Coalition Fighting for Smaller Classes in NYC Schools
Leaflets at Transportation Hubs for Public Support

A broad-based coalition of parents, teachers, education advocates, elected officials, clergy and community groups fanned out to transportation hubs across the city today to ask mass transit riders to support measures to reduce class sizes in New York City public schools.

The coalition, New Yorkers for Smaller Classes, had hundreds of its members greeting thousands of subway and bus riders and passers-by during the evening rush hour with leaflets about a campaign to lower class size, which is 10 to 60 percent higher here than in the rest of the state, depending on grade and subject. The coalition proposes to lower class size using a portion of state funds anticipated from a settlement of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court case, a 13-year legal battle to get New York City its fair share of state education aid. The coalition wants to use 25 percent of the settlement funds to lower class size, but the Bloomberg administration wants only 2 percent used for that purpose.

“Smaller classes produce real results,” said Lillian Rodriguez-Lopez, chair of New Yorkers for Smaller Classes. “They raise student achievement, lower dropout rates and allow teachers to give students the individual attention they need. With so much at stake here, we can’t afford to wait any longer to address this crucial issue.”

“The time to lower class size is now,” said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. “The city plans to use $11 billion in new school construction funds that could result in 107 new schools containing 66,000 new classroom seats, so lack of space will no longer be an excuse. Now is the time to fight for and plan for the investments we know will help our children succeed.”

Earlier actions by coalition members included informational picketing before and after school at public schools across the city on May 18, and today’s leafleting will be followed by a major television ad campaign in coming weeks.