two years ago that profoundly affected an entire generation? Well, it’s back in New York City, which leads the nation in education investment per student, reaching up to $38,000 per person.”
She continued by attributing this situation to State Senator John Liu, Chair of the State Senate Education Committee, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and the “Class Size Matter” organization for pushing for smaller class sizes in New York City public schools.