Resolution Urging the DOE to Implement a Multi-year Plan that will Provide All NYC Students with the Benefits of Smaller Classes

Nov. 2024 – updated Jan. 2025

We have drafted the following resolution for CECs, Community Boards and other groups to consider, urging the DOE to create and implement a actual multi-year class size plan, that would enable schools to cap enrollment at lower levels if that will be  necessary for them to cap class sizes at the required levels, and for the DOE to accelerate the construction of more schools. 

You should feel free to shorten the reso and/or make any changes you like to the resolution.  If  you would like help in adding school or district data,  or would like a briefing to explain these issues in more depth, email us at i[email protected].     In any case, please inform us if you pass this or a similar reso.

• Whereas, in June 2022, the state passed a law requiring NYC to phase in class size caps over  five years to 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  in high school classes, except for physical education and performing art classes to be capped at forty students per class;
• Whereas, only [x%] of classes in [your district] schools are in classes that comply with the caps in the law this year;
• Whereas, the DOE has now put forward a proposal for the third year of this phase-in, in which 60% of classes must meet these limits;
• Whereas, the proposal calls for allowing principals, in consultation with their School Leadership Teams,  to apply for funds for more teachers, but only  if they have the space for smaller classes;
• Whereas, no specific total funding is mentioned in this proposal that would allow schools to hire more teachers, and none is provided for the creation of more  classroom space;
• Whereas, in fact DOE has told principals they cannot ask for lower enrollments even if that is necessary for their schools to lower class size to the mandated levels;
• Whereas, 324,000 students were enrolled in overcrowded schools last school year, about 6,000 more students than the year before, according to data in the SCA Blue Book;
• Whereas more than half or 56% of districts saw an increase in their average elementary school utilization rate last year, including in [your district if true];
• Whereas more than half of the principals who responded to a DOE survey last year said they did not have enough space to lower class size to mandated levels (650 out of 1280 respondents);
• Whereas, according the estimation of DOE officials,  nearly 500 schools that enroll nearly half of all students do not currently have the space to lower class size, including x schools in [your district];
• Whereas the DOE and SCA have made no effort to accelerate the construction of schools even in the most overcrowded areas, as the Class Size Working Group proposed, and instead cut the budget for new capacity by $2.5 billion after the class size law was passed;
• Whereas the DOE and SCA restored funding for new school capacity in July 2024 by $2B due to an insistence by the state legislature, but because of past cuts, a declining number of new seats will be available over the next three years, with only x number of school seats in [ your district];
• Whereas, the DOE and SCA also refuse to disclose where 70% of school seats that are currently funded will be sited as to district, subdistrict or grade level, and has adopted none of the proposals made by the Class Size Working Group to accelerate the plan for school expansion and construction;
• Whereas, the lack of transparency in the capital plan violates three laws, including state education law EDN § 2590-o, requiring Chancellor to annually prepare an “educational facilities master plan…including a list of prioritized projects to the extent ascertainable and [to] list each proposed new educational facility and set forth a justification, including demographic data, documenting the long term need .”
• Whereas, the lack of transparency also violates the class size law, which states that the DOE must submit an “annual capital plan for school construction and leasing to show how many classrooms will be added in each year and in which schools and districts to achieve the class size targets”
• Whereas the lack of transparency also violates  Local Law 167, that requires the DOE and SCA to provide data to explain where seats are needed,  based on demographic and other trends, by district, subdistrict and grade level, to eliminate overcrowding.
• Whereas, if DOE were to more evenly distribute enrollment between nearby schools, as recommended the Class Size Working Group, this would benefit students at all schools, so that those attending currently over-enrolled schools would be better able to be provided with smaller classes and eat lunch at more appropriate times, while those at currently underutilized schools would be able to be provide a well-rounded education, complete with art, music, advanced courses and more extracurricular opportunities as a result of more funding;
• Whereas, the DOE has now proposed instead that a permanent exemption  be granted to all overcrowded and overenrolled schools, which could deprive half or more of all NYC students from ever receiving the benefits of the smaller classes required by law;
• Be it resolved that [your organization] urges the DOE to allocate at least one third of the funding  needed next year to meet the class size caps over the next three years, so that the ramping up of hiring and recruiting of teachers can proceed in an orderly and rational way;
• Be it resolved that [your organization]  urges the DOE  to ramp up school construction, to alleviate overcrowding , and adopt the recommendations of the Class Size Working Group to allow more schools to have the space to attain the smaller classes required by the law;
• Be it resolved that [your organization]  asks that the DOE allow principals to cap enrollment at lower levels starting next year, especially when there are underutilized schools nearby;
• Be it resolved that the DOE, the UFT and the CSA should not grant permanent exemptions to overcrowded schools, but that the DOE must produce a plan so that all schools can be provided with the space required for smaller classes, by expanding and accelerating new school construction and by adjusting enrollment between nearby schools;
• Be it resolved that the State Education Commissioner should require the DOE to produce an actual multi-year class size plan, demonstrating how sufficient funding and space will be provided over the next three years to allow all NYC schools and all students to benefit from the smaller classes they need and deserve and that are required by law