NEW YORK, NY — EdTrust-New York welcomes this new analysis from the Urban Institute on New York City’s class size reduction law and agrees it highlights critical challenges in implementation. While the city has made progress, reaching 64 percent compliance, this report reinforces our longstanding concerns about equity, funding, and feasibility. 

From the outset, EdTrust-New York warned that moving forward without adjustments could put fairness and opportunity at risk. New York City Public Schools’ own estimates last year showed that nearly $1 billion in additional funding is needed, and that 78 percent of those dollars are projected to go to schools serving more advantaged students. Our prior analysis similarly found that schools serving the highest shares of Black, Latinx, and low-income students are receiving significantly less funding per student. This report reinforces those prior findings, showing that billions of dollars are needed to get to full compliance with the law, and that those funds will go to the highest performing schools and students in the City. 

The report also underscores a key disconnect: the greatest implementation challenges and costs are in high schools, where evidence of academic benefit is weakest, while the strongest research supports investments in early grades. 

At a time of tight budgets and persistent inequities, resources must be prioritized for the students and schools with the greatest need. The goal should not just be compliance, but real improvements in student outcomes. The State should pause further implementation of this law to prevent driving millions of dollars towards schools that need it the least. During this pause, the City should create a capital plan to build more schools and classrooms, and proposal for changes to the law and implementation to prevent unintended inequities.  

Equity cannot be an afterthought; it must lead. 

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 About EdTrust-New York 

EdTrust-New York is dedicated to eliminating equity and opportunity gaps that hinder students from reaching their full potential. We focus on ensuring that students of color, including Black, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students, and those from low-income backgrounds achieve high levels of success from early childhood through college. For more information, visit EdTrustNY.org.