Class Size Matters & AQE urge State Education Department to require DOE submit a class size corrective action plan

Yesterday, Class Size Matters and AQE sent a letter to the State Education Commissioner, urging them to demand that DOE produce a class size corrective action plan, as it is clear that they have taken no steps to allow them to comply with the law.  Our press release is  below.  A Daily News article about our letter is here.

For immediate release: Dec 1, 2023
Contact: Leonie Haimson: leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329
Julia Watson: julia@aqeny.org;  978-518-0729

Class Size Matters & Alliance for Quality Education urge State Education Commissioner to demand that NYC produce a corrective action plan with steps to lower class size

Yesterday, Nov. 20, Class Size Matters and the Alliance for Quality Education send a letter to Commissioner Rosa of the NY State Education Department, urging her to require that the NYC Department of Education submit a corrective action plan to show they intend to take actual steps to comply with the new class size law, passed by the State Legislature in June 2022 and signed into law in September 2022 by Governor Hochul..  That letter is posted here.

The law requires that the DOE implement a plan to phase in smaller class limits starting this fall, with 20% of more classes adhering to these limits over the next five years, so that by the end of the 2027-28 school year, all academic core classes must comply.

Yet on November 15, the class size data  for the current school year was released , showing a significant increase in average class sizes across all grade levels. For  elementary and middle schools, this was the second year of increases.  At the same time, the data shows that the percentage of core academic classes that meet the caps in the class size law has fallen from 41.4% two years ago, to only 36.9% this year.  At this rate, the DOE will not make the 40% legal requirement next year, no less the 60-100% requirements in years three to five.

Rather than take this as a warning sign to do better, the DOE appears to be  doing everything possible to ensure that class sizes continue to grow. They are consistently cutting school budgets, with more than 600 schools facing mid-year cuts, and more than a billion dollars to be slashed from the DOE budget over the  next two years. The DOE has also cut $2 billion and more than 20,000 seats from the new proposed five-year capital plan, and for the first time ever, and in violation of the class size law, more than 70% of these seats remain unidentified as to district or grade level.  The DOE also sent a message to principals this week, telling them to “not request changes to their register projections for the 2024-25 school year in anticipation of future implementation of the new class size law.”

Said Leonie Haimson, the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, “DOE officials have made it very clear that they do  not intend to make any of the necessary changes in funding, enrollment or the capital plan that would make it possible for schools to lower class size to the mandated levels.  In fact, they are moving in the entirely wrong direction, with brutal budget cuts to school staffing and the capital plan, which if enacted, will inevitably lead to even higher class sizes. That’s why we are asking the State Education Department to step in quickly to demand that they submit a corrective action plan showing how they will take immediate steps to meet the class size requirements in the law starting next year and the years to come.”

As Marina Marcou-O’Malley, the Co-Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education pointed out, “Since the passage of the class size law in 2022, New York City has not only failed to make progress on reducing overcrowding in classrooms, but average class sizes have actually risen. With the Mayor’s cuts, there’s a good chance that, absent outside pressure from the state, class sizes will continue to rise — even as the city continues receiving funding from New York State precisely to help meet students’ needs including the benchmark class size reduction goals. New York City needs to be required to submit a clear plan for how it is going to reverse this trend, beginning with this year.”

###