Coalition hails court ruling that class size commission referendum must appear on November 4, 2003 ballot

Statement of Randi Weingarten
New Yorkers for Smaller Classes press conference, October 2003

Today is a great day for kids, for schools, and for New Yorkers.

Last night New York State Supreme Court Justice Louise Gans ruled that the voice of the people should be heard on the issue of class size. She approved the placement on the November ballot of a proposal to form a charter commission to study lower class sizes.

When Question Number 6 on the November ballot passes – and it will pass – the City Council will appoint a blue-ribbon commission to take a thorough look at class sizes in the city, and to evaluate how to lower them on a sustainable basis.

We know that the research is clear – lower class sizes are a reform that works for our schools and our kids.

But how lower class sizes can best be implemented – and how the city can find the money to pay for them – will be the subject of this study.

The commission will look at the fact that class sizes in New York City are from 10 to 60 percent higher than in surrounding areas; at how class size limits have been implemented in other states and cities; and what measures the city and state can take to fund lower class sizes.

Judge Gans’s ruling that the time has come to take a serious look at this critical issue is a great victory. It is a victory for our kids and our schools.

Mayor Bloomberg had disagreed with our position. He had tried to use his “bumping” power to banish us from the ballot. But Justice Gans, in an historic ruling, found that the Mayor’s effort to silence the voice of the people was unconstitutional. In fact, she said, the Mayor’s bumping power is a “severe and discriminatory restriction” of rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Now is the time for us to come together.

The Mayor has indicated that he plans to appeal. We urge him not to do so.

Instead of fighting this decision, Mr. Mayor, why not join us in the fight to pass this proposal?

The people standing with us represent a broad coalition of parents, community groups, unions and others.

We will work in every community in the city in the coming weeks, fighting to get our message out that we can have lower class sizes in our schools.

I want to invite the Mayor to stand with us at street fairs and subway stops, at community markets and union halls, to urge voters to join the more than 115,000 New Yorkers who are already on record on this issue.

Lower class sizes are good for our kids, our schools, and our city. Now is the time to stand together to make them a reality.