Updated: FAQ on the state’s new class size law
See our Myths vs. Facts sheet for more info. An updated FAQ from Sept. 2024 is here.
Jan.15, 2024
FAQ on the NY Class Size Law
On June 2, 2022, the NY State Legislature passed a bill to by a vote of 59-4 in the Senate and 147-2 in the Assembly that required NYC schools to implement a five-year class size reduction plan beginning in the fall of 2022. On Sept. 8, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law, based upon an agreement that the five-year phase-in period should begin in fall of 2023 instead. This bill is now known as Chapter 556 of the Laws of 2022.
What are the class size benchmarks that the DOE must meet?
The law calls for the phase-in over five years of no more than 20 students per class in grades K-3, no more than 23 students per class in grades 4th-8th, and no more than 25 students per class in high school, except for physical education and physical education and performing groups such as orchestra and band, which will be capped at forty students per class. These are the same class sizes in NYC’s original Contract for Excellence plan that was approved by the NY State Education Department in 2007, yet as class size limits rather than averages and never implemented by the Department of Education.
Each year starting in September 2023, 20 percent of all public school classes must achieve these caps, with an additional 20 percent of classes added each year, until the smaller class sizes are achieved citywide by the end of the 2027-2028 school year. The city’s plan must prioritize schools with high levels of poverty to implement these caps first.
What are the accountability and enforcement mechanisms?
The bill includes an enforcement process tied to funding. The city must submit annual reports by Nov. 15 of each year to show how much funding is being spent on staffing and additional space, and whether they are meeting the class size benchmarks in the law.
If the DOE has not met these benchmarks, the State Education Department may order DOE to develop a corrective action plan to ensure that they meet the goals in the following year, signed off by UFT and the CSA, and certified by the NYC Comptroller as allocating sufficient funding to achieve the plan’s goals. If the city does not adhere to the correction plan, the state can hold back all or a portion of the state Foundation Aid to schools.
Are there enough quality teachers to staff class size reduction?
The DOE has shrunk the overall full-time K12 teaching force by about 4,000 between FY 2019 and FY 2022, and projects the loss of another 3,000 teachers between FY 2024 and FY 2026. It is important for this trend to be reversed to ensure there are sufficient teachers to staff smaller classes.
Roughly 4,000 – 4,500 NYC teachers resign or retire every year, and many cite excessive class sizes as a reason. Class size reduction has been shown to lessen teacher turnover, meaning that smaller classes are likely to lead to a more experienced, effective teaching force over time. The report from the Class Size Working Group has other suggestions on how the teacher pipeline can be strengthened, particularly in shortage areas.
When will planning for class size reduction begin, and what needs to happen?
Planning should have begun as soon as the law was passed in June 2022. Yet instead of increasing school budgets and the capital plan for new construction, DOE is planning on cutting both, making it unlikely that it will meet the 40% requirement of classes making the new caps next year.
While an expanded and accelerated capital plan is needed to provide enough space to lower class size in our most overcrowded districts, DOE and SCA has proposed that the new five-year plan be cut by $2 billion. This is unacceptable, as it takes about five years to site and build a new school, so there is no time to waste.
If enrollment were capped at lower levels at the most overcrowded schools, it would be easier to meet the benchmarks in the law. Too many schools are over 150% capacity and others are severely under-capacity, sometimes sitting close by.
The school funding system must be revamped, either by aligning the Fair Student Funding system with smaller classes or by creating a separate budget allocation to ensure schools can hire sufficient teachers to meet the benchmarks in the law. This is how 3K and PreK classes in public schools are funded, outside the FSF system, to ensure that they meet their legal caps of 15-18 students.
How can you help?
The Class Size Working Group, appointed by the Chancellor to make recommendations on the city’s class size plan, released their report in December 2023. It contain many actionable and cost-effective proposals. We have drafted a resolution, urging the DOE to take action and adopt the proposals in the Class Size Working Group report. Please reach out to your CEC and Community Board and ask them to pass this resolution.
You should also subscribe to the Class Size Matters newsletter at to be alerted to new developments and how you can help. Any questions, please email us at [email protected] Thanks!
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