Education

New York City Council considering legislation to lower class sizes

Supporters say the measure would boost the quality of education for students and help mitigate the effects of future health crises.

Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger

Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger John McCarten/New York City Council

The New York City Council is considering legislation that would lower classroom sizes over the next three years – a long-sought measure that supporters are touting as both a public health policy and a way to improve the quality of education. The city Department of Education says classroom sizes are safe as they are.

Given research that shows smaller class sizes improve discipline, boost motivation and improve test scores and grades, parents, teachers and education advocates have called for smaller class sizes for decades. But while much of the conversation around the measures tends to center on the educational benefits, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how having fewer people in a classroom at a time is also a matter of public health. 

The legislation’s supporters say it would address both, but the public health benefit is particularly important at this time given what the city has learned over the course of the past year and half about the importance of adequate ventilation and social distancing in classrooms. With a full return to school this fall looming and the number of cases beginning to creep up again in the city, the topic of lower class sizes is particularly relevant. 

“The more people you put into a room, the greater the ventilation challenges are,” said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, who supports the legislation. “It’s that simple. Less people in a room equals a safer room, and that’s the main push we are doing right now. … I don’t believe that this will be the last health crisis that we have. I don’t think anybody believes that at this point.”

The legislation would update the city’s administrative code and raise the current ratio of around 20 square feet per student in first through 12th grade classrooms to 35 square feet starting in fall 2022. Depending on the size of the room, this would translate into an average classroom ranging from 14 to 21 students. According to the Department of Education, average class sizes ranged from 28 in some high schools to 22 in kindergarten in 2019. 

The new rules wouldn’t just apply to traditional classrooms. They’d also translate to larger school spaces like art, theater and music rooms. 

The bill’s sponsors, Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson unveiled the legislation last Thursday to a surge of public interest. 

Mulgrew said a swell of parents have been reaching out to the United Federation of Teachers in the days since asking what they can do to help get the legislation passed. 

“Prepandemic and after this pandemic, this is the issue. The fact that all the school districts around (the city) have low class sizes, it’s so clear that there is an inequity for the students of New York City,” Mulgrew said. 

If passed by the City Council, as Mulgrew said he believes is likely, the classroom cap would phase in over the course of three years. The Department of Education would be expected to move one third of classrooms into compliance by September 2022, another third by the following September and the final third by fall 2024. 

Treyger said the last time city code was updated to change the number of square feet per student was around 1938 – another time period in which public health took a front seat as the city grappled with concerns about tuberculosis.

 “We are dealing with another major health issue, but this one is even larger in scale and what we are hearing from health experts … is this is going to be an ongoing issue with additional coronaviruses, additional pandemics,” Treyger said. “I think for New York City, we need a permanent solution and a permanent plan and not a piecemeal approach to the public health challenge of our time and what will be a public health challenge of the future as well.”

While the legislation wouldn’t take effect until September 2022, parents have immediate concerns about class sizes and whether they will be a safe place for their children this fall. Current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance recommends students should be separated by 3 feet, but Treyger said not a week goes by where he doesn’t hear from a New York City principal telling him they are unable to comply with the rule because there’s just not enough space.

“I am under no illusion about what many of our schools will be having to deal with come fall. It’s an issue that comes up repeatedly in my conversations,” Treyger said. “This latest public health crisis really inspired us to take a deep look at our city’s past, and it is way past time for us to update our city building code to meet the challenges of our time.”

Changing the city’s administrative code to allow for smaller class sizes would be costly as it would involve the hiring of more teachers and adding additional school seats, but according to Treyger, the city now has access to “a significant amount of federal and state aid,” such as the 100% funding of Fair Student Funding that would better allow it to implement the phase-in plan if passed. Treyger said he doesn’t have specifics yet as to how many more teachers or classrooms would be needed, but the City Council plans to iron out the details once hearings on the legislation begin this fall.

A push to spend $250 million in federal relief funds to hire 2,500 additional teachers fell short during this year’s budget negotiations. An $18 million pilot program was introduced instead that will go toward the hiring of additional teachers at 72 schools with larger than average class sizes.

Over the summer, city officials have continued to assert that all students will be fully in-person this fall. Despite the challenges of the past year, Department of Education officials say there is enough space to safely accommodate all students in-person. 

“We follow a gold-standard approach approved by health experts, and class sizes are capped to ensure every student gets the individual attention and space they need,” said Department of Education spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon in a statement. “We’re making historic investments to hire more teachers, build new instructional space and support smaller class sizes – we will review this proposed legislation.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.