Hochul approves amended class-size cap for city schools despite Adams’ opposition

ALBANY — Gov. Hochul signed off on a measure Thursday capping class sizes in the city’s public schools after lawmakers agreed to extend the deadline for implementing the new rule for one year.

The governor approved the bill over objections raised by Mayor Adams about the costs associated with limiting the number of students per classroom.

Under the new law, the number of kids in each classroom will be capped between 20 to 25 depending on the grade by 2028, a year later than the initial bill called for. Current limits allow for a max of 30 to 34 kids for most grade levels.

The measure, approved by the Democrat-led Legislature in June, was passed as part of a package of education bills that also included the extension of mayoral control of city schools for only two years after Adams petitioned for at least four.

The mayor and city school officials had pushed the governor in recent months to abandon the mandate, arguing that additional funds would be needed to carry out the class cap.

Schools Chancellor David Banks publicly backed Adams’ opposition, and the city Education Department estimated that the class-size reduction could cost $500 million a year for elementary schools alone.

Banks over the summer called the legislation a “multibillion-dollar unfunded mandate.”

Bill sponsor Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) applauded Hochul for approving the measure and said the mayor’s fears are unfounded since the state recently increased foundation aid and other education spending for the city.

“The city is receiving $1.6 billion more state funding annually toward this purpose, and must stop with nonsensical rhetoric claiming ‘unfunded mandate’ and just get stuff done,” Liu said.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew also heaped praise on the governor, noting that several studies have demonstrated the benefits of lower class sizes.

“For decades, New York City parents and teachers have been fighting for lower class sizes,” he said in a statement. “We now have something to celebrate.”

The teachers union is projecting that the city will have to hire an additional 2,000 teachers in each of the five years of the phase-in period in order to have enough staff to comply with the class-size mandate. Complying with the plan would cost the city roughly $200 million extra per year each of the five years, peaking at an additional billion dollars per year by full implementation, according to the union’s analysis.

The new class-size rules will be particularly challenging for some of the city’s most overcrowded schools, like Francis Lewis High School in Queens, where the school day is already extended so that students can attend schools in shifts. Mulgrew said the law could force the city to base decisions about where to construct new buildings based on need rather than scoring political points.

“It’s a simple thing. If you have a school that’s really overenrolled, the city has to put together a plan to create an annex, another building,” repurpose existing space in the building.

Some parents have expressed concerns that the law would require the DOE to cap admissions at some of the city’s most in-demand schools, many of which are also among the most overcrowded.

But Mulgrew said “we’re not going to lower the class sizes by not allowing kids to come to that building.”