July 29, 2021 7:04 PM Exciting news! This morning, the City Council announced a new bill that would require radically smaller class sizes starting in the fall of 2022, by amending the NYC administrative code to allow only one student per 35 square feet of classroom space, on health and safety grounds. This would only […]
Earlier today, City Council Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger and Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced and introduced legislation which would effectively reduce class sizes by updating NYC’s Administrative Code. The bill (Int. No. 2374) will raise the minimum per person classroom space to 35 square feet per student from the current 20 square feet for grades […]
July 29, 2021 The DOE is holding borough hearings on their proposed Contracts for Excellence plan from Aug. 2-Aug. 5 at 6:30 PM. The location of these hearings and the proposed plan are posted here. You can also send your comments on the plan by emailing ContractsForExcellence@schools.nyc.gov Below are some questions you can ask and […]
Update: The DOE has now posted a School Allocation Memo 49 with guidance for this $18 million class size reduction “pilot” in 72 elementary schools, as well as a spreadsheet listing actual amounts per school. [The spreadsheet allotments only add up to $14.3 million, but perhaps that’s because the DOE is covering the rest of […]
July 8, 2021 Instead of the $250 million the City Council proposed should be invested in lowering class size, Mayor de Blasio would agree to only $18 million, for a “pilot” project in a few schools. This despite the fact that there will be a crying need for smaller classes next year, both for social […]
July 20, 2021 Late Friday, the DOE finally posted a schedule for Contract for Excellence (C4E) borough hearings, in response to a letter from Wendy Lecker of the Ed Law Center and I sent nearly a month ago, urging them to schedule timely hearings and to take public input seriously in their plan, as the […]
See our letter written with the Education Law Center to the DOE Chancellor about the need to hold prompt hearings to gain input from parents and others on how the C4E funding will be spent next year. This public input is legally required and is especially critical now, given that our schools are finally getting […]
NYC educators, parents, students, elected officials explain how class size has a profound impact on learning and the quality of education, especially for disadvantaged and high needs students, and that for the sake of true equity, class sizes should be reduced in NYC and nationwide. If you agree, please sign our petition to the […]
On Sat. May 22, 2021, we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC and Teens Take Charge, to brainstorm on how parents, educators and students would like the $8B in additional federal and state funds should be spent to meet our students’ needs. Thanks to all her participated! Our terrific keynote […]
May 15, 2021 Please send a letter today to your State Legislators by clicking here, urging them to sign onto S.6296 , introduced by Sen. Robert Jackson, and A.7447 , introduced by Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, to update and renew NYC’s commitment to lower class size in all grades – especially now our schools are […]
You’re invited! Class Size Matters will hold our annual Skinny Awards on Wednesday, June 12th. You can sign up for the event here.
Talk out of School radio show and podcast airs Sunday night at 7 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM or online at www.wbai.org when Leonie Haimson and Daniel Alicea interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
We held our annual Skinny award dinner Wed. June 28, 2023, honoring Rep. Jamaal Bowman, former Bronx principal and now a progressive trailblazer who is fighting in Congress to protect and improve our public schools. More photos on Facebook .
