"Shortly before taking office, Mamdani reversed course on a campaign pledge to end mayoral control after political and education experts argued he'd need full authority to implement his universal child care plan. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, had said he wanted to give teachers and families more say."
"Now, the mayor is getting schooled again in his push to bring New York City into compliance with a 2022 state law that would reduce class sizes to 25 students or fewer depending on grade level. Smaller classes are popular among families and teachers, and have been credited with better outcomes, especially for low-income students."
"Facing a $5 billion-plus budget deficit, administration officials have signaled they will need more time and money to comply with the class size law. Under the law, 80% of classrooms must meet the class size requirement by September. Currently, around 65% of classrooms have met the benchmarks, although officials had to exempt thousands of classrooms to meet the mandate."
Mayor Zohran Mamdani reversed his campaign pledge to end mayoral control of schools, determining he needed full authority to implement his universal child care plan. He now confronts the challenge of complying with a 2022 state law requiring class sizes of 25 students or fewer by grade level. Currently, 65% of classrooms meet the requirement, though thousands were exempted to reach this figure. The administration signals it needs additional time and funding to achieve the 80% compliance mandate by September. The $5 billion budget deficit complicates implementation. Smaller classes benefit families and teachers and improve outcomes for low-income students. Previous mayor Eric Adams initially opposed the measure due to costs but later hired additional teachers without achieving full compliance before leaving office.
Read at Gothamist
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