The NYC class size advisory group is recommending enrollment caps at overcrowded schools, despite concerns from some parents who say it will reduce access to popular schools and programs that could include AP and honors or dual language classes.
The commission, which released a 55-page report this week, suggested the city consult school communities and adjust enrollment if there are programs with lower students populations nearby.
The recommendations came after “considerable debate” over whether certain schools should be exempt from new limits if they’re historically high-achieving and have parent approval, according to the final guidance.
A subcommittee focused on enrollment ultimately voted against the exemption.
Under a recent state law, class sizes will be limited to 25 students or fewer depending on grade level after a phase-in period of five years, during which an additional fifth of classrooms have to comply each fall.
“By more evenly allocating enrollment across all schools, this could save billions of dollars in school construction funds,” read the report. “In addition, it would benefit schools in other important ways. It would allow overcrowded schools to not only lower class size more easily. This could also lead to more diversity across elementary and middle schools.”
Schools with the highest percentages of Black and Hispanic students tend to be underutilized in those grade bands, while those with more white and Asian students are more likely to be overcrowded, according to the report.
The enrollment debate — as well as concerns over the cost of implementation and whether it will funnel money away from the city’s neediest schools that tend to be less crowded — led nine parents, advocates and researchers on the 46-member panel to disagree with the majority’s findings, many of which were shared for public comment in September.
The split revealed divisions on the commission that had been growing since the spring, and finally delaying the publication of the recommendations by 41 days to the start of this week. It also reflects unexpected backlash to an otherwise popular education reform of fewer students per teacher, while local public schools are losing federal pandemic aid and facing city budget cuts.
While the working group urged education officials not to “eliminate” access to programming that may also include gifted and talented classes and electives, some dissenters believe the guidance does not go far enough and publicly released a report of their own Tuesday.
The group, mostly comprised of members of Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education, or PLACE, said the majority report failed to consider potential program cuts as the law is implemented, and as a result missed out on the chance to give feedback on education priorities during tight fiscal times.
They objected to enrollment caps at sought-after programs and worried that the benefits of class size reduction could be negated if the school system needs to hire lower-quality teachers to reach its projections of 9,000 new teachers to comply with the law, plus thousands more to backfill attrition.
The minority report also raises concerns about the time line of the law, as between 160 and 200 schools or expansion projects, according to the city’s tally, would need to be built within five years under the regulations as they’re currently written.
Leonie Haimson, executive director of the advocacy group Class Size Matters, recognizes that implementation of the law will require time and urged the school system to not dally. She and the nonprofit Alliance for Quality Education earlier this month asked the state to intervene in what they fear is the city’s intent to dodge the state law, as class sizes continue to grow in the city, not shrink.
“Given these actionable proposals — many of them cost-free — the chancellor no longer has any excuse for delay,” Haimson said. “He needs to start putting in place changes to budgeting, enrollment planning and the capital plan, or else it will be extremely unlikely that the schools will be able to comply with the class size law starting next year.”
“If the [Education Department] really cares about following the law and the goal of providing all NYC students with a better opportunity to learn, the time for action is now,” she said.
Apart from adjusting enrollment, the panel’s key proposals also include renovations to existing school space and plans for construction, and teacher recruitment incentives in harder to staff areas of the city.
Preschool classrooms could also be moved out of traditional public school buildings to make space — a change that they estimated could free up more than 450 classrooms in public schools.
Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, one of the working group members who did not sign on to the report, said it failed to address the tradeoffs for both the Education Department and the broader municipal budget if city funding is redirected toward class size reduction.
“Fully complying with this law is a massive undertaking,” said Rein, “and added resources are unavailable.”
“Class size reduction can really help certain students the most, but there are tradeoffs. If we know how important mental health programs are or summer school is for some students, or specific special education programs, we have to be very careful that we don’t deprioritize some things that we know are critical to student learning,” he said.
The final report included guidance related to special education, including that enrollment staffers ensure students with disabilities can attend schools in their home district, and not have to travel long distances as a result of the law.
“Resigning ourselves to the belief that reducing class sizes is an insurmountable challenge is defeatist and serves no one,” said Johanna Garcia, co-chairwoman of the working group and chief of staff for state Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan), “especially not our students.”
The working group’s recommendations are not binding, but will be considered by city Schools Chancellor David Banks and other top education officials as the law’s phase-in continues through 2028.
“It is crucial to clarify that these are not official recommendations from New York City Public Schools,” public schools spokesman Nathaniel Styer told reporters. “Instead, they are suggestions developed by the working group for the chancellor’s consideration.”
