Use court case cash to slash city class sizes

Guest editorial by LILLIAN RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ
NY Daily News, May 31, 2006

Reducing class size is the No. 1 issue for parents, teachers and students. Why? Because it just makes sense.

Years of research have linked smaller classes to greater student performance, lower dropout rates, better attendance, fewer discipline problems and higher teacher morale.

Tennessee's STAR project randomly assigned 6,000 children to large and small classes from kindergarten through third grade — and found that not only did students in small classes receive better grades and test scores, but they were less likely to be held back and more likely to graduate high school when they got older.

A study done for the U.S. Department of Education linked smaller classes in the upper grades with lower rates of school violence and higher student achievement.

And smaller classes can help attract and retain quality teachers in public schools, a fact that should be of particular interest in New York City, where teacher turnover is the highest in the state.

Given such clear benefits, why is it necessary for the United Federation of Teachers and New Yorkers for Smaller Classes — a coalition of parents, community leaders, clergy, labor unions and teachers — to launch a $1million campaign to try to let voters decide if they want to spend 25% of any money from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case to lower class sizes?

Because City Hall doesn't give smaller class sizes anywhere near as much priority as do parents, teachers and students. Class sizes in New York City remain 10% to 60% above the rest of the state. In sequential math 1, a Regents course, there are 20 students per class in the rest of the state. The average in New York City is 33 - 63% larger.

Yet the mayor wants to spend just 2% of any Campaign for Fiscal Equity funds on reducing class size.

Of course there are many other important educational reforms, such as offering full-day prekindergarten, putting quality teachers in every class and focusing on low-performing schools. These were among the recommendations made last year by the City Council's Commission on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, headed by former Chancellor Anthony Alvarado and co-chaired by Arthur Levine, outgoing president of Teachers College, Columbia University.

But even taking those other priorities into account, the commission recommended spending 14% to lower class size - much closer to our suggestion and far above the mayor's 2% proposal. That's why it was so surprising to read Levine's criticism of the UFT and, by extension, New Yorkers for Smaller Classes, for wanting to increase the investment.

We want City Hall to let voters decide whether new school funding should be spent as the court intended: to provide our children with the same class sizes as students in the rest of the state. The other 75% of any Campaign for Fiscal Equity funds can be invested in many other important reforms. Ultimately, none of those improvements will matter if we don't reduce class size.

Rodriguez-Lopez is chairwoman of New Yorkers for Smaller Classes.

Originally published on May 31, 2006