Administrator guide

The 2022 state class size law caps classes at 20 students (K-3), 23 (grades 4-8), and 25 (high school). Compliance is measured citywide as a percentage of classes that meet the caps, not school by school.

In June 2026 the state extended full compliance from September 2028 to September 2030. The phase-in benchmarks are now roughly 70% for 2026-27, 80% for 2027-28, 90% for 2028-29, and 100% by 2029-30.

Practically: your school does not have to hit 100% on its own next year. The question is whether your classes count toward the citywide percentage, or fall under an exemption.

The law recognizes four exemption categories:

• Space. The building physically lacks room to comply. Critically, this must be paired with a capital plan: exemptions are intended for schools where capital projects are already planned and sited to resolve the deficit.
• Over-enrollment. The school enrolled more students than planned, for example through mid-year arrivals or mandated placements.
• License-area shortage. No certified teacher is available in the needed subject or license area.
• Severe economic distress. Full implementation would create genuine fiscal hardship.

If you are pursuing a space exemption, expect to document the capital side. A space claim without a corresponding capital request is the weakest version of the argument, because the law explicitly ties space constraints to capital budget targeting.

Oversized classes move through a contractual escalation ladder at the start of each year:

• Days 1 to 10. Chapter leader and principal work to resolve overages at the school level.
• Days 10 to 20. UFT district representative and superintendent take up anything unresolved.
• By day 21. The central class size labor-management committee handles what remains.
• If no agreement. The law mandates arbitration. Higher class sizes for elective and specialty classes can be negotiated if a majority of school staff approve.

The practical takeaway: fixes you can execute in the first two weeks, such as room reallocation and section rebalancing, keep you out of arbitration. Use the school pages to identify which bands are over and by how much before day 1.

Class size funding. NYCPS has run a process where selected schools receive supplemental class-size funds specifically so they can come into compliance without cutting existing programs. Schools have historically been notified of selection and projected allocation around the end of February, so hiring can be planned before spring. Ask your superintendent whether your school is in the current selection pool.

Exemption pay differential. Under the 2026 agreement, teachers in schools granted space or hard-to-staff exemptions become eligible for a pay differential when class sizes exceed the caps, reported at up to roughly $8,500 in 2026-27 and $9,500 the following year. Budget for this. An exemption is not cost-free to the system, and that is deliberate: it is designed as pressure toward compliance.

More than half of NYC schools already share a campus, and the Office of Campus Governance supports 700+ co-located buildings. Chancellor's Regulation A-190 establishes Building Councils wherever two or more schools share a building.

Structural levers that change how many students a building must seat at once:

• Grade reconfiguration. Splitting into PreK-2 and 3-5 campuses, or shifting to a K-8 or 6-12 structure, so grade bands with the tightest caps (K-3 at 20) are concentrated where the rooms fit them.
• Co-location adjustment. Renegotiating the Building Utilization Plan with the Building Council when a co-located partner has slack space.
• Merger. Consolidating under-enrolled schools to free a full building. The Comptroller's office has published guidance on doing this inclusively.

These are slow and politically involved. They require community engagement and, for co-location changes, public hearings. Start them a full planning cycle ahead.

New capacity flows through the DOE and SCA Five-Year Capital Plan, which identifies enrollment-driven need and guides site acquisition. The current plan funds tens of thousands of new seats, concentrated in over-utilized and growth districts, with Brooklyn and Queens receiving the largest shares.

Site selection runs through SCA Real Estate Services, followed by a 45-day public comment period, a notice of filing in the City Record, and invitations to Community Boards and District CECs to hold hearings.

Because space exemptions are meant to pair with planned-and-sited capital projects, getting your building into the capital plan is often the thing that makes a space exemption defensible. Work through your superintendent and CEC.