PS, we’ve got too many kids. Teachers rally citywide for smaller class sizes.

by Erin Einhorn Daily News Staff Writer

Kids and their parents arriving for school yesterday were greeted all over the city by chanting teachers waving picket signs.

The teachers aren't on strike - just striking a political chord for the smaller class sizes that they say are necessary to improve education.

"It's common sense," said reading teacher Denia Walters, who rallied with students and colleagues outside Public School 126 on the lower East Side yesterday.

"The most important thing you can do for a child is address their individual needs . . . That can only happen in small classes."

The rallies - which the city teachers union says took place in all five boroughs, at elementary, middle and high schools - were the first stage of a $1 million teachers union campaign to push the issue.

Union President Randi Weingarten, who led yesterday's demonstrations at PS 126 and nearby PS 1, said her members will also be passing out leaflets around the city and funding TV ads.

The teachers support a proposed ballot referendum that would let city voters set aside for class-size reduction a hunk of proceeds from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, which found that Albany shortchanges city kids.

Mayor Bloomberg has said that spending decisions rest with City Hall, not with voters, and has blocked the referendum - sending that matter to the courts as well.

Yesterday, the city Education Department issued a statement saying it has already reduced class sizes - even without a lawsuit windfall.

"We have reduced or contained average class size at every elementary and middle grade level," department spokeswoman Kelly Devers said in the statement.

The teachers union contract currently dictates a ratio of no more than 34 kids to a teacher in high school, with lower limits for earlier grades.