Urge your Council Member to require DOE to provide sufficient space for smaller classes!

May 13, 2025

1. The NYC Council Education and Finance Committees are holding a hearing on the DOE budget and the School Capital Plan a week from today on Tuesday May 20; you can sign up here to testify. The hearing begins at 10 AM but public testimony won’t start until the afternoon and you can testify remotely.

Please also email your Council Member TODAY about the need for DOE to provide a capital plan that provides sufficient space to lower class size in overcrowded schools by clicking here.

Right now, there are at least 500 schools that do not have sufficient space to meet the class size caps in the law, according to DOE; and our analysis reveals that these schools enroll nearly half of all non-District 75 students.

The School Construction Authority testified in March that they would need to build 70,000 more seats to comply with the law; though less than half that number are actually funded in the five-year Capital plan. Of the seats funded, only about half are even identified as to district or grade level. We believe the shortage of seats and the lack of transparency violate the state class size law and Local Law 167, passed by the Council in 2014.

Nor has the DOE adjusted enrollment between nearby schools to create more space or implemented any of the other numerous recommendations made by the Class Size Working Group to relieve overcrowding, so that all kids who need smaller classes can receive them.

So please email your Council Member today – and feel free to revise the message by describing the situation in your own child’s school, or the one at which you teach, including whether it is one of the 500 schools that DOE says do not have enough space.

2. On Thursday May 22 at 6 PM, a forum will be held to ask the Mayoral candidates what changes they would make to our schools if elected. The forum will be held uptown, at the historic Morris Jumel mansion, 65 Jumel Terrace. Class Size Matters is one of the co-sponsors. Space is limited so reserve your seat now!