NYC Will Hire 3,700 New Teachers In Effort To Reduce Class Sizes

NEW YORK CITY — New York City will hire 3,700 new teachers by September in an effort to reduce class sizes, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.

The new jobs will be spread across 750 schools in the public school system as part of the mayor's 2026 executive budget and will help meet reduced class size requirements.

Schools had the choice to submit individual class size reduction plans — first announced in the fall of 2024— for the 2025-2026 school year under a framework created by New York City Public Schools.

Plans were developed at the school level, in consultation with school leadership teams, allowing for a school-driven approach to driving system-wide change. This initiative follows on the previous community engagement work done by New York City Public Schools on this issue, including the facilitation of the class size working group in 2023, which produced a series of recommendations on implementation of the law.

Schools had the chance to submit individual class size reduction plans — first announced in the fall of 2024— for the 2025-2026 school year, officials said. That was used as a framework for the city to meet new class size rules that were passed in 2022.

A reduced class size is one of the best ways to help our students learn and for young people to thrive, and today, we are taking yet another step toward making New York City the best place on the globe to raise a family,” Adams said.

New York City schools are required to cap class sizes at 20 to 25 students by September 2028. The changes will be phased in over the next five years, United Federation of Teachers officials said.

School principals will have additional time to hire teachers and plan for the 2025-2026 school year.

Initial budget allocations, including dollars for class size reduction, will be shared with schools later in the spring as is standard process, officials said.

“What seemed impossible has become possible because of the sheer determination of educators and parents,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. “We are taking a huge step towards lowering class sizes for all our students.”