State Sen. John Liu (D-Bayside), chair of the state Senate’s Committee on NYC Education, introduced a bill on June 1 to extend the deadlines of New York City’s class size mandate. The legislation was expected to pass both the state Senate and Assembly on June 4, according to a press release from Liu’s office.
The 2022 law requires 80 percent of city classrooms to limit enrollment to 20 to 25 students by the 2026-27 school year, with the full mandate in place by 2027-28. Liu’s bill would lower the first-year compliance threshold to 70 percent and push full implementation back to 2029-30, adding roughly two years to the original timeline; the revised schedule calls for 10 percent more classrooms to comply each year after that initial benchmark. Mayor Mamdani, whose administration released a $124.7 billion budget in May, has said the extension could save the city $500 million.
“The legal timetable will be extended by two years, empowering the Mamdani administration to at long last bring all NYC class sizes down to state and national norms of teacher/student ratios,” Liu said in a statement from his office. “This amendment to state law is respondent [sic] to clear and accountable teacher recruitment and classroom construction plans developed by the Mamdani administration to be fulfilled within the mayor’s current term of office.”
The United Federation of Teachers, which represents the city’s public school educators, accepted the timeline shift but raised concerns, as Queens Chronicle reported. “We did not want an extension – we want compliance,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement. “But the reality is that New York City, up until now, had not done all that was needed to make this law a reality in every classroom. If giving this new administration two more years gets us a partner committed to building the necessary seats, then it is the fastest way to turn the law into reality.”
To meet even the revised 70 percent threshold by September, union officials said exemptions allowed under state law will still be required. All parties agreed to an accountability mechanism tied to those exemptions: in certain cases where the city issues an exemption, educators in the affected classrooms will be eligible for additional pay, though further details about the differential were not released. Mulgrew said the union hopes the added compensation will incentivize “the recruitment, hiring, and construction needed to fulfill the law.”
Featured image: Bushwick Daily image
