It Comes Down to Class Size
Mayor Adams quietly exempted over 10,500 classrooms from the state’s class size law this week. Chalkbeat reported that without those exemptions, the city would have missed its 60% compliance target—hitting only 59.5% instead. Many principals and parents had no idea these exemptions were happening. Nobody asked for them.
Meanwhile, teachers who finally got smaller classes this year are seeing what we’ve been fighting for all along.
Mike Schirtzer has been teaching in New York City for twenty years. This year, for the first time, he has a class with just fifteen students instead of thirty-plus. “Let me tell you, it’s the difference between doing the job right and just trying to survive the day,” he writes. He’s doing real Socratic discussions now. Back-and-forth debate. Every student speaks—even the quiet ones. “I’m more connected to my students than I’ve ever been. This is what New York kids should have had all along, the same classroom setting that their rich, private school peers have. Smaller classes aren’t a luxury. They’re the baseline of what our children deserve.”
Glenn Tepper taught for 36 years and he’s straightforward about what mattered most: “The single most significant factor in my teaching and my students’ learning was class size. I could literally feel the weight of a class of 36, or 38, in my pores, in my soul.” There was no way to give every student individual attention in a 43-minute period—not while taking attendance, distributing work, doing all the other essential things. When his classes dropped to 32, and especially to today’s goal of 25, he could feel the difference and could better engage his students in learning.
Leah Lin, who’s been teaching in NYC for 11 years, centered her Hunter College master’s thesis on this. She analyzed months of research and the theme was clear: students thrive when teachers have the time and space to truly see them. “It’s essential to know each child as a whole, not just as an academic performer.” She’s experienced both ends—classes of 32 and classes of 18. She knows smaller classes aren’t theory. They’re what makes real teaching possible. Though she’s lucky to have smaller classes this year, she knows “this isn’t everywhere and we need to continue to make this law equitable to all educators.”
Noah Silverstein, a 9th grade ELA teacher in the Bronx, describes it this way: “With 34 students, I was managing chaos more than teaching. The room was physically overcrowded, and implementing triad grouping or any structured collaboration was nearly impossible when I couldn’t monitor what was happening across the room. Even with my co-teachers’ support, we were overwhelmed. There weren’t enough adults to provide meaningful differentiation for my ELL and IEP students, and grading became surface-level at best because there simply wasn’t time to give real feedback to that many students across five periods.”
Now with 23 students? “I can finally implement the strategies I know work. I can circulate during group work and actually hear discussions, jumping in when students need redirection. My co-teachers and I can pull small groups without losing control of the class. I learn names quickly, understand individual needs, and can adjust instruction accordingly. When I assign writing, I can give detailed feedback that actually helps students improve. The classroom feels manageable—calm enough for real learning to happen. It’s the difference between surviving each period and actually being able to teach.”
So some teachers are finally able to do their jobs the way they should. Others are still stuck managing overcrowded rooms. And the city just quietly exempted thousands of classrooms—without telling school communities, without any transparency.
These exemptions prove we can’t rely on politicians and bureaucrats to enforce class size limits. We need real power, not promises.
That’s why we’re calling for our union contract caps to align with the state law caps. If our contract matches the law, we can grieve violations directly instead of hoping the DOE does the right thing. We can use our collective bargaining power to enforce what the state already mandates. No more loopholes. No more quiet exemptions. Just enforceable contract language that protects our students and our working conditions.
We’re also demanding that city officials:
Be transparent about which schools got exemptions and why
Actually plan for reaching 80% compliance next year instead of relying on more exemptions
Include school communities in decisions about enrollment caps and building projects
Make sure high-need schools aren’t getting shortchanged
Invest in what’s actually needed to reduce class sizes instead of playing games with the numbers
Our students deserve classrooms where teachers can teach, where every kid is seen and heard, where learning can actually happen. Exempting 10,500 classrooms behind closed doors isn’t a plan. It’s an excuse. And we’re done waiting for the city to keep its promises. It’s time to build the power to enforce them ourselves.
Leoni Haimison told us that class size matters, decades ago!!!
Kudos to the writer for this article. Class size is a bugbear that for years the UFT refused to discuss or tackle. Over the years they would ask the Delegate Assembly "do you want a pay raise or lower class size", indicating we could not expect both to happen. We argued and argued without much success because of how the leadership pitted us against our students best interests and our own. No surprise that Adams simply exempted classrooms rather than provide our students with what they need. Time he and the UFT leadership were forced to pay the piper. Class size limits need to be contractual. We owe this to our students and ourselves. Thanks.