Mamdani crows about NYC meeting class size compliance — but there’s a catch

Mayor Zohran Mamdani says New York City has exceeded its class-size compliance target, with 73.4% of public school classes meeting state limits. The result matters because the law aims to reduce overcrowding across the city’s schools, but the achievement came after the target was lowered, the deadline extended and the way compliance is counted changed.

The state’s target for this school year fell from 80% to 70%, and the city secured a two-year extension to the timetable, which now requires full compliance by 2029–30. The latest count includes gym, music, technology and exam-preparation classes; using earlier counting methods, compliance would have been 69.5%. The city also has 500 fewer teachers than last year, while enrolment fell by nearly 22,000 pupils last year and by 187,000 since 2013–14.