NYC Students Return to Largest Classes in State as Coalition Turns in Petitions to Reduce Class Sizes

September 8, 2005 - New York City students start off a new year today by returning to schools with the largest classes in the state. New Yorkers for Smaller Classes – a coalition of groups representing parents, teachers, civic and faith-based organizations – marked the occasion by turning in to the City Clerk today an additional 35,000 signatures on petitions in a continuation of its bid to force the city to reduce class sizes to levels comparable to those found in the rest of New York State.

Earlier this year New Yorkers for Smaller Classes launched a petition drive to change the City Charter to require that at least 25% of money anticipated from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case be spent to reduce the number of students in all classes grades K through 12. In July, the coalition submitted more than 71,000 petition signatures to the City Clerk. In August, the City Clerk certified that petitions submitted contained a sufficient number of valid signatures, but the Corporation Counsel ruled that the proposed amendment was legally “invalid” and not appropriate to appear on the ballot this November or at any future date. The coalition has already filed a lawsuit challenging the Corporation Counsel’s ruling. Meanwhile, the coalition has continued collecting signatures on petitions in order to satisfy the legal requirement that an additional 15,000 valid signatures be submitted by early September for voters to place a proposed charter amendment on the ballot.

Lillian Rodriguez-Lopez, President of the Hispanic Federation and Chair of New Yorkers for Smaller Classes, said, “More than 100,000 New Yorkers have voiced their support and the City Council passed a resolution in support of our class size ballot initiative. It’s unfortunate that this administration continues to obstruct the will of New Yorkers on an issue of such importance to our children’s education and the future of this city.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said, "It's no surprise to me that we've been able to collect more than 100,000 signatures in an effort to put this crucial issue to the voters. City Hall should join us, rather than thwart our efforts to give voters a chance to decide to use CFE money to cut class sizes so they are the same as the rest of the state."

Hazel N. Dukes, President of the New York State Conference of NAACP Branches said “For more than 20 years our elected officials have neglected to act to reduce our ridiculously high class sizes. With these petitions and our court challenge we fight for the right of voters to decide whether class sizes should be lowered in all grades so that, someday soon, NYC children will have the same opportunity to succeed as children in the rest of the state.”

Yesterday the Independent Budget Office released data showing that, during the past 3 years under mayoral control, class sizes in grades K-3 have not decreased appreciably, despite declining enrollment. The IBO figures show that class sizes in grades K-3 overall shrunk just 2% over the past 3 years, while student enrollment in those grades decreased by almost 6% during the same period. Results for some individual grades were even worse. Kindergarten classes did not decrease in size at all during the past 3 years, despite a 2% decline in enrollment, while 1st grade classes went down barely one-half of a percent in spite of a 4% decrease in student population in that grade since 2002.

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said, “As the IBO data from yesterday reveal, progress in this city in reducing class size has slowed to a crawl. After dropping off my 2nd grader this morning to his class of 26, I can tell you that there’s nothing parents care more about than reducing class size. Obviously, over 100,000 New Yorkers agreed with us that New York City children deserve better.”

New York City has the largest class sizes in the state, exceeding statewide averages by 10% to 60%, depending on grade level and the subject. Last September, the UFT filed more than 11,000 grievances for classes that exceeded limits of 34 in a class. More than 10,000 of those classes were in high schools.

At least 32 states and some localities have class size reduction programs or limit class size by law, including Texas, Tennessee, California, and North Carolina,. In 2002, Florida voters amended their state constitution to require smaller classes in all grades.

Because New York City is governed by its charter, the coalition wants to change the charter to require class sizes that are comparable to those in the rest of the state, which average 18 to 22 students, and make sure that at least one-fourth of the $5.6 billion in court-mandated CFE money goes toward smaller classes.