A key education advocacy group is asking the state to force New York City public schools into revising this year’s class size plan.
In a 23-page letter to the New York State Education Department, Class Size Matters on Monday declared the plan devoid of strategies — in budgeting, staffing or space — that would enable schools to shrink classrooms as the law is phased in.
“The document submitted to the state does not constitute an actual plan in the proper sense of the word, since none of the feeble measures taken so far or outlined in the document would give anyone confidence that DOE intends to … comply with the law,” said Leonie Haimson, the group’s executive director.
The painstaking memo — almost half the length of the original class size plan itself — marked the second time Class Size Matters urged the state to intervene in what Haimson suggested was poor planning for the new requirements. Another organization, the Education Law Center, later sent a letter of its own backing Haimson’s group.
The state law, which applies only to New York City, requires class sizes stay below 20 to 25 students, depending on their grade level. By this fall, 40% of classrooms have to meet the caps. City schools Chancellor David Banks has lauded smaller class sizes as a “worthy goal” — but warned they “do not have the funding to get to 100% compliance in 2028,” when limits are fully phased in.
According to Haimson, this year’s plan does not estimate how many teachers will be hired next year to lower class sizes, nor does it publicly identify schools that lack space or ways to create capacity at those programs. And while Banks has opposed capping enrollment — a concern that has fueled opposition to the law among families at top schools — delays could force students to transfer when the law is fully phased in, she warned.
A rep for the local public schools defended this year’s plan as comprehensive, highlighting a $137 million investment in smaller classrooms at high-poverty schools with space — plus an extra $45 million that can be used for that purpose.
“We are in compliance with the law, and will we continue to work with our union partners on implementing the plan for continued compliance in the coming year, a plan we collaborated on and jointly approved,” said press secretary Nathaniel Styer.
Last year, state education Commissioner Betty Rosa withheld aid for a couple of weeks because the plan was out of compliance, requiring local education officials to answer several questions — they have disputed Rosa’s characterization of events, describing it as a standard process to receive the funds.
Rosa eventually approved the report in mid-December, releasing $384 million back to the city. With the funding, she wrote to Banks suggesting there was more work to be done.
“It is imperative for the city and its stakeholder groups to complete a more comprehensive assessment,” Rosa wrote on Dec. 18, “and to identify the detailed, actionable items in the class size reduction plan.”
The State Education Department confirmed it received the letter on Monday, as the overarching plan remained under review.