Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Mayor Adams reverses course on NY education law, paving way for smaller classrooms
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 9, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Department of Education
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 9, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
After years of saying New York City did not have the money to meet the mandates of a state law lowering class sizes, Mayor Eric Adams changed his tune Wednesday, announcing his administration will support 750 public schools in shrinking their classroom headcounts.
Under the state law passed in 2022, 60% of schools are required to meet the new limits by September. Classes from kindergarten through third grade are capped at 20 students, fourth through eighth grade at 23 students, and high school classes at 25 students.
“We will comply with the law,” Adams said, calling the new funding “a game-changer.”
All classrooms must meet the new limits by fall 2028.
Parents have been lobbying for smaller classes in the city for decades. In overcrowded schools, classes can reach upward of 30 students.
“I know how important reducing the class size is and it’s the best way to help our students learn,” Adams said. “It is clearly the best way for our children to thrive.”
His remarks amounted to a significant about-face from the administration.
“To fully implement this law, we need the funding necessary to hire additional teachers and build additional classrooms — there is no magical pot of money available,” then-education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said in December 2023.
The cap on class size also faced fierce pushback from parents, who worried the limits would result in their children being shut out of some of the city's most highly regarded and sought-after schools. They also feared libraries and labs will have to be converted to make space for additional classrooms.
In 2023, a special education department working group on class sizes became so deeply divided on the issue that dissenters issued their own “minority report” arguing the law had the potential to cause “significant disruption” at schools.
Adams said the city will hire 3,700 teachers at 750 schools throughout the city for the coming academic year. The money will go to schools that submitted proposals for reducing class sizes last fall.
“There were a lot of doubters out there for years. I remember quite a few editorials being written about myself and my union, saying this couldn’t be done,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said. “We are making the impossible possible.”
Leonie Haimson, who has been fighting for years for smaller classes through her group Class Size Matters, praised the move to hire more teachers.
But she remained worried about a space crunch. She said the School Construction Authority must allocate funds for thousands of additional seats, and the city must consider capping enrollment at some schools.
“It’s great that many schools are receiving funding to hire teachers to lower class size next year, yet about 500 schools that enroll nearly half of all students do not have space for smaller classes, and [the Department of Education] has refused to take positive steps to ensure that they will have more space in the future,” she said.
The pledge for more funding for schools comes as Adams runs for re-election as an independent.
The education department did not immediately provide the exact amount of money allocated for the additional hires. The city’s Independent Budget Office has said the city would need to hire 17,700 teachers at an annual cost of $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion to fully comply with the law.
The announcement comes as advocates and city council members are negotiating the next city budget, decrying potential cuts to early childhood education, arts and community schools. Those talks are likely to be complicated by cuts in federal funding, as well as President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Tagged
new york city
education
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .