Mayor Eric Adams secured a partial victory in the State Legislature this week, as lawmakers extended mayoral control over New York City. schools in two years, half of what the mayor was looking for.
But for city officials, the end of the legislative session also brought a major obstacle: the request to reduce class sizes – backed by many parents and teachers but opposed by the city – that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
In addition to controlling the mayor, New York State legislators have passed an invoice on Thursday, that would require the city to reduce the number of students in each classroom across the nation’s largest public school system.
The bill has sparked a half-century of debate, baffling teachers and parents who believe smaller class sizes are better for children against city officials. who point to evidence that there is better and More cost-effective ways to improve education.
The Invoice for class size, proposed Tuesday by Senator John Liu, who is also the author of the mayoral control bill, would require grades kindergarten through third to be no larger than 20 students; classes from grades 4 to 8 have no more than 23 students; upper secondary school class with no more than 25 students.
“There is no reason for New York City to continue to have class sizes significantly larger than the rest of the state,” said Senator Liu.
Classes in New York City are currently limited 25 students for kindergarten classes, 32 students for other elementary grades, 30 to 33 students for middle school classes, and 34 students for high school classes. The average class size is about 24 students in the academic year 2021-2022.
Senator Liu said in a statement that “students and teachers will eventually realize the fruits” of an earlier decision of the courtshows that “reducing class sizes is fundamental to a healthy, basic education.”
But it’s not clear how reducing class sizes might affect student outcomes at New York City schools, says Douglas Ready, professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University, said.
One analysis of many studies found that the learning benefits of small classes were mixed. In general, any student learning interest is related to relatively small classes, much smaller than what is required in the bill.
Mr. Ready said the best evidence in favor of smaller class sizes came from studies in Tennessee and Wisconsin, where the classes studied were between 13 and 17 students.
“We’re talking nowhere near as much as in New York,” Mr. Ready said, adding that the benefits of reducing class sizes depend in part on how large the initial class sizes are. how.
The benefits sometimes outweigh the fact that schools can hire less qualified teachers to meet their goal of reducing class sizes, According to a 2017 study.
“There is no reason to believe the program will have the pedagogical effect people want,” said Andrew Rein, chair of the Citizens Budget Committee, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog. “And it can have unintended negative consequences because the money has to be transferred from other programs.”
David C. Banks, principal of New York City schools, said in a statement that the bill’s “billions of dollars of unresolved mandate” would force school leaders to shift resources. from programs such as dyslexia testing, school nurses, and summer programs.
“Make no mistake, it will result in massive cuts to these critical programs,” Mr Banks said in the statement. “This is not a choice that school leaders have to make.”
Mr. Banks asked state legislators to increase funding for city schools if they commit to smaller class sizes.
School leaders estimate that kindergarten through fifth grade sizes cost at least $500 million a year. The total could be as high as $1 billion a year at all levels of education, education ministry officials said. Estimates include the cost of hiring teachers and opening additional classes in schools.
Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that the proposed law “is not the best thing we can do for New York City students,” arguing that “unless there is secure funding tied to those mandates, we will see cuts elsewhere in the system that will harm us the most vulnerable students in our highest-need communities.”
Teachers and organizations have have long fought for smaller class sizes, and the bill is a win for the United Teachers Union, the city’s teachers union. Michael Mulgrew, the union’s president, called the bill a “landmark achievement” in a statement.
Mulgrew noted that the city could use state and federal pandemic aid to fund class size reductions, which would be “done in phases to avoid budget shocks.” Short-term”.
Federal pandemic aid will run out, but union officials say it could be used to start hiring teachers to reduce class sizes. State funding for city schools, officials have promised to increasecan maintain the program, they suggested.
“The fact that the school system has threatened to cut back on safety, social and health programs – despite these new funds – shows that Tweed has little heed to the call from thousands of parents that their children deserve it. take smaller classes,” Mulgrew said in the statement. , referring to the headquarters of the New York City Department of Education.
Education officials said it would be irresponsible to use federal funding to reduce class sizes, because that funding has a deadline and cuts do not. They added that current state funding was planned for other programs.
Rein said that relying on federal funding would only lead to a “future fiscal crisis.”
Senator Liu said: “I do not dispute their estimate of the cost impact. “The problem with their argument is that we’ve provided more money,” he added, referring to the $1.6 billion per year in additional aid the system is receiving through April 2024.
He said the boost phase ends in April 2024, but New York City schools will receive that funding in perpetuity, as long as state legislators continue to allocate it in the budget. .
The bill calls for cuts to be made over the next five years and that the Department of Education make progress in 20% of the school system’s classrooms each year. And it encourages school officials to prioritize schools that enroll large numbers of low-income students.
Some grades kindergarten through eighth grade had an average of 20 to 25 studentsThis is partly because enrollment rates in the city’s public schools have dropped during the coronavirus pandemic.
