Bill Text: NY A01929 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to student class size in public schools in school districts located outside of a city having a population of one million or more inhabitants; requires such districts to develop a plan to reduce actual class sizes beginning September two thousand twenty-five.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-14 - referred to education [A01929 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A01929-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1929 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 14, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to student class size in public schools The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 3204-a 2 to read as follows: 3 § 3204-a. Student class size in public schools. 1. (a) All school 4 districts located outside of a city having a population of one million 5 or more inhabitants shall establish a plan, to be developed in collab- 6 oration with the superintendent and the president of each collective 7 bargaining unit representing the teachers, other classroom staff, and 8 the building level administrative staff, and submitted to the commis- 9 sioner for approval, to reduce actual class sizes beginning September 10 two thousand twenty-five and to be achieved by September two thousand 11 thirty for all classes, with the exception of physical education and 12 performing groups, as follows: 13 (i) kindergarten-third grade to have no more than twenty students per 14 class; 15 (ii) fourth-eighth grade to have no more than twenty-three students 16 per class; and 17 (iii) high school to have no more than twenty-five students per class. 18 (b) Physical education and performing groups shall have no more than 19 forty students per class at all levels. Each year of the plan, an addi- 20 tional twenty percent of the classrooms, excluding special education 21 classes, shall be in compliance with the class size targets provided 22 that all school districts shall be in full compliance by the commence- 23 ment of the two thousand thirty--two thousand thirty-one school year and 24 all classes shall maintain the target class size. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02169-01-5A. 1929 2 1 2. The class size reduction plan shall include any exemptions to the 2 class size targets. These exemptions shall be limited to: (i) space; 3 (ii) over-enrolled students; (iii) staff shortages; and (iv) severe 4 economic distress. Any such exemptions shall be approved by the super- 5 intendent and the president of each collective bargaining unit repres- 6 enting the teachers, other classroom staff, and the building level 7 administrative staff as part of the class size reduction plan. Should 8 the superintendent and the president of each collective bargaining unit 9 representing the teachers and the principals be unable to reach agree- 10 ment on the exemptions after thirty days, the issue shall be determined 11 by an arbitrator. In addition, any exemption based on available space 12 shall include a reference to the capital budget to demonstrate that the 13 budget is aligned with resolving the exemption status. Exempted classes, 14 for the years in which they are exempt, and special education classes 15 shall not count toward the twenty percent target. 16 3. The class size reduction plan shall also include the methods to be 17 used to achieve the class size targets, such as the creation or 18 construction of more classrooms and school buildings, the placement of 19 more than one teacher in a classroom or methods to otherwise reduce the 20 student to teacher ratio, but only as a temporary measure until more 21 classrooms are made available in conformance with the plan. For elective 22 and specialty classes, the collective bargaining unit representing 23 teachers may negotiate class sizes higher than the targets if such 24 increase is approved by a majority of the teaching staff in the school. 25 4. Each school district shall prepare annual reports, on the dates set 26 forth below, to the commissioner on the status of the implementation of 27 its plan to reduce actual class sizes as set forth herein. Such report 28 shall be publicly released and posted on the school district's website, 29 and shall further provide the following information regarding such 30 schools: 31 (a) the actual student enrollment for the current school year and the 32 projected student enrollment for the upcoming school year for each 33 school by grade level; 34 (b) the actual class sizes for the current school year, and the 35 projected class sizes for the upcoming school year for each school by 36 grade level; 37 (c) the annual capital plan for school construction and leasing to 38 show how many classrooms will be added in each year and in which schools 39 and districts to achieve the class size targets; 40 (d) how the school capacity is aligned to the class size targets in 41 the school district's class size reduction plan; and 42 (e) the schools that have made insufficient progress toward achieving 43 the class size reduction targets set forth in the approved class size 44 reduction plan pursuant to this section and a detailed description of 45 the actions that will be taken to reduce class sizes in such schools. 46 The report shall be submitted to the commissioner on or before July 47 first of each year and made available to the public by such date on the 48 school district's website. If the commissioner determines that the annu- 49 al report does not demonstrate sufficient decreases in class size in a 50 district, then the commissioner shall issue a statement in writing to 51 the district making that determination and the district shall make such 52 statement available to the public on its website and the school district 53 shall submit a plan for corrective action within thirty days, which 54 shall be developed in collaboration with the superintendent and the 55 president of each collective bargaining unit representing the teachers, 56 other classroom staff, and the building level administrative staff. TheA. 1929 3 1 school district's corrective action plan shall also be made available to 2 the public on the school district's website upon submission to the 3 department. The final corrective action plan shall be made available to 4 the public upon approval by the commissioner. The report shall also be 5 certified by the state comptroller that the school district's capital 6 and education funding plans will provide sufficient space and staffing 7 for the reduction in class size set forth herein and, if not, what meas- 8 ures and/or funding should be added to the plan to achieve such targets. 9 5. Provided the commissioner approves the class size reduction plan, 10 any failure to meet the obligations of such plan within the time frames 11 established shall be considered a willful violation of a commissioner's 12 order pursuant to subdivision one of section three hundred six of this 13 chapter. 14 6. In addition to the annual reports, the school district shall submit 15 a financial impact statement on November fifteenth, two thousand twen- 16 ty-eight. The financial impact statement may recommend a pause of the 17 class size reduction plan, but in no event may it result in a roll back 18 or increase in class sizes. 19 7. The process set forth in subdivisions one through three of this 20 section shall commence no later than November fifteenth each year and be 21 completed no later than thirty days after its commencement. Notice of 22 the process shall be provided fifteen days prior to the commencement of 23 the first and shall be posted on the school district's website as well 24 as transmitted via email to school administrators, parent and teacher 25 organizations, and elected officials. The proposed plan shall be submit- 26 ted for state approval within two weeks following the completion of the 27 process. The proposed plan shall be posted on the school district's 28 website within twenty-four hours of its submission. 29 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
