New Rooms Needed To Reduce Class Size

New York's Campaign for Fiscal Equity released a report on Monday which stated that 2,522 new classrooms will be needed to achieve class size reduction goals in low-performing and overcrowded city schools. There are 408 such schools in New York City, known as "Schools In Need of Improvement" or "Schools Requiring Academic Progress."

The release of the report is the latest development in an ongoing statewide effort to ensure that all New York City schoolchildren have access to quality elementary and secondary education, regardless of where they live or their socioeconomic status.

The report, titled "A Seat of One's Own: Class Size Reduction in the Lowest Performing Schools in New York City," found that while 152 schools have enough space to reduce classroom size without any further intervention on the part of the city or state and 43 could reduce class sizes through rezoning, 122 others will need additional classrooms.

According to CFE Executive Director Geri Palast, the New York State Legislature, along with Governor Eliot Spitzer, has allocated $7 million over the next four years to be spent in five areas, one of which is class-size reduction. Eighty percent of that sum will be distributed through a predetermined, need-based formula.

The targeted class sizes are based on CFE's 2004 Building Requires Immediate Capital for Kids proposal, which recommended a maximum of 20 children per class for kindergarten through fifth grade, 23 per class for sixth through eighth grade, and 24 per class for ninth through 12th grade. These were the statewide averages, excluding New York City, for the 2000-2001 school year.

CFE is trying to "create what I think is a very common sense approach to this," Palast said. "We understand there is limited ability, you can't just build and build and build—so let's focus on a third of the schools in the most difficult and vulnerable positions, and look at what's available to serve them now, and what are the steps we need to take to serve them in the future."

The report acknowledged the "complexity and size of the New York City school system," and called for a phased reduction over the next five years, based on "the new legal imperative that class sizes must first be reduced for the most educationally at-risk students."

The report called on the Department of Education and other officials to focus first on reducing class sizes in the 152 schools with existing capacity, and then to develop a five-year plan to do the same in the schools that will need new classrooms.

"What we're saying is to create a plan over time to reduce class sizes, and here's a road map to do it," Palast said. "Let's look at these 152 schools where you can take immediate action. If you need to rezone ... there may be political fights because people may or may not want to be rezoned, so that may take a little longer."

CFE is a non-profit coalition that aims to "reform New York State's school finance system to ensure adequate resources and the opportunity for a sound basic education for all students in New York City," according to the organization's official Web site.

Several organizations, including the United Federation of Teachers, the Alliance for Quality Education, the Coalition for Educational Justice, and the Council of School Supervisors, have come out in support of CFE's initiative.

Maggie Astor can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.